When you’re a working student you might hear something about “practice self care when you feel overwhelmed.” Or “practice self-care when you’re starting to burn out from balancing work and school.”
When I heard this advice it sounded like it should just come naturally: I should just know how to take care of myself.
But, I had no clue how.
As a result self-care felt like another impossible task to put on top of everything else I was balancing. If this also sounds like you, stick around for actual practical, realistic self care tips for the busy student life. Over the course of the past couple years I’ve finally figured out how to practice self care without turning it into another chore.
You’ll learn some of these tips in this post!
Why Self-Care Feels Impossible for Students
First let’s cover a few reasons why self-care might feel impossible for working students. I’ll share some mindset shifts that have allowed me to better take care of my body and mind during this season.
Beating Survival Mode
I know for me when I first started taking classes alongside my full time job, I really struggled with a survival mode mentality. And to be honest I still do a little. However, I have learned how to better manage my time and energy across different aspects of my life. This has allowed me to have extra capacity so I can focus on rest and self-care when I need it.
Trying to Prioritize Everything, so Everything becomes a priority…except you.
Another thing that you might struggle with is a lack of clarity on what to do first. You might also struggle with feeling like you have to do everything, all at the same time. I’ve been there and I was so stressed and frustrated. I wished I could work like a robot, but that’s just not possible.
So I came up with the second best thing, just doing something. Although this might seem unrelated to self care, hear me out for a second.
When I was following the common prioritization advice I see online – for example, analyzing what’s urgent and important using the Eisenhower Matrix – I found myself more overwhelmed than when I had started. This was because I was so stressed about picking the right thing to start at the right time, I did nothing at all.
This led to analysis paralysis, and then procrastination.
I’m a strong believer that self-care does not only have to do with your body, but it has to do with your mind as well. So if your mind is occupied with school or work, and you are trying to escape by scrolling, that most definitely doesn’t help. The best tip for this that I have encountered is to just do something.
Even if it’s not the most efficient, even if it’s not the ‘bestest decision.’ Just starting something has given me the momentum to actually get things done, and helps me prioritize later without overwhelm.
The reduced stress will help you feel better overall, which means a checkbox for self-care.
Feeling Guilty about Taking Breaks
This one is close to my heart. Watching a lot of productivity advice online, as well as difficulties with my own self worth, led to intense guilt about taking breaks when I needed them.
I always thought, I can push through this, or I’ll be able to rest later.
However when I first experienced burnout because I pushed so hard, I realized just how detrimental the lack of rest is for my body, mind, and soul.
Even if you’re not religious, hear me out on this (again):
The Bible has a lot of snippets that have helped me get over that fear and guilt of rest. It’s helped me learn that REST is literally a part of God’s design for, not just the human body, but the entire earth. I recommend just looking into some verses online about what God says about rest.
Another thing about rest that I have learned is this: If you’re working for the Lord, you should rest for the Lord. There’s a part in the Bible that says,
“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.” – Ephesians 6:7-8
It was hard at first for me to think of myself working unto God (who is Jesus Christ), rather than working for my boss or my professor. I think most of it was due to pride and a people-pleasing nature. But, God has helped me with that after I asked him to.
It took some time, but I’m actually excited about my job now (consider our employment the contextually equivalent slave part), and I’ve learned to just do what I can on my job and college work, and Jesus will cover me for the rest.
With working to the Lord, I can also rest to the Lord. It’s literally a right from God. So, I took a day off today with little guilt, because I know I served God and people. Today, my body and mind is telling me to take a break.
Please consider this when going through your self-care journey.
Traditional Self-Care Advice Doesn’t Fit Working Student Reality
There are many times we aren’t able to just take a week off to recover from burnout. We would more than likely put our jobs in jeopardy. We also may not be able to afford to take a vacation, or buy ourselves something expensive just for fun.
So, what do we do as working students in order to still provide for our families, prepare for our futures, while still trying to hold ourselves together?
We’ll get to that in a moment, but first, I give you permission to give yourself grace (if you have a hard time giving yourself grace). You are not the only one struggling with feeling inadequate because you don’t have time to do a 3 hour yoga flow every morning.
The big thing about self-care for us working students, is making sure that we incorporate it into our daily efforts, rather than just making it a separate thing.
Micro Self-Care Strategies (5 minutes or less)
Make yourself feel pretty/nice.
You can do this by dressing up, putting on makeup or jewelry, and putting effort into your work outfits.
Feel like you’re doing something good for yourself.
I like to take 5 minutes to blend me a quick protein shake. It only has a scoop of chocolate protein, some milk, and possibly strawberries. I fill it to the fill line and blend and go. This helps me feel like I’m taking care of myself (because I am).
If you add this to your day, make sure you make it quick, easy, and fun for you to do.
Self-Care That Fits Student Schedules
Take a nap between classes or work breaks.
Even if you don’t fall asleep, laying down and just resting your eyes is rejuvenating. I like to keep a blanket in my car for moments like these.
Create a flexible morning routine that involves some exercise.
I give myself an option between a 10 or 30 min workout, depending on what time I wake up. Doing this helps uncreak my bones, and makes my brain happy.
Plan something that you can look forward to.
Some examples are going thrifting, going to a museum with a friend, trying a new restaurant, browsing through your favorite crafting store, or buying yourself a special dessert. Whatever you pick, make sure it’s not getting in the way of other goals you have for yourself.
Avoid only looking forward to the weekends.
I can’t wait for 5 days to enjoy my life. So I try to plan little things to look forward to throughout the week. Remember that you need some self care on the weekdays too.
Meal prep your lunches for the week.
Make food that tastes good, and feels good to eat that’s super easy. Don’t worry about what a julienne technique is. Use a mandolin kitchen instrument that slices things for you. I’m really lazy when it comes to cooking…especially when I’m hungry.
So, I have adjusted my mindset when meal prepping. I’m not cooking for the now, I’m cooking for fun. It makes it much more enjoyable, and I feel much better about experimenting with ingredients.
Let me know in the comments if you want a separate post on how to cook meals as a busy working student.
Emergency Self-Care Kit (On the days you’re completely clunked out)
Order a pizza for you and your family, so no one has to worry about cooking.
Unless cooking is your absolute favorite, you can take this task off your plate (no pun intended).
Take a day off.
Seriously. If you can’t, show up to work or school and give your absolutest bare minimum (even if it’s only 30%), until you can take a day off (don’t push it off).
Reduce how much total capacity you give to college and your job.
The main goal is to keep up with everything…not be the top performer. As long as you still have a job and you’ve turned in your assignments, it counts as a win in my book.
Use technology to help automate tasks.
This helps to remove some of the brain power required in life. For example, use ChatGPT ethically to help you get some ideas on assignments or to help you decipher instructions. Think of ways you can use it to help make your job easier as well!
Ask for help.
I am so blessed to have my husband and both sides of my family supporting me through this. Call someone to just vent, ask for a hug, or ask for a favor. If you have a family, set a boundary saying that you are basically running on empty, and you need them to pick up the chores and take care of food.
Long-term Perspective
Build habits that last beyond your non-traditional student journey.
Learning how to care for yourself during burnout, as well as creating a sustainable pace for your life will help you for years in the future. I know it has for me.
Perseverance encompasses more than just showing up. It also means how you keep showing up in a sustainable way. This means resting and caring for yourself throughout the day, week, and month.
Find the balance between pushing through vs. resting.
I get it, I have a full-time job while going to college. I often just have to push through to get through. And sometimes pushing through helps overwhelm and tiredness resolve on its own.
However, I’ve been through this enough to know when my body and/or mind is screaming for direct rest. And I have learned to listen.
Conclusion
In this post, we covered some reasons why self-care might feel impossible to working students like us, along with some mindset tips to help. We also covered some practical self-care strategies, and an emergency kit for when things are really bad.
I want you to pick one small thing to try in this list to help get your self-care journey off the ground. God loves and cares for us…so, why not care for ourselves?
Remember that this is only a season. At the time of me writing this post, I’m going through a menstrual meltdown. If I’m making it, you’ll make it too.
Save this post to Pinterest so you can come back to it anytime you need it.
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