If there’s one thing that can be said in life during COVID-19, it’s that things rarely go as planned. You may have once had this vision of how college life was going to be, but in reality, when it all comes down to it, it’s different. You may start to feel as though things are not working in your favor as much as you thought they were going to. If you want to take proactive steps to prevent yourself from emotionally and mentally spiraling downwards, then you need to start by looking after your own mental health.

Stay Calm

The most important thing that you have to remember is not to panic. Remaining calm can be difficult when you are experiencing intense emotions but taking a moment to step back, take a few deep breaths, and observe how you are feeling will help you to better problem solve. The more problems you navigate, the easier it will be to deal with this situation next time.

Adjust your Expectations

College is much more difficult when compared to high school. You may find that you have more classes to attend and that assignments are way harder as well. If you are stuck on campus and not really able to do anything or go anywhere then this can magnify the college-related stress that you feel. If you want to stop this from becoming as much of an issue, then you need to try and adjust your expectations. You aren’t going to finish at the top of your class in everything, regardless of how hard you try. You’re also not going to have as much time to spend with friends as you hoped either, and although this can be difficult to accept, you do need to spend some time trying to move past these expectations by considering more realistic ones.

Ask for Help

If you have someone you can talk to then why not go to them for help? You never know when they might be able to give you the help you need to reduce your stress. It may be that they just sit and chat with you for a while, or it might be that they offer you a different perspective to look at your problem. Either way, asking for help is always a good thing and although you may feel a little uncomfortable, you’ll feel way better in the end.

Get some Sleep- or Don’t

Stress can do a lot of things to your body. It can make you sleep more, or sleep less. If you find that you are sleeping way more as the result of your stress, then this would indicate that you need to try and get yourself moving. If so, try and cook yourself a nice meal, or even look into learning a new hobby. Little things like this can help you to feel better about yourself and it can also provide a healthy distraction to what is bothering you. It also helps you to prioritize what’s important. If you’re not sleeping enough, put on a movie, relax in bed with a hot drink under fluffy covers and just chill. When you do, you will soon find that you are able to feel better and that you drift off to sleep in no time.