As the new school year begins, focusing on building resilience can significantly enhance students’ mental well being and academic success. It’s more than obvious that with each new school year, students tend to set the goal to accomplish better grades than the following year. But some forget that with academic success, comes mental stress and doubts.
It’s normal that students get worked up in the new year and later procrastinate with their work, possibly leading to low grades. The “not turning in work” starts happening to some and the pressure some students have especially those with extracurriculars can get a mental burn out.
There are many resources we can use to help ourselves. Help from peers, staff, family, as well as online sources are all within reach. Resilience aids in students bouncing back on topic with themselves, gaining strength to keep going despite whatever battles they face within the school year. The phrase “school is important” is used frequently, but is our mental well being not equally important?
How do you start helping yourself?
In order to help yourself, you first need to form a support network. Having a support network such as friends, family, teachers, or even spiritually, helps so much. It gives us faith and resilience to keep going. Mentors also help a lot, either online or in person. It also helps with emotional support, which is important during times of stress or anxiety.
“Our Minds Are A Portal”
As school begins, it’s natural to overthink how the rest of the year will go. Have you ever heard of “the mind doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not”? Here’s a quote from John Mark Comer that depicts “what we put our attention to is the person we become.” So be careful with how you think about certain things, especially yourself.
An example: when you feel “nervous” and “excited” like when you’re about to go on a roller coaster, your mind just knows that you’re afraid. So you start to tremble or your heart begins to beat fast. Afterwards, you relax, right? Because your body is telling your mind that nothing bad happened, and you are okay. This goes with all your thoughts because believe it or not, thinking is manifesting. So from that information, when school starts most students are excited, some are afraid.
Our past experiences also depict our emotions when something new happens like for example, going to a new job and you remember what happened at your last job or going to a new school, etc. Only you change your new reaction to that. Again, another quote from Mark John Comer is “What you give your attention to is the person you become, therefore, the mind is a portal to the soul, so what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to.”
Mindfulness
Incorporating practices on the mind like deep breathing, meditation, or journaling to manage overthinking, enhances emotional wellbeing. Healthy habits such as working out, art, playing a sport or even hanging out with the right people can also relieve tension in the mind, especially in school. Self care is vital for maintaining good mental health and resilience.
This leads to adopting a growth mindset for the school year. Each year helps with personal growth, and school just adds to that! This is the belief that can be developed through effort and encourages students to embrace new challenges for growth opportunities.
Balance Academic and Leisure
Ensure a healthy balance between academic responsibilities and personal hobbies. Finish all of your remaining work at school, whether it be after school or during a free period. As boring as it may sound, it’ll be best so later on in the day, your mind doesn’t dwell in the thought of not having completed an assignment. This aids in preventing burnout and balances between the two.
Isn’t the mind powerful? Don’t let your thoughts determine your success for the new school year and take it easy on yourself
