Matilda Franz Blog
Matilda Franz is a 4th Year Politics student and has been the School representative for SPS on the SRC since 2020. She is active within the Peer Wellbeing Support and is a member of the School's Student Experience Forum.
A cup of tea is a warm friend
I once saw a post online saying that a cup of tea is not only a beverage, but also a warm friend. Now, if you are anything like me, the tea is not always warm anymore when you finally remember to drink it, but this perspective of seeking joy in the small things is really valuable to me. Actively focussing on the things around me that make me happy instead of the negatives keeps me from being overwhelmed, especially in stressful times like exam season.
Of course, this perspective takes practice, and it is not the only strategy for protecting my wellbeing. Other things that help me are the scheduling of on- and off-times. An important part of this is to make fun plans in the off-times for motivation and balance! Time management and taking breaks is advice everyone always gives, but it really does work. And of course, there are many more practices and strategies that may not work for me but may work for you.
Even when I have struggled to make these big adjustments to the way I study or work though, I can take joy from the small things in my life. Like my morning cup of tea in my favourite mug, the way the fairy lights look in my room, or blossoms on a tree on my walk to the library. This may sound cheesy, but so what? If it makes you smile and makes you happy, that’s all that matters. Keeping a gratitude journal for these moments or collecting them in a visual diary on your phone can help with practicing finding this kind of beauty in your daily life.
A very important step for me to become better at this was the realization that I am allowed to feel happy and have lots of joy in my life, even in exam time! The grind culture around us tells us we need to work insane weekly hours or lose sleep over assignments, and I have myself been part of these ‘who stayed up the longest’-competitions while waiting outside of a classroom. All this does is perpetuate an unhealthy work ethic and you certainly do not have to always be sad, stressed, and sleep-deprived in order to be a good and successful student!
It is also not only Uni work that may stress you out and it certainly is not the only ‘valid’ thing to feel stressed over. For me personally, it is my extracurricular commitments that sometimes get a bit much for me. For other people it may be the party culture or a personal matter like financial hardship or a toxic relationship. These are all things that can create stress you feel you shouldn’t feel as a ‘typical’ Uni student, and here, the usual stress management practices sometimes fail.
Luckily, I have found that there are many people at this university who really care about each other and provide help wherever they can. Sometimes getting an outside view of a situation can prevent getting overwhelmed and getting back to a place where your usual stress management practices can take effect again. The Peer Wellbeing Support Service is there for exactly that purpose; to have a rant about a personal problem, to get signposting to where you might receive more long-term help, and to just talk through your feelings. The students that are part of the service have psychological training and will keep everything you tell them confidential. You can book appointments through mycampus.
I hope you take this blog post as a reminder to romanticize your university life a bit, to seek help when you need it, and maybe also as a reminder that you made tea an hour ago. I wish you good luck with exams and a great summer!
Matilda