Balancing School and Life (Veteran Voices)

I think continuing your education is really important, however, for many students like myself, it is not the only thing that we're trying to manage or work on in our lives. During my undergraduate studies, I was also a single mom and so I found time management for me that much more difficult as opposed to perhaps my peers, because I not only had to find time to manage all of my academic requirements, but I also still needed to find a way that I could still be a good mom. So, I found that what worked for me was having very clear boundaries and being honest with my professors, as far as what my status is. Hey, I'm a mom and I can't predict what kids are going to do. I may get that phone call and I'm not going to make class today, but I promise I will get that work in.

I think most of it is just being very upfront with people so they have real expectations for you and most importantly, setting real expectations for yourself. That is probably the most difficult part about trying to be a student and a family person and that's because we always probably underestimate the time that we will take to get things done, always. We always underestimate that. And so you feel like you can be Wonder Woman or Superwoman and you're like, no, there's 24 hours in a day, of course I can get all these things done.

And we tend to overload ourselves and we put too much on the plate, under estimating probably the time that we have and really just the skill set that we have, just the strength to do that. So I would just recommend and say, as far as time management goes set realistic goals for yourself. Give yourself realistic expectations and have a very open line of communication with your support systems and the people around you.