How To Balance Family & Uni Work Over The Holidays

The ultimate guide to planning a stress-free uni break.

Going home over the holidays and seeing your family, friends and pets is super exciting, but when you have a mountain of uni work looming over you it can also be quite stressful.

There’s no reason why you can’t relax and enjoy the time off (after all, that’s what the holidays are for!) while still managing to keep on top of your uni deadlines before January and here’s how.

1. Make a timetable

A work and revision timetable is the best way to allocate yourself enough time to get everything done, but sticking to it can be tricky. Try and allocate equal amounts of time off to the amount of work you need to get done. For example, if you’re going to spend a morning revising, take the afternoon off to spend with friends so you can strike the right balance between work and relaxing.

2. Make your timetable realistic

Don’t put down that you’re going to start working at 9 am every morning, because let’s face it you’re probably going to want to have a lie-in at least once. If it’s more realistic for you to get up and be productive later in the day, then that’s the time you should allocate for uni work. Also, don’t try and cram stuff into full days as this will only make you more stressed, try and spread the workload out into manageable chunks and give yourself reasonable amounts of time to do fun things too.

3. Allow room for the unpredictable

The holidays don’t always go as planned. A relative could show up unannounced or your friends could make last-minute plans, and you shouldn’t have to say no just because of your uni work. It’s ok to stray away from your timetable slightly and not feel guilty about it, as the holidays are for enjoying yourself. If you do find that a day didn’t exactly go as planned, just make sure you schedule time later on in the week to catch up on what you missed out on.

4. Give yourself days off

Don’t spend every single day trying to get uni work done. If you celebrate Christmas you’ll want to keep Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day free to celebrate with your family and friends or just to have some relaxation time. Likewise, if you’re planning on drinking on New Year’s Eve you’ll probably want to consider New Year’s Day a write off too, and that’s ok as long as you’re making up for it on the other days.

5. Don’t be too hard on yourself

Uni work can be stressful, but try not to let it take a toll on your mental health and wellbeing. If you’re really struggling with your uni work reach out to your personal tutor or lecturers before you break up for the holidays (or in the new year) and let them know you’re struggling, they may be able to look at ways to help you out and make things easier for you such as extending deadlines or offering additional support.

So, by following these tips, hopefully, you’ll have a great break full of festive fun and excitement with your family and friends and uni work shouldn’t take too much of a priority.