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By Ananya Gondesi
Open a laptop. Sit in a class for hours. Do your homework. Eat and sleep. Open a laptop. Sit in a class for hours. Do your homework. Eat and sleep. Open a laptop. Sit in a class for hours. Do your homework. Eat and sleep. This routine gets kind of old, doesn’t it?
Ever since COVID, everyone’s been reluctantly thrown into this vicious cycle of boredom that kills the creativity we have once we are free of a routine. While it may just be a villainized version of a normal routine we had beforehand, this one is a lot more evil and still offers us absolutely nothing. Learning is incredibly hard, and so is completing assignments and staying on top of work. Here are some things you can do to snap out of your routine and actually take advantage of the unwilling loop we’ve been in.
1. Make a to-do list, no matter how boring it may be
As stupid as this sounds, when you make the right to-do list, you can be more productive. When you are writing out your to-do list, make sure to schedule breaks for yourself, whether it be 5 minutes or one hour. Making time for breaks is vital, especially since doing all of your work at once can definitely burn you out and make you incredibly more tired than you were before.
2. Consume TV shows, movies, music and books
These can be a very good escape from the real world, given the right thing. If you consume things that are meant to stress you out, then you will become stressed out. So, it’s best to consume tv shows, movies, music and books that are meant to allow you to relax and transport you to a different world. It’s bad enough that we have unending stress from work, it’s even worse when you’re stressed about a relationship that doesn’t even exist in real life.
3. Go for a walk or get some basic exercise
Doing exercise sounds horrible, so for the people who loathe doing the same exercises, just go for a walk. There’s nothing better than taking a walk by yourself in a quiet place, with or without music. It allows for you to clear your mind, and exercise is medically proven to help you concentrate better afterwards, so it will keep you alert to do better work that you ACTUALLY want to do.
4. Take time to step away from your work for a second
As crazy as those deadlines get, it’s important to get up from where you are working and walk away when you get especially frustrated. When you feel yourself drifting away, walk away. Don’t force yourself to get things done because while it may get done, it won’t get done well. Allow yourself to gain the motivation to do it.
5. Focus on friends and keep in touch with whomever you can often
Keeping in touch with people over the phone and whatnot allows you to continue having positive experiences with others, which can improve your mood. It can also allow you to get help, talk about something that’s bothering you, or just relax. Either way, it can improve your mood significantly and allow you to work better afterwards.
6. Try to keep a positive attitude
It’s hard to do that in a pandemic; I know. But if we start trying to look at things as impossible, then they will be impossible. Changing your mindset is by no means a one night thing, but it is a process of time, so exercising your brain when you can allows you to change it one thought at a time. It overall improves your mood and also gets rid of that bored feeling. It can break that vicious cycle for everyone, rather than the top 5 tips, which can affect specific people.
In other words, until we get the vaccine and find our way out of the evil cycle, we must do our best to cope and try to allow ourselves to feel it rather than push it away. At the end of the day, it’s your time and what you choose to do with it.
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