Balancing Academics and Social Life? Try the Middle Ground.

By: Salma El Ashmawy
@salmawsedky

Juggling academic responsibilities with personal and social life is difficult. In order to strike the right balance, time management and organization skills are key for long-term success, experts agree.

Students often face difficulties finding enough time for assignments, activities and hobbies. By following some simple tips such as acquiring time management skills and learning to prioritize tasks, university life could be more manageable.

Lameese El Dessouky, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, reserves her mornings and afternoons for academic life and the evenings for personal life. She has three pieces of advice for students to help them achieve balance during stressful times.

The first is “Scheduling a time for different aspects of their lives and honoring it without feeling guilty”.

This is especially true for freshmen who are not used to the university system. She firmly believes it is vital for students’ mental health and wellbeing as it encourages them to be in the moment and appreciate it as much as they can.

This is followed by, understanding that sometimes what’s more important at a particular moment might sometimes shift in priority depending on what’s going on in one’s life.

Lastly, “to be completely present in whatever one is spending their time on so that it doesn’t go wasted,” El Dessouky says.

“Balance means not being on any extreme, but rather, being somewhere in the middle,” El-Dessouky added..

Nouran Gohar, a Construction Engineering graduating senior, stresses the importance of understanding what to prioritize and when to prioritize things over others. As a professional Squash player herself, and ranking the world’s first in 2020, time management is a crucial part of her athletic life.

“Sometimes squash would be more important than university [work]. Other times, I would have to focus more on my studies. Sometimes your social life and freshening up your mind is the most important thing to do,” Gohar says.

Some students develop different approaches to multitasking and time management. One tried and true tip is to have a list of tasks and cross out finished ones. This will help develop a sense of responsibility and encourage one to achieve more.

Electronics and Communication Engineering junior Toqa Bahaa says that checking off tasks gives her a sense of relief and helps her maintain a balanced lifestyle to keep up with academics and social life.

“I am trying to give both academics and activities the same attention. Then, with the help of my checklist, I start prioritizing things and crossing out finished tasks, which always keeps me on track,” Bahaa said.