5 ways to reduce holiday stress and stay on course with your studies

It’s a familiar tale: after freeing yourself from your school or workplace routine, you’re looking at several days – perhaps even weeks – of free time to enjoy spending some long-overdue quality moments with family, friends, and cherished pets. It also seems like a great opportunity to fit in some uninterrupted study time.

But what usually happens is that time quickly gets consumed by a combination of holiday fun and responsibilities. The hours you’ve set out for academia can easily be pushed aside in favour of another festive movie. Alternatively, you may have dedicated too much time to study, and find yourself suffering a case of burn-out that should be reserved for the turkey.

Here are our top tips for avoiding a holiday study faux-pas this year:

Make a ‘to-do’ list

… and make sure to include ‘make time to study’ somewhere near the top. In the run up to the festivities, it’s easy to forget gifts, roles and responsibilities, and even close family members! With everything going on, it’s quite likely your usual schedule will get disrupted. But try to make time for a little revision between glasses of eggnog.

Don’t wait until the last minute

It’s never too late to tell someone you care… but you could run out of time to finish that all-important assignment. Don’t keep pushing your studies off, because the holiday will be over before you know it! So if you find yourself with some spare time, why not spend some of it at study?

Avoid over-committing yourself

With so many things going on, it’s easy to double-book a party or promise to plough the snow from another neighbour’s driveway. Then there’s the shopping, wrapping, decorating... Oh, and the cooking! Make sure you don’t double-book your study time too.

Limit your time on social media

It’s tempting to spend long hours wishing friends and family the best, and liking or making comments on all those Christmas pictures and status updates. But before you know it, your jolly news feed has consumed your evening, and with it, your precious study time.

Ask friends and family for help

From recruiting a friend as your accountability buddy, to asking family members to share tasks, there are plenty of ways you can get those around you to assist your study goals. There’s no shame in asking when it’s for a good cause (your future), and even small favours can go a long way.  

This may be the holiday of giving, but don’t give too much of yourself. Ultimately, holidays are meant to be a chance to unwind and refresh. The LSBF team would like to wish you a rewarding break, wherever you are, and however you decide to spend your festive season.