Hey Guys!
Today was my LAST day of my Internship with Aveda! I’ve talked a little about it before, but I moved here about 8 months ago and I didn’t really know many people! I moved here specifically because the Phoenix Institute was one of the only schools in the country that offered an EIT Program (Educator In Training) meaning after my program, I would be able to take my state board exams for the State of Arizona and be an Educator of Cosmetology! Super exciting, and I was so (SO) happy when I got into the program. So I moved here and started school! It’s been the most amazing opportunity and I am so so grateful for getting into the program and meeting some of the most amazing people in this world! I have been so so fortunate to Intern at the Aveda Inspire Great was Phoenix Institute!
However, the best things in life don’t come easily and the greater the accomplishment the greater the sacrifice, right? 😉
Pretty quickly after the excitement of starting something new wore off (let’s be honest, it usually does!) and the reality of going to school 40 hours and week, working two jobs, and blogging set it, I realized this was going to be so much harder than I thought! In the most non dramatic way possible, it was one of the hardest things I have done! I am known for taking on a lot, and usually I keep a pretty fast paced lifestyle, but this was a stress level that I was new to! Most days I woke up by 3AM to get things done and or work before classes! I felt like I had no time for anything social or fun, and the weight of school, work and trying to stay sane suddenly felt like maybe just a little more than I could handle! I had 80 hour weeks most days and I have a lot of friends and family who have shared this struggle of school and work balance and I think most college students can relate! Now that I look back, I reflect on the things that helped me the most, and I hope that they can help you too 🙂
1. First things first, I really learned the importance of keeping a schedule. I would sometimes find myself with what felt like 100 things to do, and no time to do it. If you’re somebody that likes a schedule, it will be easier for you, but if you don’t it will take you some practice. There were times when I hated going to bed at 8:30PM just so I could wake up at 3 to start my day, but discipline is important, and it takes a lot of practice. I also found it’s a snowball effect if you don’t stick to your schedule and stay up late or don’t wake up on time, it throws everything off! Not everybody has such a strict schedule, but I would often wake up to go to the gym, come home and do some work from home, go to class for 10 hours, and then go back to work after class until 8:30 when it was time for bed! But staying with your schedule, however flexible or strict it is, is so important.
2. Sleep
I probably can’t say this enough! Sleep is so so important! And it’s ALWAYS the first thing to go, we quickly go from getting 8-9 hours of sleep, to cram study sessions and energy drinks and suddenly were sleeping 2-3 hours! There’s so many reasons why your body needs sleep, so make time for it, even if it means cutting out your Netflix time, or social media use!
3. Time For Yourself
Next to sleep, this is always the first to go (for me at least) but it’s so so important to spend a little time doing something you love. For me, I’m a runner so I would wake up extra early to get in a run before I had to start my day. It depends on what you like to do, but for me running was the time for myself I needed. And at night I’d spend an extra 10 minutes and take a bath instead of a quick shower. Or during my lunch break at school I would take a nap in my car! It’s simple things but you have to take care of yourself!
4. Journaling/Gratitiude
You might not be a writer, but this was something that helped me A LOT! When you’re stressed it’s so so easy to focus on what is making you stressed and lose sight of blessings and good things that are happening on the day to day that you’re too busy or stressed to see! I would keep a journal and before I went to bed I would spend 3-5 minutes writing down happy things from the day or things I was grateful for. It helped me to feel less stressed and overwhelmed!
5. Remind Yourself It’s Not Forever
Easier said than done, right? But sometimes when I felt overwhelmed and like it was going to last forever I would write down my goals and it would help me see that this phase of my life was getting me closer to them, and helped me see a bigger picture than the day to day of 80 hour weeks and homesickness!
6. Healthy Food
You knew this was coming! 😉 it’s a broken record, but it’s true. I cut out a lot of gluten and carbs that made me sluggish because I needed to have as much energy as possible. Lots of vegetables and super green foods helped and tons of water! I got dehydrated so many times because I wasn’t drinking enough and Arizona is so dry! So make sure to drink as much water as possible.
7. Working Out
This is an obvious one. But I swear by my morning runs, I don’t think I would have had enough energy without them! If you don’t like to work out, I would recommend a walk when you wake up to help!
8. Talk To Close Friends and Family
Honestly this saved me on my most stressful days! Talking to people you love and that love and care about you is so important for me because they help me SO much! They know what to say and how to help me see the bigger picture.
9. Prayer
This helped me so much! I seriously prayed probably a million times over the course of my Internship! I really believe God answers our prayers and cares about what we care about and wants to help us get through the hard times! I believe in it so much, I can’t even say how much it helped me!
10. Stay Positive
This is probably one of the hardest, just because positivity takes so much practice and changing how you think. But staying grateful and remembering WHY you’re doing what you’re doing will help so much. Like I said before, remember your goals and how this is how you’re achieving them!
I hope this helped! It took me a long time to adapt to these 10 things, but I really believe that they helped me so much to get through my weeks and I know so many of us are students and working and just trying to get by in life and it can be SO hard sometimes, let’s be real! But we can do anything that we put our minds to. I think it was important for me to just go day by day, and find the happy parts of each day and live every single moment of our lives, even the hardest moments. We have to live those too. 🙂
XOXO, Mykel Elizabeth