Well hello there once again! I’m glad that you’ve decided to join me once again for another installment of the Diva Lessons! Each of these lessons is just as important as the previous one, and each one has the chance to be applied to your life, so it’s important to take them all in, process them, and use them as you need to! You’ll never know how much there is to gain from a Diva Lesson until you sit down, read ‘em, and learn ‘em! That’s how we obtain personal growth, y’all! So this week, I’m servin’ up a new lesson for all of you entitled Diva Lessons #18: “Take yo’ time!”

When moving through each day, it can be easy to get lost in all of the motion that goes on. Especially when you have a busy schedule, like many college students have. Often, I find myself running to different activities, or trying to squeeze in time for homework during the day, while still trying to find it possible to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. I think more than anything, the key to this is time management, and being effective about how one spends his or her time. This is a useful tip that was especially brought to my attention by one of the RDs on campus, Kristen recently.

As I was sitting down with her and musing about life and different things, we began to talk about next year and there different activities that I would be involved with. Through our conversation, we got onto the topic of how important it is to be involved with things outside of school work that you truly enjoy doing, because that’s how you’ll get the most out of the time that you’re spending and investing into these activities. But again, the most important part when getting involved with different sorts of opportunities or activities is to remember that first and foremost, we are here to be students, and obtain good grades through our classes and studies. But there is a key to this, which Kristen brought to my attention, and I think it’s something that one of my classes has helped me to keep in mind lately as well. Kristen told me “You’d be surprised how much time people waste in a single day.” I think this is one of those statements that everyone knows is true, but it’s hard to actually see it and realize it until it’s pointed out in such a plain, straightforward way. We then went on the discuss how to implement realistic, and fundamental ways to manage time. In particular, we focused upon being conscious of wasting time in places on campus like the Student Union, where it can be easy to waste time because there’s always so much going on, and so many people always moving about. The key here is to be mindful of this time, and stop wasting it, and use it in a constructive way.

Instead of being used to sit around, this time could be used to get work done, or could be dedicated to other activities in which I invest my time in. That way, I either have the time later in the day to either put into other activities, spend with friends, or even just go to sleep earlier since getting a lot of sleep is always important when taking proper care of one’s self. This is something that has been reiterated to my many times, yet something I have just started to try and implement in my life more recently. In addition to this essential use of time management, there is also the important consideration of taking time to simply relax and take care of one’s self. This involves simply taking down time, instead of trying to get one more obligation taken care of, or trying to get one more piece of homework done. I think for me, the most important ways to go about this are to get off of campus, and simply take a walk around town. I find myself going to Starbs a lot (I’m guilty of having a caffeine addiction I think), or just going other places as well. It’s nice to be able to take that down time and explore my surroundings. It’s nice to take alone time too, because I have found of late that it can be highly relaxing and helps me to become more centered and relaxed.

As I said earlier, I enjoy just going about town, finding different places to eat off campus or things like that, and then enjoy simply being. Simply walking around and experiencing the world around me as it comes. In addition to this, I do other things too. I simply adore watching RuPaul’s Drag Race (for obvious reasons, I think) so sometimes I simply like to take some time to myself and watch shows like that and really just relax, take time to myself, and recharge. I think that’s what it comes down to. Finding that time to get everything done that you need to, while still embracing and enjoying that time to simply relax, and simply be.
I think that’s the main argument for this Diva Lesson. The overbearing theme is the essential point of slowing things down. Slowing life down, and taking things as the come to you. Trying to be in a singular moment, and enjoying it. I think things are so much less overwhelming when you break them down this way, and everything in life takes on so much deeper meaning. Anyway, I don’t mean to get so philosophical on y’all, but I think it’s true. Just slow it down, and remember how important it is to take time to yourself. That being said, I think that’s all there really is to this Diva Lesson, #18, “Take yo’ time!”