Success is a Balancing Act

How do you think about success?  Many people think of success as an achievable state, or at least an aspiration. For college students and their parents, success often means good grades. But what appears to be success in college, or feels like success, is actually a balancing act.

Sometimes students do it with grace and ease, making small adjustments along the way. They may notice that their energy wanes mid-morning if they don’t eat breakfast, so they get up 15 minutes earlier to eat, then they can be more attentive in class. Just a tiny shift, but it can pay off.

Other times, students struggle just to have some measure of self-regulation. How to manage meals and sleep the right amount. How to work with the inner hum of anxiety and self-judgment that are common for most people. How to channel aspirations without swinging into perfectionism.

Students can feel easily overwhelmed, so it can be particularly helpful for them to pick one area of their personal well-being to prioritize, the one that they feel may have the biggest potential for impact on their overall success.

The university supports students’ integration of health and well-being as a part of success in many ways, such as:

You can also support and encourage your student as they develop the skills that can serve them in college and beyond. You may wish to read Your Developing Adult, an article about college student development, to better understand what your student may experience.

 

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