• Studies-Work-Life: A (very) difficult balance

As students, we are all inequal in terms of financial situation. While some don’t need to work besides their studies either because they have money, because their parents pay for them or because they are in an apprenticeship, others have to. Others need to go to work right after school or sometimes even leave class up to 30 minutes before it ends to not be late and reprimanded. Although scholarships can help, it is never enough in order to satisfy all the spendings needed to live: food, rent, activities…

Working is great: you discover new people, you learn new things and how life at work is like, but damn it is tough when coupled with studies and when you need time for yourself, your lover and friends. Dealing with all of this is very difficult and after having spent more than two years at McDonald’s in order to survive, after having recently went through a difficult moment in my personal life, I’ve been questioning myself a lot. I need money to live, I need a salary to be safe and spare a little but when it enters into conflict with my life, what do I do? There is no universal answer to that question. We are all different and we would clearly have different solutions to it.

Here, this is my vision, a subjective one and I don’t want you to agree with me but just read and try to understand me. For you to have some context, I met my ex-girlfriend at work. We had been living together for roughly two years and we met our mutual friends there so kind of everything revolved around my studies or work. Therefore, having time for myself was sometimes problematic. My own friends I used to play with rarely saw me come online, if at all. I had to be present for my grieving girlfriend while I was feeling quite overwhelmed, yet my efforts were, for her, not enough.

Life as a couple is hard. You have to evolve, work and improve together but it is so worthy and this would be a subject on its own. You develop together, go through hard times but hey this is love. This is how human relationships are and thanks to that (hopefully) we became better persons. After being dumped and seeing my girlfriend leave me for someone who used to be my best friend a few days after, it was really hard. It still is sometimes but I really think I did everything I could at that time.

Now when I think of it, the breakup allowed me to have more space, more time for myself, and more importantly understand that every relation is a very thin line. People you’ve known for years, even the closest people, can stab you in the back. Be careful, it doesn’t mean it will always be the case or that you have to question every relation you have (friends, family, lover). And I know this is very complicated especially when you went through several cases like that. I myself have difficulties with it. Let’s not make generalizations though.

To answer my previous question, in my very little experience as I’m only 23, I think we should think hard of what we really want. Do I like my studies? Do I see my lover more than my friends or the other way around? Do I spare time for myself? What place does my family hold? So many more questions could have their place here… The answer should come out from these numerous questions you are asking yourselves and if it doesn’t, it’s your job to find it.

It could be the time where you follow what you think is good for you, where you follow your dreams and jump into the wild. This is what I did. I decided to quit my studies and try to enter the world of cinema, who knows what will happen? At least I have more time for myself, more money and more opportunities to try out new things.

All I want to say here is to take care of yourselves, you matter and you matter first. You must be your top priority, feeling good in your life, become one with your emotions and your inner self. Work is important, especially when you are a student. Nevertheless, I think we should prioritize apprenticeships if we can because at least, we wouldn’t have to work in addition to our classes. You would normally be working in a field/domain that you like during class hours and that's dope, isn’t it?

Want to write your own article? Check out the Submission Guidelines

Read other articles — Answer fun polls — Chat in forums