- Learn to say “NO”. This is a big one. Those with little boundaries, yield little success. Without knowing your limits and being able to assert oneself when there is simply too much on your plate and you are still being pushed to take on more are skills to develop in your MSW journey.
- Helping out a friend. What goes around comes around, so it’s good to lend a hand to a peer or neighbor in need when you are able. You never know when you need to get to your internship for a huge meeting and your car battery dies and you need a quick jump.
- Making time for sleep. No one operates well when they are missing their Zzzz’s. Too many sleepless nights can impact your immune system, so it’s essential to go to bed at a decent hour.
- Which means that procrastination is not your friend! If you always wait until the last minute, you will constantly feel behind. And when you are in those tricky “self-doubt” moments that all grad students have (cue the, “Am I right for this?” And “Can I actually DO this?!”) your emotional energy will be dampened by the persistent over hanging projects and deadlines,
- Relationships matter. Don’t forget to nurture the relationships which nurture your soul. That means still carving out time to take a walk with the elderly woman on your block who brings you genuine joy when you let her “tell you about the good times”. And being available when an old college roommate is in town and unexpectedly wants to drop by (even though you have a paper you are in the middle of working on when they called). Those battery boosters can be just the ticket to charge you up again when the motivation is feeling low.
- Being able to take risks. NO ONE ever said that MSW school would be easy; but you have probably been told that it is worth it. Without taking risks, it’s hard to know the depths of your growth and feel the truest sense of the reward of accomplishments. Better to live on the edge than to sit on the sidelines and wonder- especially when the opportunity has passed you by.
#WestCOMSW 