Speaker 1: Welcome to Grad Life Grind. If you're new to this channel, thank you for checking it out. And if you're already a subscriber, thanks for being back again. My name is Arielle, and I'm a PhD student in clinical psychology. And in this channel, I bring you information about the mental health field and talk about my journey as a PhD student. If you're watching this video because you just got into graduate school or you're about to start your first year of graduate school, congratulations, you did it. I remember feeling so, so overjoyed when I got into grad school, so I just want you to take a minute to celebrate how amazing this accomplishment is. And in this video, I'm going to be giving you some of my tips based on my time in my PhD program so far. My first tip for anyone, whether they're a grad student, med student, any type of student, or any human in general, is to schedule your self-care. And I don't need to explain to you why self-care is important. You know that it is essential, but you may not be scheduling it. I don't know why, but you need to start now. My advice to you is to treat your self-care as just as important as one of your classes, one of your exams, or even a job. Self-care is something that you need to prioritize and that should be in your schedule. And the reason why I say to schedule it is so that you can keep yourself accountable. It's easy for us to say on Saturday, I'm going to take a break, or I'm going to do something fun this week. When we actually put it in our calendar, in our planner, or in our schedule, we are more likely, based on research, to actually carry it out. You need to put the time you're going to do it, the day you're going to do it, and what you're going to do in order to make it more likely for you to actually follow through. And if you already have this in your schedule, then you have something to look forward to. You know that once you're done with XYZ, you're going to have a break, you're going to have time to yourself. And also ensures that it's something that you're doing regularly, and not just when you remember or when you can fit it in. We all have a habit of planning our lifestyles around our jobs, around the things that we need to get done, and there's lots of reasons why that is the case. But one thing that I'm trying to do in my personal life is schedule the things I need to get done around what I need to function at my best first. So maybe you don't have your schedule for your classes yet, maybe you're not sure what your schedule will look like, but as soon as you do, as soon as you start planning what your semester, or your quarter, or your year is going to look like, make sure that you're putting the self-care into your schedule as often as you need, as often as you'd like, and be as specific as possible. My next piece of advice is to pace yourself. Graduate school is not like undergrad, and it's not like a job. It's probably unlike anything you've done before, unless this is your second time entering graduate school. So pacing yourself is an important part of reducing the possibility of overwhelm. And what I mean by pacing yourself is scheduling out when you're going to do certain assignments, little by little. And I've procrastinated before, you've probably procrastinated before, so all this is easier said than done, but in grad school you are going to have some assignments that are due way at the end of the quarter or semester, and you're not going to get the same hand-holding that you may have gotten in undergrad, where a little piece of the assignment is due one week at a time, and you're just going to be responsible for doing things on your own time. There's a lot more autonomy or independence in grad school. So when I say pace yourself, I mean do not wait to the last minute to figure out what topic your paper is going to be about. Start planning ahead of time, and you don't have to do all the work at once if you pace yourself. And you should do this with all of your goals. If you have a goal to publish a paper, if you have a goal to attend a conference, you should pace yourself. Figure out on a monthly basis, on a weekly basis, what needs to get done so that you aren't overwhelmed at the end. And like I said, this is easier said than done. You may not pace yourself perfectly all the time. I certainly didn't in my first year, but it's something that you should get into the habit of for sure. My third piece of advice is build and or lean on your support system. And I don't care who's in your support system, that is all on you, but you're going to need one. If you're in graduate school, especially if you're on the PhD track, you're going to be in school for a long time. You're going to be busy, you're going to be overwhelmed sometimes, and you are going to need people in your life. We're social beings. I'm a psychology student, so of course I'm going to say that. But honestly, you need people to call when you're stressed out. You need people to distract you from being a student. And you may have your friends and your family already there for you, or it may be a support system that you're building in graduate school. And maybe you have multiple support systems. Maybe there are people that you go to for different things. But definitely start thinking about who you have in your corner. And in psychology, we think of social support as a protective factor or something that protects you from distress. And there's tons of research that shows the benefits of social support on your physical health, on your mental health, and so forth. So definitely think about that when you're thinking about who your network really is. And on that note, my other piece of advice is set boundaries. And I mean set boundaries with yourself, and I also mean set boundaries with other people. So there's a number of ways that this can look, and boundaries really are an individual thing. But you may need to set boundaries with yourself so that you don't overwork yourself. Some examples are I turn off my computer every day at 6 p.m. Or another boundary might be I don't answer emails or look at emails after 7 p.m. every single day. Or I don't check my phone until 9 a.m. That's super hard to do, but if you can do it, then go for it. Setting boundaries with yourself helps you to conserve your energy, your peace of mind, and you may also need to set boundaries with other people. For example, you may not be able to pick up every phone call that you get from a family member or a friend or a partner because you're working and you need to stay focused. You may need to set boundaries with some of your peers. So if you have friends in your program that want to talk about the assignment or the test that's coming up, and they're super stressed and it's stressing you out, you may need to set a boundary with your colleagues and say, I actually can't talk about this right now. How you set boundaries is all up to you, and there are tons of examples of actual phrases that you can tell people in order to set boundaries. And you may also need to set boundaries with faculty members or advisors that you're working with. You may need to set boundaries with some supervisors and say, actually, I think I have enough on my plate right now. And this is something that takes a lot of practice, but I think it's something that's going to serve you in your career, in your life, and in really any area if you learn to set boundaries, especially during graduate school. Another major tip that I have for new graduate students is use your resources. If you are paying tuition, which I imagine you are, you are paying for more than just the classes that you're taking. You are paying for tutoring. You're paying for tech help. You're paying for advising. You're paying for professional development. You're paying for the library. You're paying for so much, you need to make the most of that. So get a tutor. Even if you think that you're going to do well in a subject and you're not having a hard time, get a tutor anyway, because it can help you retain the information. Even if you're an amazing writer, utilize the writing center. Why not have an extra person review your CV or your essay or whatever it is that you have to write? Talk to faculty members. Email people. Talk to other students. Definitely, definitely talk to more advanced students. Use everything that you can. The reason why I'm giving this tip is because I don't want you to just get through graduate school. I want you to grow through graduate school. There's so much to see and learn and people to meet, so definitely be engaged in your learning. My next piece of advice is stay present. And just like boundaries, this is easier said than done. There have definitely been times where I was not totally present, but the reason why I'm advising this is because it's something helpful to at least try to do. Try to be mindful. Try not to think about the fact that there is always something that you need to do. There's something you can be reading. There is an assignment that you can get ahead on. There is an email you can answer. Really, you're never going to be a first-year student again. And that's great, but you also want to be active in what you're doing right now. So if you're practicing self-care that you scheduled, like I said in tip one, then practice being present during those moments. Try not to think about school. And there are a number of ways that you can learn how to practice being present. You can do meditation. You can practice mindfulness. You can do grounding techniques. And I'm not going to get into that, but just try to be in the moment. My final piece of advice is be more than a graduate student. I know you already are more than a graduate student because we're all multifaceted. You're not just a student. Think about what else you are. Are you a daughter, a son, a brother, a sibling, a friend, a spouse, a parent? You're more than just a student. So practice being those other things. Your identity is comprised of a lot of different things. And I think that being in graduate school, it can be really hard not to lose yourself in all the work that you're doing. Especially if you're in a PhD program, a lot of your time and a lot of your life is consumed by the work that you're doing. And that dedication is amazing. But at the same time, you're more than that. And I know for me, it took me a lot of time to figure out how to balance the other things that I am. I'm a partner. I'm a daughter. I'm a sibling. I'm also not just who I am in relation to other people. I'm also a dancer. I'm also someone who works out. I'm also someone who likes to be in nature. So I had to make time and prioritize those other parts of me so that they don't disappear in my journey through graduate school. So that is my advice for first-year graduate students. Like I said at the beginning of this video, if you're starting graduate school, congratulations. This is an amazing experience that you're about to start. And I wish you the best of luck on this journey. And I hope that you will check out some of my other videos for more grad school tips and more information about what my life as a PhD student is. If you like this video, please hit the like button and also subscribe to my channel. Again, my name is Arielle. My goal is to inform you, to inspire you, to spark an interest in you, and hopefully also entertain you. So I hope you'll check back in next time.