Managing Stress as an Online Grad Student

Many people who pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree online do so for the convenience. Online degree programs allow people to continue their educations and earn the credential they need to either move up in the company they currently work for, or to make a career change without having to quit their jobs and essentially put their lives on hold while they return to the classroom for two years.

While pursuing an MPH degree online is convenient, doing so while maintaining a full-time job (and often other commitments as well) can be very stressful. It often means doing a couple hours of homework after coming home from a long day at work. It can also mean working on assignments or studying for exams on days off. Those who balance both work and study essentially live double lives where they take one hat off at the end of a busy work day just to put on another as they begin their schoolwork for the evening. Making the comparison to Clark Kent and Superman might be humorous, but it wouldn’t be too far off the mark.

Working full-time while pursuing an online MPH can be stressful, there’s no denying it. But that doesn’t mean you have to let the stress get to you. There are several things, in fact, that you can do to manage the stress to keep it in check as you complete your degree.

Build a Support System

One of the best things you can do to lower your stress is to build a support system around you of friends and family to help you out with some things. Make sure all of your friends and family know you are working on your MPH degree. If you do, many of them will probably volunteer to help out with some tasks knowing how busy you are. If you have kids, for example, a friend might volunteer to take your kids to swim lessons as she takes hers. Or maybe a brother or sister might volunteer to help out with a few household chores while you are studying for that all-too-important exam.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help! You’re not super-human. And there are only 24 hours in each and every day. You can only do so much by yourself. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are getting in over your head, definitely reach out to family or friends for a helping hand.

Network with Professionals

Fear of the unknown can be a stressful thing. There are some students who, after completing several courses, may begin to question if they are on the right path.

“Am I doing the right thing?”
“Is this the best career path for me?”
“What is my new career going to be like?”
“What if I end up not liking my new job? What then?”

One of the best ways to put an end to the fear of the unknown is to network and get to know one or more professionals already working in the field you are interested in. Get to know them. Take them out to lunch. Ask them questions about their work. See if they will let you observe or shadow them for a day. Networking allows you to get answers to any questions you may have so that you can put an end to that stress in your life and get on with your studies or make a necessary course correction.

Prioritize Tasks

You may very well have 50 or more things you need to take care of on a particular day, but are all of them of equal importance? Probably not. Why not prioritize those tasks and tackle them one at a time starting from most important to least? By prioritizing tasks, you can greatly reduce stress by taking care of critical things first and then working your way down the list. And if a few things on the bottom of the list get missed, so what? They can probably wait. Take a look at our list of apps to help grad students stay on track.

Schedule Your Time Wisely

We all get the same 24 hours in a day. As such, we should schedule our time wisely. This is very similar to prioritizing tasks, but scheduling allows us to allocate our time several days or even weeks in advance. When making your schedule, be sure to include only those things that are most important. And if something you had originally planned to take care of yourself can be outsourced (like hiring the neighbor’s kid to mow your lawn), then perhaps it makes sense to hire someone for that task to free your time for more important things. And don’t forget to schedule time for rest. That could very well be the most important thing in your schedule!

Hold Yourself Accountable to Your Schedule

A schedule that isn’t followed is of no use to you or anyone else. If you do make a schedule, hold yourself accountable to it. Be sure to stick to it. This doesn’t mean your life has to become so rigid that you can’t deviate from your schedule on occasion, especially when something important comes up. But if the goal is to lower your stress level by following a schedule, then it is best to follow it as closely as possible.

One of the best ways to hold yourself accountable is to share your schedule with a friend or family member. Tell them your reasons for creating the schedule and then ask then to let you know if you’ve strayed from it.

Set Goals and Rewards for Yourself

One thing you can do to reduce stress in your online MPH studies is to set goals and then reward yourself for completing them. Are you dreading an upcoming exam? Why not reward yourself with an evening out with friends after completing it? Why not make it a goal to take a much-needed vacation after completing your MPH degree? You will have totally earned it, so make it happen!

Plan Your Long-Term Academic Path

What are your long-term goals in both your career and in your academic studies? It may seem like a silly question, but it’s truly surprising how many people jump into a degree program without fully knowing the direction in life they want to go. Not knowing where you are going in life can add significantly to your stress. And one of the best things you can do to reduce this stress is to take some time to think about the path you want to take in life before accepting any new job or committing to a degree program. Make sure the path you choose is the one you can see yourself doing happily for many years into the future.

Know When to Take a Break

If you are working full-time while simultaneously pursuing an online MPH, the stress can very easily build up over time until one day you reach a breaking point. The stress can build slowly, too, and you may not even realize it’s happening. You can very easily prevent this by taking regular breaks during your studies. You could set aside one day a week where you do no work at all. Just make it a designated day of rest where you do nothing and allow your batteries to recharge. Giving yourself adequate time to rest is one of the most important things you can do to manage stress. Make it a part of your stress management strategy.