Forming Healthy Habits for Busy Lives

What do healthy habits look like for students who have a lot on their plate?

By Bella Agnello

Students at Cedarville University pride themselves with busy schedules, heavy campus involvement and holding one or two part-time jobs. However, not everyone knows how to balance
this lifestyle.

Each day presents plenty of tasks and opportunities that vie for a student’s attention. With some days running from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., it is especially hard to establish a sustainable routine that allows time
with God, schoolwork
and friends.

Reese Hurt is a senior Biblical Studies major with a concentration in Biblical Counseling. Besides being in all-senior classes, she is on Discipleship Council, regularly meets with people for coffee or a meal and manages four side jobs.

From the moment she wakes up, Hurt feels herself being pulled in a million directions by everything she has to do that day. But time in the Scriptures still takes first priority. She is going through the Bible in a year, so she reads two to five chapters of the Bible each day. Along with this, she writes in her prayer journal and occasionally reads a chapter from a supplementary book.

Because of how much time she wants to spend with God, Hurt knows she has to do it in the mornings when she doesn’t have class.

“If I try to save [my quiet time] for the evening, there are a lot of times that it’ll be too late, and I need to go to bed — I’m exhausted,” Hurt said. “I try to do it right after I get ready. I make sure that I have time to do it.” 

Hurt works on campus as a grader and a teacher’s assistant (TA). Outside of school, she runs social media for a ministry, posting at least three times a week and occasionally does freelance photography. At the beginning of the week, her evenings are dedicated to small group with Discipleship Counsel and her discipleship leaders.

With all her jobs and meetings, Hurt needs to strategically plan time for homework. Wednesdays and Thursdays are reserved for homework, where she uses the time to get ahead.

“I like to create margin, making sure that I’m always ideally three to five days ahead on assignments,” Hurt said. “Being ahead on those things gives me the ability to be more intentional in my relationships and in
my commitments.”

Hurt recognizes that she intentionally needs to set boundaries in her schedule — it’s far easier for her to prioritize people over schoolwork. Once she figures out how much time she can spend with others, the problem comes down to figuring out who she can invest time in. She knows she cannot pour into everyone, so she looks to how Jesus balanced his time.

“Jesus knew that he couldn’t disciple hundreds of people. And so, he kept his group small and he poured into them and he knew his limits,” Hurt said. “There’s a girl that I’m ministering to right now and am doing some counseling-ish things, and we meet once a week. That’s something that the Lord has given me in my small group of people.”

Sophomore first-year Nursing major Erin Golson knows that Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are her busiest days. On these days, she makes it a point to head out the door by 8 a.m. to grab breakfast and read her Bible in the SSC. 

“I was really struggling to find an actual quiet time,” Golson said. “It helps me if I have a routine.”

On top of starting her first year of clinicals, Golson also works as the event coordinating officer for Multicultural International Student Organization (MISO) and takes turns with other Cedarville nursing students tending to a client two hours off campus who struggles with Lyme disease.

The only time Golson can dedicate to friends is during meals or mornings.

“Breakfast is a really good time because oftentimes people are available and willing to give up 45
minutes to an hour to have
breakfast or tea or coffee,”
Golson said.

Golson funnels all her priorities through a method her dad taught her when she was little.

“My dad was always like, ‘Get your have-to’s done before your want-to’s,’” Golson said. “Depending on where I’m working, I just want to talk to people, and I can’t do that or else I’ll get no work done ever. So I have to sit and go, ‘OK, I have to get this thing done, and then I get to talk to people and I get to socialize and I get to talk to people unburdened.’”

Sophomore Mechanical Engineering major Jonathan Vamos found that he spends 38 hours per week working on homework. In addition, he’s involved in the Engineering Society, is an active member at church and serves as a discipleship leader on campus.

Whenever he has 30 or more minutes in between classes, Vamos uses that time for homework he knows he can finish. This ensures a reasonable bed time most nights.

“I think that just because you’re busy or have a lot of time doesn’t mean that you manage your time well,” Vamos said. “If I’m staying up super late at night just because I’m working on homework I’m not able to do homework well the next day or pay attention in classes, and then that slows me down even more.”

Occasionally, Vamos will have to break his routine. If a friend needs help with homework or needs to talk, he shifts his schedule to show up for his friends.

“Finding a balance between being flexible and diligent in my work has been difficult at times. If something comes up, flexibility must take priority, though,” Vamos said. “I may plan out my day very systematically, but that doesn’t mean it always works out as I plan. If being there for a friend is not efficient or productive for me, it still might be the best thing I can be doing with my time at that moment.”

Everyone’s schedules are different, so no one step-by-step process will ensure that a student will have a healthy life balance. Vamos learned that the Bible is the ultimate source of wisdom, even for something as small as a
daily routine.

“The Bible tells us to walk wisely, redeeming the time,” Vamos said. “Time is not something that we can save or store up, and we only have a limited amount. I’ve really been challenged since coming to Cedarville about how I’m making the most of my time.”

Bella Agnello is a senior Broadcasting, Digital Media and Journalism major with a concentration in Journalism and the On-Campus editor for Cedars. She enjoys antiquing, listening to records and reading classic Russian literature in her spare time.