How To Balance Life And School

Going to cosmetology school is a big commitment. It’s going to take a lot of dedication and time to succeed, but that doesn’t mean school should take over your life entirely. You can be committed to cosmetology school, even as you maintain a healthy work-life balance—in fact, it’s necessary you maintain a work-life balance. Students who don’t can burn out.

So, to help you avoid burning out as a cosmetology student, we’re going to go over some practical tips that will help you maintain a proper work-life balance as a student. By the end, you’ll have some tools to help you stay healthy and happy while in school.

What Challenges Come with Beauty School?

As with all commitments in life, there are going to be a certain number of challenges that accompany a hard task. Beauty school is no exception. There are several challenges that come with the beauty school life, for example:

The Curriculum Is Intense

Some traditional schools have options for online coursework or self-paced options, but in beauty school, the curriculum is particularly intense because you have to do practice sessions and hands-on practice, in addition to theory classes. This means that you’re going to be required to work long days, in order to succeed in your program. Whereas some students can study for their tests at home exclusively, it takes hands-on practice to succeed in cosmetology school, so you’ll have to get used to being at school.

Time Management Is Particularly Difficult

You can’t wait until the last minute to hone your cosmetology skills. In beauty school, you are tasked with learning how to do hair, nails, and other cosmetology procedures. People are trusting you with their appearance and body, so you’ve got to make sure you’re able to do a good job. Because there is a lot of material to learn, you have to be committed to studying incrementally—waiting until the last minute will impact the quality of your work, so you have to prioritize time management.

Maintaining a Social Life and Caring for Family Is Harder

Everyone’s personal life is different. Whether you have kids or you don’t have kids, we all have people in our lives who we need to spend time with and/or care for. It is important for beauty school students to continue prioritizing their family and friends, but it is just a little bit more difficult to do that when you’re a student.

Money Can Be Tight in School

Depending on how you’re financing your schooling, money might be tight. If you’re supporting yourself and putting yourself through school, you might have to work a job in addition to being a student. This is admirable but very stressful. You’re going to have to learn to budget well while you’re in beauty school, and if you’re going to be working a part-time job, you need to really prioritize time management skills.

How to Balance Work and Life

We’ve discussed a few challenges that come with beauty school: it’s hard, time management becomes can be a challenge, you have less time for family and friends, and money can be tight. All of these things are challenges, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to thrive in your personal life and your beauty school life at the same time, as a student. Here are a few helpful work-life balance tips that you can implement into your day-to-day life:

Use Time Management Strategies

When it comes down to it, everyone works differently, so the time management strategies that work for you might not work for your friends. Try engaging in the time-blocking method, the deep work method, or the flowtime technique. Also, be sure to buy yourself a great planner so that you can write down all your important tests, practical exams, and more. These tips will ensure you aren’t spending every waking minute on school—because you shouldn’t be!

Communicate Openly with Your Classmates and Teachers

The community you build at beauty school wants to help you thrive as a student. So, make sure you’re communicating well with everyone around you at school. If you have to leave class a few minutes early because of a family emergency, tell your teacher what’s going on. When you’re respectful to your peers and teachers, they’ll be lenient with you as needed, too.

Find a Support System

Create a strong support group of friends and family who you can talk to about what’s going on at school. Make sure some of these people are not affiliated with beauty schools. Give yourself the option to talk to people who go to school with you, but also give yourself the option to talk to people unfamiliar with the industry, too. It’s good to have someone listen to you from both parties.

Prioritize Self Care and Wellness

You can’t do your best work if you aren’t taking care of yourself. As such, make sure you’re exercising, eating well, socializing, and making time for fun things. Self-care will look different for everyone, find out what works for you and stick to that.

Don’t Be Afraid of Professional Help

Prioritizing mental health is a must for a cosmology student. If you find that you need to talk to someone, don’t be afraid to seek out a professional counselor who can help you. There is no shame in therapy, so do what you have to do for your mental health. You deserve to feel your best.

Be Kind to Yourself

Although you want to do a good job in school, you can’t be perfect all the time. When you make a mistake, don’t be too hard on yourself. Beauty school students endure a lot, and although it can be rewarding, you can burn out if you’re too hard on yourself. Take deep breaths, practice positive self-talk, and don’t dwell on your mistakes. Instead, focus on progress and doing better the next time.

Students at David Pressley School of Cosmetology Can Balance Work with Life

Now that you’ve learned practical tips, you can enter cosmology school confident in the fact that you can keep a proper work-life balance. So, if you’re ready to start cosmetology school and begin taking strides toward this next phase of your career, then David Pressley Cosmetology School is ready to welcome you. For more information about our program, contact us.