Balancing everything life throws at us can be difficult.
For sorority members, it may seem especially difficult to balance all of the various responsibilities related to sorority membership, employment and academics. But, with careful planning and self-evaluation, it is possible to balance all of these aspects of life in a meaningful way.
Planning and Preparation
One of the most important aspects of balancing a hectic schedule is careful planning. In order to ensure you are getting the most out of your day, take an evening to sit down with a planner or scheduling app and write down an average week during the academic year. Make sure you are planning out the typical events in each area of involvement, starting with your academics. This includes things like classes, study time, scheduled work hours and required sorority events such as weekly meetings. Once you have a clear picture of a general week make sure you haven’t over-scheduled yourself, schedule times for breaks and social interactions. This can sometimes be an important key to keeping yourself from being overwhelmed and remembering to take a deep breath and take care of yourself. After all, you are a member of a social organization and should enjoy that part of your sorority membership.
Clear Communication
Now schedules change from week to week and certain times of the year can be busier than others. When possible, make sure you are communicating with your job or your sorority that you have a prior time commitment. Usually, large sorority events that require attendance are planned well in advance, make sure you are communicating those dates with your employer as early as possible to prevent a potential scheduling conflict. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to plan for those busy moments and unexpected events can come up from time to time. In these situations, good communication is key. Make sure you are communicating with chapter leadership in regard to attendance policies and your job schedule, if something unexpected comes up it’s always better to have an established avenue of communication.
Tips and Tricks
One of the best ways to balance all of these experiences is to find the ways they overlap. There will be times when you will have to sacrifice a sisterhood or social event for school or work, however, that doesn’t mean you have to feel left out. Perhaps it’s an upcoming campus tradition that you love but you are scheduled to work the night of the event, find ways that you can get involved in the preparation leading up to the event so you still have the opportunity to bond with your sisters and other community members. If possible, try and find employment in an office on campus. Many schools have student workers that support their daily functions in a variety of offices and oftentimes supervisors are flexible with scheduling because they are more familiar with the demands of college life.
When in doubt, look to your sisters for support, they may have additional advice that is specific to your chapter and campus.