Going Back to School as An Adult

Major life changes can be stressful, especially when they add more work and expenses onto your plate. This can be a huge barrier to making a big life decision that could enrich our lives and elevate our careers: going back to school as an adult. Here are some considerations and strategies to take under advisement before you send in your application, as well as coping mechanisms for when your schedule and brain feel too crowded mid semester.

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Making Hard Decisions

Use your values as your guide.

• When you go back to school you will have way less free time and flexibility than you did before, so take time now to think about what you want to prioritize and what you’re willing to give up or compromise on when you return to school. This should guide your cost-benefit analysis. For example, if your most treasured values are 
• Literally make a sheet with pros and cons. Pros could include “I’ll be eligible for a promotion at work” or “I’ll meet other  people who share my passion for this subject.” Cons could include “I’ll have less time to spend with my family” or “I won’t be able to commit to my favorite activities for a while.” Once you fill it out, rank the items in each column in order of importance according to the values and priorities you outlined earlier. You may be surprised by how your perception of your situation may change with this in mind. Even if there’s more cons than pros, for example, maybe they don’t impact your values and priorities in the same way the pros do - the benefits may outweigh the costs, and vice versa.

Accept there is no perfect decision.

• The most thought out decisions can still result in an outcome you don’t want, and that’s ok. Some of the best things in life arise when things don’t turn out as you expected. Life is not a mathematical calculation - the limit does not exist! The past 5 years have certainly shown us that no matter how prepared we are, accidents, emergencies, and disasters can derail us unexpectedly. Not all is doom and gloom - the past 5 years have also shown us that we are resilient and can adapt to nearly any situation. Not all risks are equal. Nearly every decision we make is a calculated risk because we don’t really know what the future holds. That’s why making decisions based on your values is so important - even if things don’t turn out the way you wanted them to, you know that you made choices you can stand by today. 

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Adapting Your Schedule and Building Good Habits

A big challenge for adults returning to school is maintaining good study habits. If you’ve been out of school for even a few years, sitting down to start homework after your 9-5, or before your overnight shift, can feel nearly impossible. Even if you’re pursuing your program full time, consciously designating time for school work can be equally elusive. You may find yourself procrastinating - doing housework, watching just one more episode of your show - rather than sitting down to your laptop or notebook. Don’t beat yourself up or call yourself lazy if you’re in this situation! It’s normal to struggle with dramatic behavioral changes, but there are a number of strategies to set yourself up for success.

Habit Stacking

Breaking bad habits and starting good ones can challenge the most self-disciplined of us. Rather than making dramatic changes to behavior all at once, research shows that tiny steps over a prolonged period are more likely to lead to your desired long-term glow up. Your body hears your will power very faintly; it hears your actions loud and clear. Give your body and brain small signals through your actions that gradually lead it to new behavior as a natural adaptation.

• If you expect yourself to come right home from the first day of school and spend three hours studying, but only get a half hour in, don’t get discouraged. If you commit to sitting down to your work at the same time every day with no expectations how long you’ll be there, you’ll find that half hour growing as your brain gets used to prioritizing study time.
• If you’re on the night shift and need to get your schoolwork done before you leave for work, but just can’t seem to wake up early enough to do it, start small. Wake up just 5 minutes earlier than normal one day. Make it 10 the next. If your schedule permits, make a similar adjustment to your bedtime in 5 minute intervals. 

Micro-productivity 

C-suiters tout this as a way to maximize their impact on a packed schedule. The idea is to break your tasks into small pieces so that each piece can be completed in shorter amounts of time. Whenever that amount of time frees up in your schedule, do one corresponding piece of one of your tasks. Let’s say you’re writing a paper and need to quote scholarly articles as part of your research. You may not have time to sit down and read every article in one sitting, but in 15 minutes you can make it through one article. Get the PDF on your phone and read it while you’re waiting at the laundromat or riding the train to work.  Work your way slowly but surely through your studying and projects and see each small span of time as an opportunity. 

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Taking Care of Yourself

While you're juggling home, school, and work, don’t forget the person in the middle of all this organized chaos: you. Everyone knows going back to school as an adult is challenging, and some discomfort is normal, but if you seriously compromise your mental and physical health to do it, it’s not worth it. 

Physical Health

You can’t build a house on a shaky foundation, and going back to school is a lot of weight on the house you’re already building. Your foundation has to be as solid as possible, and according to most medical professionals that means 8+ hours of good sleep, nutritious food, and at least 15 minutes of any exercise that raises your heart rate every day. Reaching each of these goals can be as daunting as starting school, but habit stacking and micro-productivity can be your friends here too. Make small adjustments over time in each of your goal areas that take you closer and closer to the behavior you want to model, and don’t beat yourself up if you struggle. Your goal is progress, not perfection.

Mental Health

Even the most stimulating and exciting work is still work; too much work means stress, and too much stress is bad for you, both physically and mentally. You can try to white-knuckle your way through 1 - 4 years of school but at some point you will definitely snap. Take that risk if you dare, but the more sustainable alternative is to build in time to check in with your mental health. The goal is not to achieve nirvana, but to give yourself more emotional bandwidth to tolerate your workload. 

• Exercise can provide this release by stimulating neurochemicals that improve our mood, calm us down, and give us better sleep. Even just deep breathing, stretching, and other low impact movements reduce stress and give us more positive energy to face our to-do lists. 
• Calling a friend or family member just to talk for a few minutes can put our most agonizing anxiety in perspective by reminding us of our value outside of our performance in school. Getting through school is important, but don’t forget all the things you are outside of the classroom: a friend, parent, partner, or pet owner. Your worth as a person doesn’t reside in your grades, but in your innate qualities that keep good people in your life. To that point, relying on your network is super important right now. Let people know what you’re trying to do and don’t be shy asking for help with housework, cooking, or other errands.Your loved ones will be excited to help you because it makes them part of this amazing journey you’re on.
• Fun is critical to your mental health as well; don’t forget to do little things that bring you joy to balance all the hard work and self control you’re putting in. Order pizza; watch a silly reality show; fool around with a musical instrument. You may be tempted to feel guilty for not working on your schoolwork 24/7, but that’s not realistic or productive. Your brain needs fun the same way your stomach needs food - don’t forget to feed it.

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Going back to school as an adult may bring up other issues for you: imposter syndrome, catastrophizing, or social withdrawal. A supportive network of friends and family can often help you work through these issues, and speaking to a therapist before, during, and after your school experience can provide helpful strategies to manage difficult feelings, regulate emotions, and keep things in perspective. Good luck and congratulations on taking this amazing step forward!