Humans of IKB: Behind the Services

Spending time with my partner and my dog is the biggest stress reliever for me. For my wellbeing, I usually play a round of disc golf on the weekends or after work.

I visualize reaching the goal and I keep in mind the feeling I had when I reached a similar goal. Generally I try to remember to take one step at a time.

I keep a level head and try to understand the point of view of the other party as well as I can and then work with them on finding a compromise. Keeping in mind that it’s not heart surgery, i.e. that there are no lifes at stake, usually puts things into perspective for me.

A well thought out onboarding process is very important to me, when I start a new job. In situations were this is not given I ask a lot of questions to either my superiors or colleagues. I’m not afraid to get on their nerves and it has always paid off.

I’m a big fan of scheduling everything. I’m accountable to no man, but I am accountable to my planner. I find that scheduling things in as “appointments” helps me to actually complete tasks that I need to do. So if my goal is to do my class readings more consistently, I schedule a specific time in my day (usually at the same time every week) where I do the readings for a specific class. I used to find hourly planners annoying, but now I find them super helpful for this reason. I also find that having a friend that has a similar goal to you helps to achieve the goal. I recently have taken up tennis, and the best thing for this has been getting other friends to practice with me.

If you talk to my family and friends, they’ll tell you that I always vent to them if I have conflict in my life. I like to talk through my problems, and also talk to friends if they have conflicts in their life. I find this helps diffuse the conflict, because I can discuss my problems with people who aren’t emotionally involved in the situation, instead of making the situation worse by getting upset with someone who’s involved.

An act of self care I do for myself is not letting myself procrastinate. I used to put off essays and projects until the last minute, and then unnecessarily stress myself out when I was frantically writing them the night before they were due. This past year, I reframed doing work in advance as a form of self care for my future self. If I work on small portions of an essay or project a few weeks before it’s due, I get it done at an easy pace, and then I feel a lot calmer overall.

I love the basement of Koerner [Library] by the windows. There aren’t a lot of distractions, people are usually quiet, and even during exams it doesn’t get super busy — so I’m always able to find a desk by the window. Plus, sometimes geese hang out in the grass outside.

When I’m feeling stressed, the first thing I do is make sure that I get lots of sleep. In the past, I would prioritize work or assignments and sleep only a couple of hours per night. Overtime, I found that getting at least 6 hours of sleep per night improved my mental wellbeing a lot and helped me perform better at work.

When I first came to UBC, I was a transfer student so I found it very difficult to feel connected to others on campus. I found that one of the best ways to meet new people and feel like you are part of the UBC community is to join a club. Another way that I got involved on campus was getting a Work Learn position. Through my job at the Chapman Learning Commons, I am able to interact with tons of new students and I have met people from different disciplines and departments at UBC.

For me, dealing with a lot of change all at once can be extremely stressful. So, when I am starting a new job or experience, I try to keep everything else in my life very consistent. I plan out a daily schedule so that I minimize the amount of things that I have to worry about. If I’m still feeling really worried about the new situation, I’ll reach out to my friends and family to get advice.

During my time at UBC, I’ve seen so many drastic shifts in the university learning experience. We’ve transitioned to online classes and services, then back to in-person before going online again! One thing I think that students should keep in mind as things change is that they’re not going through this alone! Your professors and the UBC staff are going through the same shifts as you are and are also learning how to adapt. If you’re struggling, reach out to someone even if it’s just one of your friends.