Taking Care of Your Mental Health While in School

If you are studying to become an HVAC technician, congratulations! You just made a decision that could change your life for the better and set you on a path to lifetime fulfillment.

But we won’t mince words: It’s going to take hard work and patience to get the most out of your training and graduate. Sometimes you might feel overwhelmed. Sometimes you might wonder if this was the right decision.

A positive mental attitude and health habits can help you overcome even the greatest of obstacles. We’ve outlined some tips below.

How Can We Improve Students’ Mental Health?

Positive mental health will be a very important key for your success in school.

Persevering through school is best done by those who carefully plan. Too much stress has no benefits to your health or your overall mood.

Stress affects you in ways that will impact every area of your life. However, reducing stress can positively improve your studies.

Stress impedes one’s ability to concentrate, so it’s important for higher grades to reduce one’s stress level.

Stress Levels Can Be Successfully Managed

Stress in school can be caused by several factors.

One of the bigger stresses is the amount of work to be done in a relatively short amount of time.

There are classes to attend, labs to complete and, well, you get the idea. Thankfully, these can be managed with careful planning. Below are a few ways that you can get ahead:

Meet Your Instructors

Very early in the school year, take some time to meet your instructors.

Introduce yourself and ask about the best way to study for their classes. Establish a good rapport with them.

You may need to return later for clarification of homework assignments or difficult-to-comprehend concepts and ideas in your required reading materials. The smaller-sized classes at a trade school will enable you to get personalized attention, if needed.

Eat Healthy

Eating healthy as a student is a deliberate act. With so much attention being paid to great flavors and high caloric foods, easy-to-access unhealthy junk could be tempting if you’re hungry.

Eating an unhealthy diet, coupled with stress can cause your health to suffer. It will be better to plan your meals than to study without meals and healthy snacks.

If you need help planning meals, there are a lot of great ideas on the internet to take the guesswork (and stress) out of creating healthy meals for the week.

Stay Physically Fit

Staying fit and exercising makes it easier to be as physically involved in your training as you need to be.

Build a Strong Social Support Network

Having a support network could very well be what carries you over the finish line to graduation. Having like-minded individuals that will help you through the rough times might just be the motivation you need to keep at it. You could also make a difference in someone’s success. Best of all, some of the wonderful people you meet in class may be your friends for life. So, build, build, build for the sake of your success. You never know: they might even help you find a job in the future.

Use the Career Services

Finding a job can be nerve-wracking. Starting the job hunt can often feel like driving blind.

The good news is our Career Services department is at the ready to help you with writing a resume, preparing for interviews and making connections with employers.

Trade and Career Preparation

RSI offers many trade programs:

• Refrigeration Technologies
• Electrical Applications,
• Welding Specialist
• Electro-Mechanical Technologies
• AOS in Mechanical Maintenance Engineering

Take the next step toward an exciting career! The RSI team is here to help you through every step of the process.

If you’re ready to get started with a trade program, call RSI at 1-888-671-5803 to learn about enrollment dates, class schedules and financial aid.