Back-to-School Glow Up: 9 Tips for Students
Your first-day outfit is hanging on the back of a chair. Three clean notebooks are stacked on your desk. Your alarm is set for a time you have not seen since May, and you still need to figure out where room 214 is. Bless.
You may be excited to go back, nervous about lunch, ready for a routine, and sad that summer is ending. All of that can show up on the same day. These back-to-school tips for students will help with the parts you can prepare now. You will walk in with your bag packed, your schedule saved, and fewer things to figure out before 8 a.m.
1. Move Your Sleep Schedule Before the First Day
Move bedtime and wake-up time by 15 to 30 minutes each day. A slow change gives your body time to catch up after weeks of late summer nights.
Trying to go to bed at 9:30 after falling asleep at 1 a.m. all summer usually means staring at the ceiling, checking the clock, and getting annoyed that you are still awake. Start four or five days before school if you can. Get out of bed when the alarm rings, open the curtains, eat something, and move around for a few minutes.
Choose two things to do before bed so your brain knows the day is ending. Plug your phone in across the room, take a shower, set out your clothes, or make tea. You may still have one late night. Go back to the earlier time the next day and keep moving.
2. Get Tomorrow’s Decisions Out of the Way
Pack your bag and choose your clothes before bed. You will be glad you did when you are looking for your keys with wet hair and seven minutes left.
Try on your first-day outfit while you still have time to change your mind. Sit down, walk around, and put on the shoes you plan to wear. A shirt can look cute in the mirror and become annoying by second period. If you keep pulling at it at home, you will keep pulling at it at school.
Put your bag, shoes, keys, and water bottle in one spot. Pack the part of your lunch that will not get soggy overnight. Add a phone reminder for medicine or anything else you forget when you are rushed. Getting out the door without turning around for your charger is a solid start to the year.
3. Empty Your Backpack Before You Buy More Stuff
Take everything out of last year’s backpack, tote, pencil case, and laptop sleeve. There is probably a dried pen, an old granola bar wrapper, and one paper you meant to turn in months ago.
Test your pens and chargers. Count the folders and notebooks you already have. Keep the supplies you use, then wait to see what each teacher asks for. This saves money and keeps you from carrying a bag full of things that never leave the bottom pocket.
Clean up your laptop too. Delete old downloads, install updates, and make one folder for each class. Give files names you can find later. “History Chapter 1 Notes” will be much easier to find in October than “Document (47).” If you want to work on parts of your life beyond school, Happyologie’s guide to a real-life glow up that feels like you covers that bigger topic.
4. Save Your Schedule in More Than One Place
Take a screenshot of your class schedule and save it as a favorite photo. School apps love to log you out on the morning you need them most.
If you are starting at a new school, look up each building or walk your route before classes begin. Check room numbers, the bus stop, your locker, and the place where you will be picked up. College students should time the walk between classes, especially when one building is on the other side of campus.
If your school gave you a map, locker code, parking pass, or student ID, put those items in the same pocket tonight. Add work shifts, practices, appointments, and school dates to one calendar. You will have more dates to add after teachers hand out their plans for the semester. The steps for planning your week as a student can help once assignments begin. Before the first day, focus on knowing where to go and when to leave.
5. Choose One School Habit You Can Keep
Pick one habit that takes two minutes or less. Nine new routines sound fun while you are buying notebooks, but they are hard to keep once homework, practice, work, and late nights return.
Your habit could be putting your bag by the door after homework, reading one page of notes after class, filling your water bottle before bed, or checking tomorrow’s calendar before you close your laptop. Tie it to something you already do so you do not have to remember it from nowhere.
Small habits can stay with you during test weeks because they ask for little time. Happyologie’s guide to micro habits that fit student life explains how to make one stick. Keep the first habit until you can do it on a tired Tuesday. Then decide if you need another one.
6. Wear Clothes That Let You Forget About Your Clothes
Plan two or three outfits that fit, feel good, and work for a full school day. You can enjoy a new shirt, haircut, lip gloss, or pair of shoes without turning your body into a project.
Start in your own closet. Wash the shoes you wear all the time. Try a hairstyle on a normal afternoon instead of testing it ten minutes before you leave. If you buy something, choose an item that works with clothes you already own. The outfit on your mood board will not help much if it requires six other things you do not have.
A back-to-school glow up can include style because getting dressed can be fun. It can also include a ponytail, an old sweatshirt, and shoes that have already survived three school years. The right outfit lets you listen in class, laugh with your friends, and go through the day without checking it every time you pass a mirror.
7. Decide What You Will Do When You Feel Nervous
Make a short plan for the moments that worry you most. You may feel fine during class and nervous about lunch, the bus, walking into practice, or finding someone to sit with.
Choose one person you can text before school and one place you can go if you need a quiet minute. Keep a few easy questions ready for someone new. “What class do you have next?” and “Have you had this teacher before?” both work. Nobody needs you to open with the funniest sentence they have ever heard.
If your thoughts start racing, put both feet on the floor. Name three things you can see and one sound you can hear. This pulls your attention back to the room while your body settles. Being nervous on the first day says nothing about how the rest of your year will go.
8. Put One Good Thing on Your First-Week Calendar
Add something to your first week that has nothing to do with a grade. It could be Friday coffee with a friend, practice, church, gaming, a walk after class, or your favorite dinner at home.
School can fill every open hour if you let it. Homework turns into thinking about homework, and Sunday turns into getting ready for Monday. One plan you look forward to gives the week another place to land.
Choose something easy enough to happen during a busy week. A two-hour plan across town may be too much, but getting a drink after class or watching a show with your sister may fit. You already know which people and places help you exhale. Put one of them on the calendar before every box fills up.
9. Wait Before You Judge the Whole Year
Give the new schedule a week or two before you decide how the year will go. The first few days are full of names, room numbers, forms, syllabi, and reminders about which day you need gym shoes.
You may sit in the wrong seat, forget a charger, or spend lunch with someone you barely know. A class may feel awkward because nobody is talking yet. Your new routine may work on Monday and fall apart on Wednesday. Write down what is causing a real problem, ask for help, and change what needs to change after you have seen more than one day.
You can begin school without having every part figured out. Pack your bag, save your schedule, and choose the outfit that feels good when you sit down. The rest will get clearer after you walk through the doors.
