5 Ways for Students to Stay Motivated During Covid

Pritam is not alone in this mess. This is a common situation with many of the students across the country. Not everybody is getting effective online learning facilities is a known fact now. But those with some sort of access are also facing one challenge or another. It’s like troubles are piling up from all around.

Pritam and other students like him often reminisce about the old routine of going to school, attending morning assemblies, studying together, and enjoying with friends. They missed the feel of the class, the little mischiefs, and playing in the school playground. All these standalone rituals made up a complete experience of school-life and education.

Now, this whole experience, which once gave students a sense of physical, concrete academic life, suddenly vanished. A new routine replaced the old. Students now woke up lazily to online classes and attended them all alone (without physical contact with the teachers and friends).

The feeling of alienation becomes worse when the teacher adopts a monologue with other participants (putting them on mute with their videos turned off). It then becomes difficult to stay motivated and losing interest in studies is common. In such situations, a strong sense of detachment (with online classes) begins to flare up among students. This is natural but not good! Students stand to lose much if they don’t cope with these new and unsettling conditions.

The pandemic shocked our capacity for decision making and planning. For many of us, life has gone awry! None of us could foresee such a situation as this is one-in-a-hundred-years phenomenon.

So, the whole scenario may look surreal, or even detached from reality, because nothing is commonplace or everyday-like about it. We usually fail to grasp the whole truth and thus cannot decide what to do or how to do it. The outcomes of our actions also become not-so-satisfying because of indecision or poor planning.

There is nothing strange about it if we think rationally. Chaotic situation >> indecision >> poor planning >> poor results, straightforward! The preparedness to face such challenges is simply out of the question. The best we can do is to cope with the present situation with the hope that things would get better. This is also the most ‘human thing’ to do.

Expecting to be or to act like one did in ordinary times is simply evading the present context. ‘Coping’ may sound a little modest or demure but is the most practical thing to do right now. Your mind is like a candle in the tempest; your priority must be to keep it lit, not to fight the tempest. So, how to keep oneself motivated and how to appropriate the most one can in such hard times (until better time prevails) are the right questions.

Here are the five important ways by which you can keep yourself motivated:

Break the Isolation

Staying at home does not mean that you get cut off from your friends, peers, and teachers! Set up some time to connect with them through phone, messenger, social networking, etc. The feeling of loneliness may surround you if for a long time you don’t interact with them.

A lonely mind is a wandering mind. Loneliness might also create frustration and anxiety. Keeping in constant touch with the teachers and friends will help you relate to the similar conditions being faced by them too. You act real when you know real.

Self-regulate

Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary ways to cope with them. Negative feelings and mood swings can sometimes overwhelm you. It becomes important to know and realize your feelings and thoughts. You must try to assure yourself that these overwhelming emotions are only because of strange circumstances. And that you need to put a little extra effort in these extraordinary times to keep things in check.

These realizations will help you in regulating and organizing yourself. Manage your time effectively by making your timetable and schedule all your activities. You can take the help of a planner or a journal which will be very handy.

I recently bought a planner-cum-journals, which helped me a lot in keeping me organized (I had started to forget and jumble up tasks because now your home and work lives were separated no more).

Health and fitness are equally important to keep a healthy state of mind. So, sparing some time for physical activity, meditation for relaxation, leisure time, and healthy eating habits are as essential as are your studies.

Adopt Independent Learning

Learning from home means the primary onus of learning has shifted to students. Here comes the concept of independent learners. Now, you will ask how one can become an ‘independent learner’. Don’t take the term literally. Independent learning does not mean the study with no support or guidance.

According to Holec, independent learning is the ability to take charge of one’s learning. It just means that you take responsibility for your studies. You can do that by planning your studies, organizing your learning resources, becoming an active learner, monitoring your behavior, reflecting on it, implementing measures to stay focused, and even deciding when to seek guidance and who to seek it from.

Engage in Positive Thinking

Instances as in Pritam’s case of losing motivation because of failure to cope with circumstances which were out of his control leads to negative thinking and depression.

Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones. I know it’s easier said than done. But we can do this with practices of nurturing a growth mindset. Identify the problems or, more appropriately, the challenges and develop alternate plans to confront those challenges.

What would you do if you were in Pritam’s place? Most of the people would show the same behavior as shown by Pritam. I call this negative coping or maladaptive behavior.

Here I offer some things which Pritam could do to counter his problems. He could have talked to his parents either about taking the services of a better internet provider or going back to Delhi where he could get a better internet facility.

Supposing the parents did not agree because of their personal problems, then what should Pritam have done? Should he have thought nobody is concerned about him or his studies? This would again be a maladaptive pattern of thinking. Pritam could have resorted to identifying the resources available to him and develop his own study plan in consultation with his teachers.

He should not have deviated from his studies and consistently put effort with the help of resources and be hopeful of the things to get better with time. In fact, most people are doing this only and keeping things afloat so they can start swimming when the tide weakens.

Seek Support

Often we resist seeking help or support. It is ok to ask for help when you think the problem is big for you to handle. In fact, it’s a wise thing to do! You may talk to your parents, teachers, friends, or counselors regarding your issues. They may not provide you the solution you are looking for but may give you a rough blueprint or idea about how to or how not to approach the issue.

In addition, they will surely provide you solace and prevent you from maladaptive behaviors. You also find that you feel extremely good when you voice out what really your issues are. You almost feel that you have solved your half-the-problem just by discussing it. In fact, you give a real grounding to your imaginary issues when you put them into a discussion.