Five things I find helpful (How to survive studying at home during pandemic)

However, in this article, I would like to share with you some of the things that help me manage my studies during the pandemic.

Maths. A wonderful thing about studying maths is that you are constantly discovering something new. And I don't mean just new knowledge and relations which you get to know and learn. Apart from that, with each solved problem or with every proof that I understand, I experience the feeling of genuine discovery, and it does not matter that I am not the first one to come up with that discovery because the important thing is that it seems like that to my brain – just like my little personal "Eureka!". Neither does it matter at which level in mathematics I am at the moment. And that's why I believe that maths can be interesting straight from the beginning, at elementary school or high school, just as well as at the university. In the future, when I am a teacher I want to show my students exactly this, that anyone can experience joy from learning maths and through that they can broaden their understanding and gradually prepare for more advanced topics.

Friends and nature. More and more I witness that it is better to get rest from school regularly and allow myself to unwind, rather than desperately trying to understand a piece of theory when my brain is fried. And this becomes even more important the more I am convinced that I am behind on work and that I absolutely have to spend all my time studying. It may sound contra-productive, but at the end of the day I end up having done the same work, but feeling overall better. However, at those times when the workload becomes really hard, it is difficult to remember this – but it helps me to remind myself that I will probably always feel that there is something to do, and that this feeling is quite independent of how much work I have actually done.

Ian. Ian is one our tutors. Besides being a great teacher, he is such a nice person, and Thursdays are my favourite because of his tutorials.

Peer Support training. During this term I am training in Peer Support, which is an amazing programme, which is an essential part of the university welfare provision. Peer Supporters are students – volunteers who have completed a 24hour training and additional supervisions, and they offer a confidential listening service for students – anyone can come and have a confidential chat about anything and everything that's on their mind. Peer Support falls somewhere between informal support amongst friends and professional help – counselling with a therapist. Peer Support Programme is part of "Welfare and well-being" section at the university, and so the role of a Peer Supporter is not limited to individual talks – it is also about community engagement and promoting and creating welfare spaces in college.

It is ok to ask for help. I would even say that it is a sign of courage and resilience. I think that the stigma of mental health problems or just of seeking professional help is still rather significant in Czechia, and that is a pity. However, at least in my social bubble it is not that much about the attitude of our friends or acquaintances as it is about our own feelings of shame when we decide to speak openly about mental health. I would be happy if this changes.

Back to the topic of this article, I shall conclude with the one thing that probably helps me the most. And that is Nick Cave. There are no words to describe his music. I swear that I am not exaggerating when I say that he has saved me many times in many ways. Therefore I cannot help but strongly encourage you, who have read this article this far, to look up Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and give it a listen. It's genius.