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Lena: Music helps me focus and improves my mood

Music helps me maintain productivity. When I was working from home for my Spring Term co-op, you could usually find me jamming out toÌýmusic through my headphones, laptop, my phone or my speaker. I don’t function well without some sort of white noise in the background, so I foundÌýthat music helpedÌýreplace the sounds you’d typically hear at the office.

Looking back, aÌýsilver lining to the lockdownÌýhadÌýbeenÌýthat a lot of artists wereÌýfinding time to write new music or set up future tour dates that fans couldÌýlook forward to. So new music releases hadÌýbecome something that I gotÌýreallyÌýexcited about during my work-from-home experienceÌý— especially when it wasÌýfrom my all-time favourite artists. IÌýalso enjoyedÌýexperimenting in Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music during that time to see which one hadÌýbetter-curated playlists or which one couldÌýmake me a playlistÌýwhere I liked the most songs being suggested.

During my remoteÌýworkday, I found thatÌýmusic helpedÌýme focus, especially when I wasÌýknee deep in spreadsheet work. It helpedÌýmake the day go by faster. Overall, I felt that music keptÌýme in a good mood throughout the day and I'dÌýrecommend that people working from home for the first time should invest in a streaming service. If you don’t like music playing in the background, a podcast is a nice way to learn something new or listen to something that interests you.

My music range is pretty much anything that's easy to listen to, ranging from alternative to pop to country. Here are some songs I’d recommend from my personal playlist:

1. – Willie JonesÌý
2. – Bad Child
3. – Topic feat. A7SÌý
4. – Jojo Mason
5. – Diplo feat. Morgan Wallen
6. – Sam Hunt
7. – Russel Dickerson
8. – blackbear
9. Ìý– Jawish feat. Jason Derulo
10. – Post Malone feat. SZA
11. – Seeb feat. Goodboys and HRVY
12. – Chase Rice

Ryan: There’s more to it than work

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job with the Government Relations team at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ during Spring Term. I got to collaborate with a smart, fun and supportive group of people, while performing meaningful work that will have a positive impact on my career going forward. But as Alexis said in an earlier article,, it’s important to find a good balance between your work life and your personal life. One of the best ways I was able to do that while working remotelyÌýwas to find aÌýbalance byÌýfocusing on a few of my hobbies.

Being a Recreation and Sport Business student, I’ve learned so much about the benefits that come with participating in recreation and leisure activities. I could spend hours singing their praises. In short, a few benefits of recreation and leisure participation include stress reduction, personal satisfaction, development of social relationships and an overall improvement in quality of life.

That is why, during my remote co-op,ÌýI triedÌýto set aside at least a couple hours a night to focus on some of my favourite hobbies. In Spring Term, that included playing sports, practicing guitar and playing online games with friends from around the world.

Playing sports with my roommates offeredÌýthe opportunity to clear my mind, while getting some fresh air and physical activity. Playing guitar developedÌýmy musical abilities, while providing the personal satisfaction that comes with learning a new skill. Gaming online with my friends allowedÌýme to build on my social relationships with people that I hadn't had the chance to see during the pandemic.

All of these activities provided various benefits, but overall, they contributed to a positive mindset and better well-being. This allowedÌýme to re-focus every morning and tackle the next day’s work-from-home tasks with motivation and a positive attitude.

The is home to tons of clubs and societies to connect you with other students and help you find your next hobby or interest. Check out to discover the club for you!