This is a busy semester for Kayla Perry.

A junior Nursing student, she is enrolled in four courses on campus and two clinicals at Methodist Hospitals Southlake.

“It can be a lot, not just the workload but dealing with the patients and being in the hospital setting,” said Perry. “We’re dealing with patients that are sick and may have terminal illnesses, which you can’t do much about those situations. It’s not just challenging, but [also] tough mentally.” Spending five to six hours daily studying for classes on top of two five-hour clinicals each week is hard, but Perry said a lot is at stake.

“You have to make the time for it because if you don’t, you will fall behind and then you’re mainly affecting your patient,” she said. “If you don’t take the time to understand their condition or treatment, you’re not only affecting yourself, but their life.”

For mental clarity and to stay on track, she creates to-do lists the night before work or school and utilizes apps like Google Calendar to schedule assignments or Focus Plant, a planning tool that breaks tasks into manageable intervals.

“I can set how many sessions I want and it (Focus Plant) sets a timer for 50 minutes of work then a 10-minute break, so I don’t feel exhausted spending hours doing my work,” said Perry.

It has taken a while for Perry to learn how to organize her day.

“When I was a freshman … I didn’t know how much time I should really be putting towards each course, she said. “I put so much pressure on myself in the beginning, as far as feeling like I have to do and understand everything perfectly.”

A turning point came when Perry realized life can be unpredictable.

“There’s things that you cannot control and that’s okay,” she said. Perry said her parents help keep her on track.. “They are my backbone, they are my support system,” she said. “I’m very lucky that I don’t have to go through this alone.”