How to reinvent yourself as a Bristol student in 2026

As 2025 draws to a close, Bristol students everywhere are attempting to emerge from the life-sucking nature of exam season. Looking exhausted,  feeling deluded, and questioning how ‘the best days of our lives’ turned into a blur of all nighters in the ASS, skipped sports nights, and the highlight of the day being treating yourself to a meal-deal from Parsons. A new year and a new term offers the perfect opportunity to recover your personality and reconnect with your estranged social life. It is time to fix your sleep schedule (no more doomscrolling till 4am!!), become better at budgeting, and get your life together without losing the chaotic charm of student life.

Find a good work/life balance

By the end of last term, the cold winter months had fully taken over. My housemates and I found ourselves living like grandmas, our youthfulness being stripped away by our crashouts over meeting deadlines. Leaving the house after 8 pm felt insane and Fishies became a very distant memory, rather than our weekly ritual. This resolution is about not letting your life be consumed by your degree and saying yes more. It is time to retire the constant excuses of tiredness and it being too cold outside. No one’s asking you to become a Triangle warrior… but you cannot spend the new year glued to your sofa. Whether that means choosing going to the pub over staying in to watch bake-off, trying new events each week or staying loyal to La Rocca. Bristol has too much to offer to be spending every night in your house.

Make a habit of going to the library

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Going to the library is, surprisingly, a crucial step in trying to stop being a grandma. Set aside some time each week to get on top of your work and prevent having to pull all nighters in the ASS instead of enjoying nights out with your friends. This year, make a point of going to the library for reasons beyond showcasing the Bristol-coded clothes you received for Christmas or simply romanticising being productive whilst sipping a flat white and staring at a blank page.  Short focused sessions are far more effective than confining yourself to the library the weekend before your essay is due. Try making it a part of your weekly routine, before or after seminars, just to get a task or two done. This way you can still make the most of saying yes to spontaneous plans.

Become a morning person

As much as we all dread the sound of our alarms going off in the morning, it unfortunately tends to be true that early risers are a lot more productive with their day. Becoming a morning person doesn’t mean you need to set your alarm for 5am sharp and go for a morning marathon. It may just mean you have to occasionally miss a Thekla Thursday in order to make your 9am. This small sacrifice may be what you need to save your degree, or at least your attendance. This resolution starts the night before, try to avoid doomscrolling into the early hours of the morning or being the last person standing at Daisy’s. Your mornings do not need to be action packed.  Just aim to wake up whilst it’s still light outside, grab a coffee and make the most of your time.

Pick up a phone free hobby

You have probably heard enough of the constant nagging from your mum and feel enough shame about your mortifyingly high screen time. 2026 might be the year to actually do something about it. We are all aware that we spend far too much time on our phones and ignoring it isn’t helping anyone’s sanity. If you want to minimise your screen time and stick with it, the best solution is to find a phone free hobby which can keep our brain occupied without relying on TikTok. It may sound boring, but baking, journaling, or even joining a new society can make a real difference. Your new hobby doesn’t need to be sophisticated, it just needs to give your brain a break from social media.

Start a household tradition

At the start of the year you and your housemates probably promised to commit to some sort of weekly bonding activity. By reading week this quality time most likely turned into taking the bins out together. Starting a house tradition might seem silly, but it’s often what makes the best memories of your university experience. It can be something simple such as cooking a weekly dinner together, a pub trip every weekend, or staying in for a movie night once in a while. These small commitments can bring everyone closer together and give you something to look forward to each week.

Decorate your space

Let’s be honest, Bristol student housing rarely feels like good value for money. Walls are crumbling, ceilings are leaking, and black mould is an inevitably permanent feature (which your landlord didn’t tell you about). This frustrating reality doesn’t mean that your bedroom has to feel miserable. Decorating your space is an essential way to lift your spirits for the new year. Posters, fairy lights and photos of friends and family are affordable ways to distract from the weird damp marks and peeling paint on your walls. Lighting is a key way of bringing a new lease of life to your old room, making the atmosphere much more inviting. You might not be able to fix the big issues, but you can turn your bedroom into a place where you actually enjoy spending your time.

Learn to cook dishes you actually enjoy

There comes a point in the year where you’ve eaten enough pesto pasta and oven chips that dinner time becomes something you dread. The new year is the perfect time to start fresh and create a small roster of meals you actually look forward to cooking and eating. They don’t need to be overly complicated or require fancy ingredients, just aim to make your plate slightly less beige. Stir fry’s and one pot recipe are an easy way to make filling and quick meals. But if you fancy more of a challenge you could start cooking one of the multiple adventurous recipes you save from Instagram reels or recreate one of your Mum’s comforting recipes. Having a few signature dishes you feel confident making is the key to feeling more mature.

Most importantly make sure that you enjoy the year ahead. Before you know it deadlines will start piling up again, revision will take over, and graduation will start to feel a little too close for comfort. Reinventing yourself doesn’t need to be dramatic, it’s about making small changes which can make your life at Bristol feel more balanced and enjoyable.