November is finally here, and although it feels like we’ve been at school forever, it also feels like winter break is lightyears away. Now that we’ve made it past the mid-semester slump, we’re finally over the hill but still have quite a trek until we get to go home for winter break. The second half of the semester is always harder than the first half, mostly because we’re subconsciously dreading finals week and have nothing but Thanksgiving “break” (if you can even call it a break) to hold us over until mid-December. If you’re being slowly driven to madness from the repetition of every week like I am, then read on to learn about my top tips for successfully getting through the rest of the semester while maintaining your mental sanity.
- Countdown: Keeping track of the days that you’ve made it through so far, and the days left until the end of the semester is one of the easiest ways to keep yourself motivated. When I really can’t wait to get through a particular semester, I download a countdown app and plug in the last day of the semester so that I can check it every morning and get a little bit more excited every day. There is nothing more satisfying, however, than using a calendar and physically crossing out the days as they go by.
- Treat yourself: Work is hardest when you’re not giving yourself time to unwind in between. Allot some time in the day to attend a yoga class, or catch up on your Netflix shows. Having a weekly ritual of getting a pre-class breakfast or an end-of-the-week dinner with some good friends is enough to restore your mental wellbeing to get you ready to tackle on the rest of the semester. If you want to taking treating yourself to the next level, spend a day shopping or scouring shops for potential Black Friday deals.
- Make plans: We’re pretty much all wired the same, and for some reason we find most of our motivation in daydreaming about our next vacation. If you’re traveling somewhere over winter break, make specific plans during your study breaks, and set your desktop background to a photo of the location to remind yourself of how close you are to enjoying it. If you’re going home for break, find some fun things to do with friends and family so that you have something nice to look forward too while you’re doing a 30 page reading.
- Stop and think: Take a break from your work to stop and think about why you came here to here to begin with. Most of us made a conscious choice to attend college because we want to achieve the goals that we’ve set up for ourselves, but those goals can often become blurred in the hustle and bustle of the school week. Although school is overwhelming and demanding of our time and energy, it’s also really important to remind ourselves how privileged we are to be getting a higher education. There are young adults who would give up anything to have the opportunity to go to college, and here we are complaining about readings and a 5 page paper.
Good luck with the rest of the semester, collegiettes!