During one of the most stressful times of the year, it’s important to be focused and remind yourself of different ways to stay calm.
1. Get sleep.
Sure, it’s difficult to stop working and get in bed once your in the rhythm of working (or *cough* cramming), but it’s still super important to put it aside and get a good night’s sleep. Your brain will thank you when it comes time to actually take the test or turn in the paper; It really will pay off.
2. Exercise.
It can feel hard to justify taking a break from doing work to go out and run or go to the gym, but even if it’s just taking a short walk around campus, your body and mind will feel much better once you do, which will allow you to be even more efficient with your work.
3. Eat well.
In order to sustain yourself through this marathon of a week it’s important to make sure you’re eating healthy. Doing so will provide you with energy and brainpower! That being said, don’t be afraid to…
4. Treat yourself.
You are working hard! You deserve that cookie or brownie or bag of gummy worms (or sure, all of the above, why not?)
5. Allow yourself breaks.
There’s just no way you can effectively work for an entire day straight without depleting your energy and diminishing your efficiency. Allow yourself short study breaks to relax, refresh, and regroup. It may be hard to tear yourself away from your work, but the break will be worth it. Just make sure your study break doesn’t turn into a three-hour Netflix binge session!
6. Stay organized.
Keeping your room, study space and work materials organized goes a long way. Feeling and looking organized will help you to feel more on top of everything that needs to get done, which will help keep you from getting overwhelmed by the utter chaos that may be your life.
7. Do the best you can do, but don’t stress yourself out.
If you’re doing the best you can do, then everything will work out. Once you’ve put the work in, there’s no use in psyching yourself out or putting extra pressure on yourself. Just do what you can, and that will be enough.
8. And don’t forget…SPRING BREAK is just around the corner!
If all else fails and you simply can’t stay calm during this hectic week just remind yourself that in a few short days you will be home in your own bed, or vacationing somewhere exciting and it will all have been worth it. Picturing yourself on spring break will help give you a goal to work towards.
And in case you haven’t reassured yourself enough, let me tell you: YOU CAN DO IT!