With finals approaching and the stress levels rising, I felt it would be completely appropriate to dish out a few areas in life that may be evaluated in order to relieve a bit of stress. If you are finding yourself drowned in upcoming due dates and tests, maybe a few of these tips could help you!
Social Life
Are we all familiar with “college life” triangle? If not, here’s how it goes. In college, there are three main categories: social life, sleep, and good grades. If you pick two, that’s most likely all you’re going to get. It’s pretty hard to get all three without sleep being counted as power naps. At this point, I say social life gets the boot! Now is the time to focus, we have GPA’s to improve or maintain! Find that place where you can zone into what really matters and what’s going to impact your future.
Relationships
Anything negative in your life should not be tolerated. Whether the relationship is intimate or a simple friendship, a bad energy can ruin an entire mood. Acknowledge these bad energies and remove them from your life. Continue to surround yourself with energy that inspires you, not energy that suppresses you. Negative energy is similar to an anchor and allowing this anchor to be in your life is weighing you down. Again, this is the time to focus on what is going to impact your future.
Anxiety
The thought of finals week and “end of the semester” projects builds up an enormous amount of anxiety! Some strategies known to decrease this build up include eating a balanced meal, exercising, getting a full night’s sleep, and even taking deep breaths. I’d say taking deep breaths will be best utilized in the more sporadic situations. One strategy I need more practice with is decreasing my intake of caffeine. It is said that caffeine may augment anxiety, triggering panic attacks! Maybe I just solved the mystery to my own work overload panic attacks.
Reflect
A great thing to practice is reflecting! Take the time to unfold your thoughts and expand on your day or maybe even your week. Reflect on what is working and what is not working. This will help you weigh out what is necessary in life right now and what is simply extra baggage. Find the place and time where you can analyze your thoughts without interruption. Relax and determine what is the root of your stress. In the end, you will find that it is all in your mind.
I hope these tips at least help you sleep a little bit better at night! Good luck during your finals week!
HCXO