We are essentially two months into the spring semester and I’ve overheard more fellow students than I can count talking about just dropping out. Why? Not because they aren’t successful or because they’re lazy–but because the workload has all of us feeling like it’s just not doable some days. I spend a good portion of my morning just staring at the assignments written in my planner, hoping they’ll do themselves. We all wish osmosis worked with books, but alas it doesn’t. However, there are a few ways you can manage the stress that college brings upon us.
1. Do not push yourself past what you can actually handle
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If your eyes are burning, your head is pounding or you can feel yourself slipping out of reality, just stop. Do not push yourself past what you can handle. Stop and watch an episode of Netflix, go get coffee, take 30 minutes at the gym, run a hot bath/shower, call your boy/girlfriend, just do something else. You cannot succeed in any aspect of life if you’re physically and mentally draining yourself every day.
2. Become best friends with your syllabus
Where is your syllabus? Shoved into the depths of your backpack? Under your bed? Find it (or print a new copy) now. Go through and highlight every single assignment. Essays/papers in one color, written homework in another, readings in another and so on. Put those dates in a planner. Just winging it will not cut it anymore–stay ahead of the game.
3. Ask for extensions
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Contrary to what the world may want you to believe, professors tend to be super ready to give out extensions. Just ask. Make sure you give them at least a few days notice and be honest. Do not try to lie or make yourself sound better/worse than you are in that moment. Extra points if you ask in person.
4. Study with your friends
Now, I don’t mean this as in “go get coffee with your girlfriends, open your homework, and spend 3 hours gossiping and snapchatting.” I mean, get your girls and get to work. Bring your biggest assignment, colored pens, flash-cards, post-it notes, etc. Create a game plan. Take turns quizzing each other. Edit and proofread each other’s essays. You are not in this alone.
5. Speak to your academic advisor or an on-campus counselor
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Sometimes, you just need to vent. You need to let out everything that is bottling up inside you from the masses of homework and stress. That someone could be your academic advisor who can offer you various routes of getting your credit hours in whether that means going part-time or just dropping a class and doing it later as a Maymester. An on-campus counselor can help you with those same issues to an extent, but they are there for your emotional needs. They can provide you with tips on managing your stress, like worksheets or breathing exercises. They can just sit back and let you talk. The options are endless.
At the end of the day, when you walk across that stage to receive your diploma, it won’t matter if you took an extra semester or skipped a few classes to give yourself a break. What will matter is that you did it. You did something really hard and came out alive. So just take a few deep breaths and kick this semester in the butt.