The semester is winding down with only a couple of short weeks left to go. It feels like just the other day we were all moving back in after winter break and starting spring classes. Now, papers are due, project deadlines are coming, and final exams are just around the corner. Everywhere you look there are stressed out students desperately trying to get everything done. I bet the coffee shops around campus are raking in the money this time of year. The lines sure are long enough.
However, in times like this, you have to remember to continue self-care. It can be so easy to forget about to eat throughout the day or stay up till early hours of the morning finishing papers. But honestly, your body needs the rest.
You can’t solely run on coffee and energy drinks, or you’ll burn yourself out (spoken from experience). Make sure you’re breaking things up; for example, work on an essay for a bit, then take a break. Work on another project for a while, then take a break. Eat and drink at appropriate times.
Isolating yourself isn’t going to help either. Getting rid of distractions is good for study time, but removing yourself from usual activities will hurt in the long-run. Your friends are going through the exact same thing; they can help take the edge off sometimes, and they might need the break too.
Overworking and stressing yourself out isn’t going to help you get better grades on your exams; it might even make you do worse because your brain isn’t in the same state it usually is. Of course this is easier said than done, but at the end of the day, failing a test or not doing as well as you thought isn’t the end of the world. You just have to pick yourself up and move on to the next thing, especially if the class doesn’t have to do with your major. I used to agonize over my biology grade. The information would never stick in my brain, and I have always done terrible in my science courses. But I want to be a writer, so memorizing the body’s anatomy doesn’t have to be on my list of skills. So, don’t panic. Everyone is experiencing the same thing as you right now.
Even your professors—at least most of them I would hope—understand the pressures you’re facing and only want to see you succeed. Talk to them. Work things out. Bottling it up won’t help anyone, especially yourself.
You can’t overwork yourself. Don’t skip meals, keep your routine, visit friends, talk to family, read a book, see a movie, go shopping, and reward yourself. Please take care of yourself. You’re the only you you’ve got.