Congrats everyone, we have made it halfway through the semester and survived the first onslaught of heavily weighted tests. Despite all our complaints and sleepless nights, it’s safe to say that time has kind of flown over these past eight weeks. Does anyone actually remember what they have been doing? When did we start classes? How many times has this lab occurred?
Being that’s it’s halfway through, I’m sure there are some realizations you have made that are pretty universal. So even though you stayed up all night by yourself writing that paper, you aren’t alone in this.
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Your weight has drastically changed. Nobody really knows when it happened, it just kind of appeared one day. You might have gained at least part of that freshman fifteen and are wearing sweatpants every day because new pants are expensive. Maybe you’re like me and just suddenly dropped ten pounds due to stress so you had to buy a belt so you can stubbornly wear what no longer fits. Either way, try not to buy any expensive clothing for a little bit.
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You have a solid five friends that you don’t remember making. Sure, you can probably remember vaguely how you met and why you started talking to them, but when did you start telling them everything? How did you decide that you needed to go to dinner with them twice a week? No one knows.
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Showers aren’t entirely necessary until the third day. Even then, if you can put your hair up and you don’t smell, you’re probably still fine.
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Your motivation is completely gone. It was lost to the all-nighters and hours spent pouring over notes. Maybe you never really had it. Now is the time to take a step back, take a deep breath, sleep more than five hours at least once, and then keep going. Half the battle is complete, there’s no reason to slow down now.
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That whatever you are doing needs to be improved for the second half. Study skills are hard, and that’s coming from someone who once was forced to take a class called study skills in seventh grade. Sometimes we need to shake things up or find better methods to improve. Be this not procrastinating and pulling all-nighters, taking better notes (or any notes) in class, actually doing the readings, or not skipping class. Any change that improves our current system can only help us in the long run.
Good luck with the second half of this semester, there’s only another half left. Try not to cry.