With finals approaching, it’s hard not to turn into a spiraling ball of stress, especially if you’re a freshman and this season is your first round of finals.
It’s definitely easier said than done, but your first step to alleviating personal stress surrounding final exams is to realize that stress adds almost nothing to the situation. With that same logic, it also doesn’t subtract anything either. For instance, your stress and anxiety surrounding, say, your English final, won’t make you do better on it, and, conversely, it won’t make the exam disappear entirely from existence.
What I’m saying is that your stress about something is utterly pointless. The time is still going to pass and you’re still going to have to take the exams, so why essentially make the situation worse by losing sleep and worrying for the inevitable?
I know by this point you’re probably thinking how negative and unrealistic I am being this article. But bear with me please, I’m going to get to my point soon!
Stress is unbelievably unhealthy for your mental and physical well-being. You’ve probably heard that low amounts of stress are actually good for you and aid in motivation — which is completely true. BUT! That does not apply to high stress levels in short intervals of time, (aka Finals Season). So, stop overwhelming yourself to such a degree! You’re putting yourself not only at greater risk for catching a cold or virus, but also for chronic health problems and illnesses!
You may be thinking, “Well, it’s not like I’m choosing to stress. It just happens naturally.”
And I totally understand that and experience it myself! But yes, you are choosing to stress!
How do you solve this? By:
- Understanding your stress is pointless (as I mentioned at the beginning) and does not contribute to the situation in any meaningful and especially not helpful way!
- Pacing yourself while studying! You hear this all the time because it is incredibly important during finals season.
- Take breaks, take naps, don’t over-schedule your days, eat meals in peace (meaning don’t study while eating whatsoever)!
- Allow yourself time to avoid burnout.
- Finally, preparing yourself for the worst-case scenario. Think everything through! See the silver lining!
- Think about the worst that can happen surrounding your stressful situation and put yourself in it over and over again until it doesn’t freak you out anymore.
- For instance, say failing your (in regard to previous example) English final is causing you immense distress. Now go through that situation in your head. You failed your English final, now what? Well, depending on the circumstances of the class, your previous grades and exam scores in English made up for this poor grade. You’re saved!
- Let’s say this final dictates your entire grade for this class. Well, if it’s a mandatory class, chances are you’re going to have to re-take it. Good news! You just saved your GPA from counting your course grade in English, AND you now will acquire a deeper understanding for the material in the class and will more than likely do way better the next time around!
I hope this helps those who are struggling right now with the beloved Finals Season just being weeks away! You got this, stop stressing!