For many college students, especially us here at SFA, finals week is looming around the corner. This is a week that a lot of us dread due to lack of sleep, stress eating (or really no eating at all), hours of study sessions and so many more terrible things. Yeah, this is what college students have to deal with at the end of each semester, and no matter how many years you have been at a university; the struggle is real.
So, how does one stay motivated in a time when our grades are on the line? How can we, as college students, just sit back and try to “stay positive” during this week? Many people will try and tell students “oh college can’t be that hard” or “it’s just an exam; it doesn’t define you.” Well I’m here to say that’s a bunch of bull because college is that hard and for many of us these exams do truly determine our futures. However, students biggest obstacles aren’t people being obliviously positive or even the exams themselves. No, the one thing that keeps us college students stressing for an entire week is a simple five letter word; doubt.
Our enemy for finals week and truly throughout college in general is doubt. We are so hard on ourselves and we doubt our intelligence and capabilities, but why is that? Why after studying the material front and back, over and over, we still worry? That negative voice in the back of most of our heads keeps telling us that we’re still going to fail and we’re not good enough. If you really think about it, none of the doubting makes sense because if you study hard enough and put in a good work ethic in class; passing that last exam shouldn’t even be a doubt in your mind.
Below is a quote said by American pediatrician, Benjamin Spock, that I feel could help ease some of this self-doubt.
“Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.” — Benjamin Spock
This quote is so important not only for students but for all individuals trying to achieve their goals in life. We must all learn to trust and have more faith in ourselves. It’s useless to sit around and doubt our potential because in the end all doubt does is stop us from being great. I’m not saying that things aren’t hard in life and that there won’t be any failures; that is never the case. What I’m saying is that we shouldn’t let exams, or any other obstacles stop us from having faith and knowing our self-worth. We should always be prepared for the possibility of failure, but we should never go into things doubting who we are and what we are capable of.
I hope this has given you all some sort of inspiration. Good luck to everyone this upcoming finals week!
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