To My Fellow Stressed Students,
Take a breather! Yep, just relax for a second! I know, I know, you’ve got a 10-page paper, a presentation, a group project and a final coming up, but try to slow down. It’s finals time and we’re all struggling, I promise, it’s not just you! But the important thing for you to be thinking about right now is to not stress so much. It’s only going to make life harder for you for the next few weeks. But make sure you don’t stop working hard, just try to find a balance between the two. You’ve got to keep working hard, but there’s only so much you can do because you’re human after all!
Since you’re relaxing, for a minute, why don’t you go grab some food? And while you’re trying to get all of your stuff done for the next few weeks remember to take care of yourself! I know, it’s easy to rush to the dining hall and grab a couple slices of pizza, down them, and then be off again, but try slowing down. You don’t have to skip the pizza necessarily, but please, don’t live on it until the end of the semester. When you’re at a meal, try to put down your phone, close your laptop, and clear your head. It’s all going to get done on time. The projects, the paper, the studying, it’s all going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.
Since we’re talking about taking care of yourself for the next couple weeks in particular, make sure you don’t pull all-nighters. I know, everyone says it’s part of the college experience and it’s the only way you’re gonna pass that biochem final, but do yourself a favor and pass on that. Study as best you can and be sure to take breaks! But by the time it gets to be midnight or later, you might want to put the books down and sleep for a bit, after all, taking the biochem exam half asleep is a whole lot harder than taking it after a somewhat solid night of sleep.
And I realize the last thing you think you have time for at this point is socializing and working out, but it’s in your best interest to make time for at least one, if not both, of those things. Carve out some time for a meal to meet up with a friend or two to decompress! After hours of studying, everyone knows we could use a little human interaction! Or maybe you’re not in the mood to talk. That’s fine too. But why not head to the gym for a while and get some endorphins? Workout some stress and really get your mind off everything else for a bit! Better yet, grab a friend and hit the gym together so you can get your people time and endorphins together! Talk about being efficient and managing your time!
One last thing before I let you go back to studying: do your best. If your parents are anything like mine, they’ve been telling you this from the first day you started school. Sometimes “do your best,” meant “ace this test,” but most of the time, they probably genuinely meant, just give it your best shot. My dad always said, do your best and then let it go because what more could you have given it? It’s hard to not get the A, I know. It’s harder still to fail, again, I know the feeling, but honestly, at the end of the day, it’s just a class and it’s just a grade. There’s no sense in beating yourself up when your best simply isn’t good enough. So from one struggling student to another, give it your best effort and then go treat yourself a bit because you’ve earned it!
Photos courtesy of the Odyssey, and theorganisedstudent.tumblr.com.