So it’s 3AM and your eyes are beginning to feel like your 2000 Honda Civic’s windshield when you try to use that expired cleaning fluid and rusty wipers to smear the oil and bugs away, but inadvertently cause an inexplicably dirtier, dry and murky effect. Through your vision, you can now detect and process in some depth a few shapes and lights, but definitely not enough to prevent you from crashing and burning, or forgetting and failing your exams. It is now of course, the wreck that is finals season, and inevitably this time of the year always seems to be when I find myself most questioning my motivations and willpower at school.
Of course I love school – not only for the longer-term potentials that it might provide me – but also the thoughts and processes involved in the everyday life of a student. Yet, somehow the latter of these two motivations becomes inevitably dimmer while the former begins to feel too far off to ever reach as finals approach. It is this mix of self doubt and physical fatigue that seems to aid in the exponential increase in cortisol coursing through my veins perpetuating my pain in this already isolating and monotonous time of the year.
As complex of a task I know it will be to work through my stress and turn it into a productive force, all I can keep thinking is that even though I may be gaining ten pounds during studying season, it will be Christmas time soon, and damn it – I need to feel like I will have earned the next round of ten pounds I gain through Christmas cookies, chicken schnitzel and potato salad. Unfortunately, through my four years of experience, I have discovered that the promise of total satisfaction in the moment when schnitzel meets tongue is not enough to mix my stress-inducing cortisol into the jet fuel I need it to be to get me through finals. Luckily, I have learned some tricks to bring a few sparks and flames into the slowly choking 2000 Honda Civic engine that becomes my mind and body during this sad time.
The most profoundly impactful of these strategies is to transform stress into a painful admission of a love of schooling. Let’s face it, if we didn’t truly love school in only that masochistic way a person can come to deal with a full course load at UBC, we probably would have left our undergraduate degree dreams at the scrap yard after the finals of our first terms.In my experience, the best way to realize and feel your stress as a symptom of your big ole’ creepy love is to let music do the work for you. Strategies may vary according to the individual, but I find that listening to, and singing along with Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” while replacing the lyrics for “You” with “UBC” does the trick for me.
The result is Sinatra’s smooth Jersey-soaked voice and accompanying trumpets belting out to me the following: “I’d sacrifice anything come what might – for the sake of havin’ UBC near – in spite of a warnin’ voice that comes in the night and REPEATS, REPEATS in my eah: Don’t you know, you fool, you never can win? Use your mentality, wake up to reality – but each time I do just the thought of UBC makes me stop before I begin…’cause I’ve got you under my skin… And I like UBC under my skin.” Ultimately, the intensity of Sinatra’s voice allows me to feel catharsis and empowered in just the way I need to make my stress a propellant force. Apparently, some music is powerful enough to reverberate through, and reanimate even the saddest, most exhausted of 2000 Civics.
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Jessica checking in here. If Sinatra’s not doing it for you the way it does for Alice (everyone is different, I guess, but it’s scientifically* proved that Sinatra can fix pretty much anything) there’s a few other things you can try to destress enough and make it through finals without busting a major artery. Everyone (and their mom) has advice for you about studying, I know. But if you’re at that point where you’re pretty positive your head will explode if you look at another textbook, take a deep breath and try out these helpful tips to make studying easier:
1) Make yourself a list of fun things to do that last about 15 minutes.
Alternate studying for about an hour with one of you activities. Here’s a sample list:
– Power nap
– Watch funny Youtube videos
– Have an impromptu dance party
– Bust out some jumping jacks
– Run up and down the stairs
– Procrasticlean
– Take a (timed) social media break
– Prank your roommate
– Call your mom/bestie/sibling/grandpa/prof to tell them you love them
– Practice holding your breath
Procrasticleaning is the BEST.
2) Go study somewhere else.
Have you spent the last 72 hours in Irving and hate literally everything about the building? Then move! It’s seriously might make more of a difference than you would think.
3) Form a study group.
Misery loves company. Also, if you don’t understand a concept maybe a friend from class can help you out. Worse case scenario, at least you can console each other.
4) Try meditating.
Even three minutes of staring at a blank page could help you regroup your mind.
5) Prioritize sleep (if you can)
Not getting enough sleep and studying tiredly actually reduces cognitive function i.e. being tired makes you dumber! Tell that to someone when they make fun of you (jealous much?) for your afternoon nap.
Lastly, remember why you’re here and try and enjoy yourself in every aspect of university life, even if its something as stressful as finals. Sooner than you think you’ll be walking that stage and start having to do things like job hunting and paying taxes and not getting drunk on random Wednesdays thanks to Pit Night. So celebrate now, and love your experience! As stressful as it is, you know that deep down, its pretty great.
And remember, if all else fails, there will always be an abundance of exam-inspired memes to tide you over.
We know you really did.
Photo credits:
http://foodmatters.tv/articles…