You did it! Good job! Now relax!
Honestly, anxieties and responsibilities can wait for a day or two. That upcoming summer job or preparations for the next school year? Yes, these things are important and should not be ignored, but they can wait for at the very least 24 hours.
Final exams spike your stress levels well above what they normally should be and if you’re anything like me, you spend the whole process in a hazy mess of caffeine, no sleep and anxiety. While colleges and professors try to make things as smooth as possible for their students, it is ultimately up to you as the student to really give yourself some breathing room!
After your last final, even if you have other responsibilities, you’re going to need to detox your brain. Flinging yourself from one panic-inducing situation to another is far from healthy and will, over time, wear you down. Don’t feel guilty about the need to relax. Sleep in late the next day, treat yourself to something tasty, lay in bed with Netflix or a good book or maybe just grab a pair of headphones and tune out the external world for a little while. Whatever you prefer, whatever you choose to do, try to clear your head. Breathe deep enough to fill your chest and exhale the crap your institution just put you through.
That’s not to say put everything off, quite the opposite actually. Only give yourself some downtime once you’re sure everything is done. All papers turned in? Check! All exams finished up? Check! Make sure your homework is done, all missing work is cleared up with your professors and if you’re moving out of a dorm or apartment, that you’ve started packing up and done some preliminary housework. The idea is to have a time and space where you can clear your head, not procrastinate and make you feel even worse!
We all know that eventually however well or poorly you did on your exams is going to be made known, and I know that anxiety as much as anybody. It is something worth worrying over for sure, but just like everything else, give it time. It isn’t coming yet and you only just took the tests. Take that quiet before the upcoming freak out (or relief hopefully) as a chance to enjoy yourself. It’s coming up whether you like it or not and there’s no way to fight it, so hope for the best but don’t work yourself up into a tizzy fit. Don’t worry about your grades yet, whether you did well or not will be revealed in time, there’s nothing you can do about it now.So before that mess and after the storm of exams use a little of the in-between for yourself. There’s no shame in it. Trust me. I’ll be on the couch watching Twin Peaks and reading a book with a cup of tea for the next few days. It’s a mental health requirement!