September is an underrated month in terms of stress. People don’t think too much of it because when you’re in college, you tend to think of midterms and finals as the biggest stress-points in the semester, as well as the major holidays; even though holidays are a fun time, they certainly have a habit of bringing a lot of stress with them. But September brings with it its own host of challenges, especially when you’re a student.

September means new classes and new professors. It means a new load of homework and trying to rearrange your work schedule so you can pay the bills and still pass your classes. It means moving back into the dorms; for some people, it means moving away from home for the first time. September can bring with it a lot of fun times and new experiences, but it also brings with it the stressful period of trying to figure out a new work-school-social life-eating and sleeping-balance. It’s not an easy task figuring all of that out while still getting everything done that needs to get done. The overtime people have to put into manage everything until they find a new rhythm, and even after they find one, definitely can come at a price.

When people talk about a “mental downward spiral” they are usually referring to mental illnesses like depression, but I feel like that’s limiting the legitimacy of the term. A mental downward spiral can happen to anyone whether or not they struggle with mental illness. Being subjected to a high level of stress and having minimal time to try and deal with that stress is enough to put anyone on track to find themselves spiraling downward. Suddenly you’re three weeks into the semester, and you haven’t gotten more than four hours of sleep at a time in a few days. You’re behind on readings for two of your five classes, and you have a paper due by midnight that’s supposed to be five pages. Not to mention you have almost one page and it’s heading for 9 p.m. That’s the critical point. The moment when all of those realizations hit you; as you’re sitting in your room in front of your laptop is when you’re faced with a choice. You can either say to yourself, “F**k it, I’m already this far behind I might as well not do anything,” or you can say, “Alright. I might not be able to get everything done, but my top priority is this paper and I can get this done by 11:59. I might have to BS some of it but it’s going to get done.”

I’ve hit this point on plenty of occasions. I’ve taken each of those two routes, and let me tell you, there isn’t even any real instant gratification in going with the f**k it option. You’d think that there would be, but all you do is continue to stress out about the fact that you’re not getting anything done. You’re still behind and now you won’t even get that paper turned in. At the end of the day, you’re still behind on all of the other stuff that you’ll still have to deal with eventually. I know what it’s like to be cripplingly stressed out and depressed and not wanting to do anything, especially school work or showing up to clock in for your shift. But the truth of the matter is, you have to. What you need to do isn’t always what you want to do.

When you find yourself overwhelmed and unsure of where to start because there’s just so much, you have to just pick one thing. Pick one thing and really complete the crap out of it. Write that paper. Do that reading. Pick one thing and go hard on it. If you’re going to climb back up the downward spiral that we all find ourselves on sometimes, you have to accept that you can only do one thing at a time. Since that’s the case, do that one thing really well, and then move on to the next thing and do that really well.

Life gets overwhelming, especially when the new semester starts and the chaos starts to ensue. We all slip up sometimes and we all fall behind, but we don’t have to stay there. That’s what friends and family members and understanding professors are for. Use the networks that you have. Even if it can be scary to ask for help or space, sometimes that’s what it takes in the short-term so you can take care of yourself and be happier and more productive in the long-term. Finding yourself on the downward spiral doesn’t mean you have to keep yourself there. There are always going to be ways to make things better, but it’s going to take some work.