Ah December, what a wild month it is for college students. The weather is cold (hopefully) and rainy. Christmas music is now acceptable to binge. Perhaps you have a Christmas tree up in your apartment and Christmas lights to welcome you home. Tis the season of merriment and cheer! You know all of this to be true, yet you have a major hurdle in your way before you can fully enjoy the season spirit: finals week. Here’s the month of December broken down by one of the best, Parks and Rec.

You came back from Thanksgiving break excited about Christmas.

The first week of December is a wonderful one. You’re probably still full from Thanksgiving, and you have loads of leftovers in your fridge just waiting to be eaten. You’re back with your friends after a few days without them and everyone is happy. You know you have finals week coming soon, but it seems too far away to start caring about just yet

Your professors start mentioning your finals schedule.

The stress begins to set in. You no longer feel like you can ignore your deadlines and study guides. You still have a week or two until finals week, but the final projects are starting to be due and your heart rate starts going up as you turn the Christmas music down a little.

Your to-do list is made, and it’s a lot longer than you expected.

The panic is beginning. You realize you completely forgot about an entire class and it’s long, multi-step project that’s due smack in the middle of finals week. You start going to bed later, but you’re still holding it together so far.

You finally start studying.

It’s a week before you have to take your finals, and you’ve never been more lost in your life. You’re halfway convinced that you are studying for the wrong class. You have no plan in mind and no idea of what to do, but you’re trudging on anyways as you feel your sense of understanding start to shut down.

You start to celebrate the little things.

Are you really being productive? Most likely not, but you read somewhere that positive reinforcement is good, so you’re celebrating every time you accomplish the smallest task, like opening a Word document.

You give up luxuries like sleep.

You’ve begun drinking more coffee and sleeping less and with each passing day, your hair gets messier and messier (you can’t afford the time commitment it takes to wash it). Your temper gets shorter and your friends are afraid to come near you. Your final is probably tomorrow and you don’t feel like you’ve actually studied anything. You’re probably also threatening to drop out.

You’ve run out of steam, but finals have just started.

Finals week has now officially started, but you forgot to save energy to take the actual tests. You’re running on caffeine alone and have forgotten what it feels like to lay down and rest. Your heartbeat is probably beating twice its normal rate from all the caffeine, stress, and sadness coursing through you.

Your finals are finally done!

You now have permission to die for a couple of days to regenerate your spirit and to remember what it feels like to live your best life! You might have failed everything, but those tests are just a distant memory because right now, the only thing you can think about is your neglected bed. You text all your friends apologizing for your mood swings and tell them you’re not stolen, you’re just going into a post-finals hibernation.

You go out to celebrate.

You need to celebrate your freedom! You now have three to four weeks ahead of you with no responsibilities whatsoever! You survived another semester and another round of finals, and you could not be any prouder! You’ve awoken from a three-day nap and you are full of energy and just want to do fun things because you deserve it. Because you are a finals week survivor.