You made it.

You've hit the last week in your semester and let me be the first one to say this, I'm so damn proud of you. After most of the studying, hair-pulling, coffee-guzzling, minor alcoholism, and stress induced anxiety, you're at the point in the semester where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Nice work. If you didn't think you could get this far, you would've dropped the class or stopped going to class entirely. But no, you stuck through it and in two weeks you can lay back down in your bed after your 7:00 alarm goes off for your first class because you're done with it.

So now what? Now is the time to prepare for that one last push to get you through the end of the semester. Here's a few things you could do to better prep yourself for the weeks ahead.

1.) Find a study schedule that works for you. Hitting the books is important, but if you don't space out your studying, it'll turn into you hitting your head against a wall. Try and get into a rhythm this week; what tends to work best for people I know is about 45 minutes of studying, and then 15 minutes of literally anything else. Get out of your chair, stretch, watch part of an episode of whatever you're binging on Netflix, do some push-ups, whatever it takes to get your blood flowing and your mind relaxed.

2.) Take a step back from the coffee. Trust me on this one, last dead week and finals week I was going through about 7 or 8 cups of coffee a day to keep myself awake and working so I could ace all my finals. But if you tone down the amount of coffee you drink before finals week, the more you'll feel the effects during finals week.

3.) Don't forget to sleep. In the week before finals, time management is key. If you sleep 8 hours a day, spend about an hour eating 3 meals a day, and spend an hour taking care of yourself, you'll still have 14 waking hours to study, go to your professor's office hours, hold a study session for one of your classes, and do some review problems.

4.) Stay away from eating trash. No matter what your diet's been since the beginning of the semester, sugar and caffeine won't keep you healthy for a week. Throw a salad on your plate instead of that plateful of fries and disappointment, and drink some water instead of your daily gallon of coffee.

5.) Remember, it's only two weeks. If you ever feel yourself getting overwhelmed by stress or crying into a bowl of cereal in the dining hall, take a moment and remind yourself that you'll be over this in no time. Find an affirmation you can repeat to yourself if you feel overwhelmed. "I'll only want to throw myself into oncoming traffic for another few days." isn't going to cut it, make it positive, make it constructive.

And finally, remind yourself of why you're here. Not like a big existential, "Why am I here?", but more like a reminder of why you're in school. You could be here to get a degree for whatever job you're looking towards, you're here to expand your horizons, you're here to show your family and yourself that you have what it takes to succeed.

You're here, finally. I know you can do it.