Okay college students, it's the worst week of the semester: finals week. We all know the emotional and physical toll the endless studying that tests and projects take on us. It's time to bear down and get through it. It's exhausting, stressful, and makes us all want to curl up and sleep until we graduate, but we can get through it.
First, we don't worry.
When finals are looming, but not quite upon us, we like to push things off to the side. It's not happening yet, so why worry yet? There's no fear, it'll be fine.
Then the guilt sets in.
The weekend before finals arrive and we realize we probably should have prepared a little more. The Netflix binges and shopping trips before our friends go home are starting to seem a little frivolous compared to finals.
After the guilt comes panic.
The overwhelming amount of work to do has started to pile up and we will do whatever it takes to get it done. This includes staying up at all hours of the night, eating so badly it's a miracle we don't die and drinking major amounts of coffee.
Next, we accept our failures and decide to treat ourselves.
By now, we feel like it's just not possible: we will never get it done. We realize we are going to be forced to drop out and live with our parents forever.
Suddenly, finals are half over and you're still alive.
We're sort of doing it and it's starting to look up. Maybe you've finished with some of your classes, maybe you've just found a really good Red Bull and coffee mix that keeps you up. Either way, we feel like we might actually be able to do this.
Finally, finals are over.
We don't know how, but we survived. Grades aren't up yet, so it's time to take our first break from academia in months. We made it!