One word commonly associated with college is, stress. If you're lucky, three days before finals campus will offer stress relief puppies, free coffee, pancakes, etc. All the free stuff is great, but I still find myself stressed for the majority of the semester leading up to finals/midterms. There are little things in my life I have found that help me de-stress; even if it is just for five minutes.

1. Working Out

One of the best ways I have discovered to relieve stress is to go to the gym. Whether a 20 minute workout or a 60 minute, any bit helps. It's a great way to ~sweat~ out the stress.

2. Blast Your Music

One of the best things I have ever purchased is a portable speaker. In stressful times, I'll turn the speaker on and with the tap of a button it connects to my music. I'll blast happy and uplifting music, putting on a mini concert in my dorm room for about 15 minutes. Then it's back to the grind. (Travis Scott is you relieving your stress).

3. Coloring

Okay... throwing it back to grade school here. But coloring is a HUGE stress reliever. I bought an adult coloring book on sale at Barnes & Noble and a 10 pack of colored pencils. It's a great way to throw it back to a simpler time when you didn't have to write annotated bibliographies and papers in MLA format.

4. Sleep

More of a procrastination tactic than a stress reliever. But when in doubt, nap it out friends.

5. Vent to Your Friends

9 times out of 10, your friends are probably just as stressed as you are. So why not bond over your stressful amount of schoolwork you have!? In all seriousness, even just talking with a friend or grabbing dinner at the dining hall can help relieve some bit of stress. It's a nice break from the quiet, florescent lit tables of the library.

Whether one of these tips helped, or even all five. I hope this advice can help de-stress even the most stressed out a tiny bit. Now, I got to go, I am pretty stressed out and this article is adding to it. ;)