As many of us nervously await our imminent death which is scheduled to take place over the course of these next two weeks, I want to remind everyone to take just a brief second to take a break from all of the chaos. As campus basically prepares to shut down these next two weeks, it’s important to remember to try and take ourselves out of all of the chaos instead of allowing ourselves to get caught up in all of it.
I get it, finals are definitely important, no question there. But I just hope that everyone remembers what is truly important. Keep in mind that while this time of year is stressful, it’s only as stressful as you make it. So make time for yourself to either go to the gym, or have a little dance party in your underwear, or reward yourself with a Chickfila milkshake to ease your worries. Know how to manage yourself and your stress. Because honestly, I will have no sympathy for those of you who will undoubtably whine about needing to study for your chemistry exam or your business law class for 10 hours straight until 4 in the morning. Because let me tell you now, this is more detrimental than it is good. Proper planning prevents poor performance. Just remember that. Trust me, I’m one of the first people to advocate that having such determination and focus is a great thing, but I’ve also realized that your body can’t run on stress and procrastination. You will crash and you will probably hate yourself for it later. Take the necessary time that you need to take a study break and decompress. Take time to just breathe. Take time to be smart about studying. Finals week isn’t a competition of who stayed up the longest to study.
As someone who tends to stress out and worry rather frequently, finals in fact, are not my worst nightmare. As absurd as this might sound, the last three weeks are usually my favorite three weeks from the entire semester. I’m not saying this because I’m some backward looney, I’m saying this to prove just how manageable finals week can be. The last three weeks of school are usually the most rigorous, focused weeks out of the entire semester. Your professors know what they need to get through, you know exactly what you need to do for each class as assignments wind down, and everything is very focused and streamlined. None of this loosey goosey maybe we’ll do this, maybe we’ll do that business. It’s grind time and everyone knows it. Put the petal to the metal and finish strong. Going into finals week is just like seeing that checkered flag at the end of a race. If you’ve managed yourself though out the semester, you’ll do fine. If you haven’t, well then you’re already out of the race even without having to take the final.
One tidbit of advice that I can give during finals week is just to try and relax. Take every exam one step at a time. And talk to your professors if you have any concerns. Yes stakes can be high during this time of year, but you have to be able to handle yourself throughout finals week to successfully get through it all. Take time for yourself, get enough sleep, and focus on your studies when it comes time to do so. The entire semester is a marathon, and finals week is just a sprint to the finish. If you’ve held yourself together throughout the marathon, you’ll have no problem finishing the marathon strong. If you fell behind halfway through the marathon, the last 100 meter sprint isn’t gong to do you any good. And most importantly, don't let anything or anyone distract you from your race.
Remember not to let yourself fall victim to the campus wide panic and stress blanketing nearly everyone and everything within a 2 mile radius these next few weeks. Hold your own. Focus. And try to keep in mind that finals aren’t the end all, do all. You’ve got this. Now go knock ‘em dead, tiger.
