Happy midterms, everyone! (I seriously hope you read that in a sarcastic voice) Testing in college tends to be quite painful, because it’s as though everything suddenly piles up into one huge mountain—not only do you have the actual tests, but you have big papers to write, important projects to turn in, speeches to give, sporting events to prep for, and on and on. Tears will be shed, a few (or a dozen) mental breakdowns will be had, and thoughts of “who needs college anyway??” will inevitably pop up, but I’m telling you: We’ve. Got. This. As long as we remember to take care of ourselves! Here are a few (ha!) ideas on how to do so.

The Fundamentals:

1. Make sleep a priority. Pulling that all-nighter to study might seem like a good idea in the moment, but when your brain is total mush and you start to channel 21 Jump Street and think chemistry is the one with the shapes, you’ll realize you might have wanted to sleep for a few hours.

2. Eat healthy food that will give you energy (okay, healthy-ish.. I mean, it is exam week—we might need that late night ice cream run purely for our sanity).

3. Do not take what I said above about energy and think that means it’s smart to live off of Red Bull. (But coffee on the other hand... that one might be up for debate.)

4. Get moving! I know working out can be hard enough to do during the regular school year, much less during testing, but seriously, it works wonders. It clears your mind, relieves that stress and anxiety, and lets you be able to come back and focus more intently on your superly duperly fun studies! I just love tests, if you can’t tell.

5.Okay, at least get up and move around a little. If you don’t want to do a full-on workout sesh, then go for a short walk, dance around your room, stretch a bit, something!

The ridiculously long list of other self-care ideas to try:

1. Take a bubble bath. (So basic, I know)

2. Watch one episode of your favorite show on Netflix. Notice how I said ONE EPISODE. Not one season, like I do.

3. FaceTime your best friend that you haven’t seen in a while.

4. Clean or organize your room, your desk, your closet, whatever!

5. Pamper yourself with a DIY facemask, painting your nails, convincing a friend to give you a shoulder massage..

6. Go outside and get some sun! Soak up some vitamin D and rejuvenate in those rays.

7. Read a book for an hour (or less if you’re time-crunched!) that is a total page-turner, sucking you in and making the world around you disappear.

8. Take a break from your late-night studies and go layout under the stars for a bit, getting lost in their expansive beauty.

9. Invest in power naps. (They’re a way of life, people.)

10. Go play with a pet! Hit up a friend with a cute puppy, visit the local humane society, pet a random stranger’s dog while they’re out for a walk…

11. Watch some hilarious vines or videos that make you do the full-belly laugh.

12. Take a quick break to be social—grab a Sonic drink or some Starbucks, or if you can’t bring yourself to take too long of a break, study with them!

13. Have venting sessions with friends where you rant about the professor, how completely unfair and hard they’re clearly being, because it sure seems as though some just do it for giggles.

14. While you’re at it, make time to rant about our whole education system in general, how it’s more focused on the grade/score than it is on students actually learning (obviously, there are some awesome profs who actually do care!!)

15. Do some yoga!

16. Channel your inner six-year-old self, get some Crayons, and color in a coloring book.

17. Go view some art for a short bit.

18. Coffee, coffee, coffee.

19. Okay, okay. Maybe you ought to drink some water, too.

20. Write out your schedule, time-blocking what you need to study and when!

21. Listen to some music, whatever that might be. (Don’t judge me if I do the throw back of N’Sync or Hannah Montana, okay?)

22. Alternate your studies! Don’t study one subject for too long—you’ll start to fadeout, and you won’t retain as much as you would if you switched gears and focused on another topic for a bit.

23. Find your inner six-year-old self again and pop some bubble wrap!

24. Or go all out and play with some Play-Doh.

25. Do a fun Pinterest craft (unless you’re OCD like me and what should take 20 minutes takes 3-4 hours..).

26. Make a bucket list.

27. Make a list of long-term and short-term goals.

28. Let yourself have a good cry (even if it’s a total ugly-cry, mental-breakdown, sob-fest sort of thing like I tend to have during midterms/finals)

29. Turn your phone on airplane mode for a couple of hours (you can do it; I believe in you).

30. Put on some cozy pajamas and fuzzy socks while you study (unless you are in a public place, then that’s just a wee bit weird).

31. Hug someone. Physical contact can be so relieving!

32. Journal! Write, write, write away.

33. Read a trashy magazine.

34. Learn to say no to unnecessary stressors, to things that will get in the way of what you need to do, or simply to things you don’t want to do.

35. Remind yourself that your best is all you can do. Work hard, put in the time and the effort, and leave it at that. All you can do is give it your best shot and then learn and adjust as you receive feedback.