To all of the fellow student stressed with the first week of classes,
First of all, same. I get it, I love the first day of school when you dress in a cute outfit and your Mom takes a picture for FaceBook to add to all of the other first day of school pictures on our news feed this day. However, after this, after the picture and the good wishes, you are off to actually go to classes and follow through that decorative wall art calendar you made with all of your spare time before classes started. For some, they may breeze through this day, this week, and the entire semester, but for the rest of us, here are some helpful reminders to reduce our stress!
1. Breathe
Yeah, the first thing all professors like to do is go through the entire syllabus and point out every single date you will ever do something in class. Just remember, this will not happen all at once, please stop stressing over the final before you move to page two of the syllabus. Sixteen weeks is a lot longer than one might think. It is important to exhale all of the stress before you can make a productive semester.
2. Get organized
After you breathe a little bit, get those colored pens and daily planner out and ready to schedule the next four months. Once it is all written out all nice and pretty, things seem to feel a little less intense.
3. Take time to relax
It is not called sylly week for nothing, taking time to go out and have fun is so important. Whether your fun includes midnight ice cream trips or dressing up cute and dancing the night away, go for it. Now is the time to go out on that date or meet up with that old friend before you are actually busy, and not just that busy you say when you don't want to hang out with someone.
4. Don't compare yourself to others
It is no shocker that your schedule will be different than your friends, and sometimes yours will just suck. But you gotta do what you gotta do. It's okay if your friends only have one challenging class and all of your classes are a challenge. This does not mean you are in the wrong major or won't succeed, your schedule is just a little different with a few more hours needed in the library.
Inhale and exhale, grab those colored pens, and make this the best semester ever. If your sylly week just came down to you leaving labs and lectures most nights at 10 pm, well welcome to the STEM field but also, it will be okay and well worth it in the future. Remember what you are doing will get you to the next step in your life, and even if the composition of the inside of a clam does not seem too important now, it will lead you in the path you want to go. Stay patient in this part because what to come is so worth it. Besides, who said you can't make sylly week into a sylly weekend? Go grab your friends, put on that cute outfit, and forget about all of the stress (for the night at least).
man running in forestPhoto by 
