Throughout college I’ve been a good student, got my work done days ahead of time, was in class at least five minutes early every day, and was on the honor roll every semester. But now that I’m in my last semester, I’ve found it a lot harder to do these things. Make no mistake, senioritis is real!
At this point I’ve got just over two months left until I graduate and am done with school forever (hooray for not being in a major that requires graduate school!). As the days dwindle down, so does my motivation for...well, everything.
I wake up in the morning wondering whether I really need to wake up and go to work and school. I finally manage to drag myself out the door ten minutes before class starts and am lucky if I ever get to class on time. I’m tempted to skip every day. I’ve done the bare minimum for almost all of my homework assignments thus far.
The struggle is truly real.
That’s the thing though, I’ve got TWO months left. I’m almost there and somehow I’ve got to push myself to keep going. So how do I beat senioritis when really all I want to do at this point is lay around watching "The Office?" There are a few things I try to keep in mind.
1. How much I paid to go to college in the first place.
We all know college is way overpriced. I was lucky enough to have my mom help me to pay my way through school. If I didn’t finish at this point, I would have wasted all her money and that would make me a terrible person.
2. How much blood, sweat, and tears I put into this.
That’s not an exaggeration. There was more tears leading up to this point than I could ever explain. There was certainly a lot of sweat from walking back and forth across Towson’s huge campus when it’s 100 degrees outside. And believe it or not there was actually blood. You’d be surprised how many paper cuts I’ve gotten from a syllabus.
3. I’ve already bought my cap and gown.
And that also wasn’t cheap. Honestly, after everything they put us through, caps and gowns should be free.
4. When I finally graduate I’ll be able to have the career I want.
I’ve always wanted to be a writer and journalist. Without being at college and learning everything I have over these past four years, there is no way I would be able to do this. I’m extremely lucky to have the means to do what I want with my life.
Even knowing these reasons why I can’t possibly give up now, it’s still extremely difficult to get out of bed in the morning. So here are a few things I do to make my days somewhat easier.
5. Go to bed early.
I’m a crazy insomniac who stays up until 1 a.m. looking at memes on Instagram but unfortunately, that doesn’t help me very much in the end. I’ve started going to bed early and that has helped me immensely. It makes it physically and mentally easier to get through a long day of classes you’re totally sick of.
6. Make a planner and stick to it.
I’ve been keeping a planner since high school although I haven’t always been very good at sticking to it. I find that sticking to a planner makes things seem less overwhelming and when you space things out and don’t wait to do it, you have more free time to do what you want.
7. Take time for yourself.
This is especially important now. While you may be super excited about graduating, it’s also really daunting. There’s the existential dread about what’s going to happen next, whether you’ll find a good job, and hoping you won’t be your parent’s biggest disappointment on top of all the school work that now seems totally irrelevant. Relax, take a deep breath, and make time for you.
8. Push yourself until the end.
This is what it comes down to. The end is almost here and it’s just outside of your grasp. Make yourself keep going because the rewards at the end are going to be sweet.
