I long for the day when I will be able to spend my Thanksgiving break enjoying time with my family and putting up Christmas decorations. Currently, as it is my last semester of college, my Thanksgiving break is consumed with stress eating, emotional breakdowns, and calculating just how badly I can fail a final exam while still being able to pass the class.
All in all, while I love being home and spending time with my family, I’m too busy worrying about how I’m going to make it through these last final weeks without losing my mind. I’ve been here before though and seeing as I’ve done this “finals” thing eight times now, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about how the weeks leading up to finals go.
Here are the 10 stages of stressing for finals, as told by "Stranger Things"
1. Denial
You are fine. You’ve got this. You have weeks left to get everything done and nothing and no one is going to stop you.
2. Realization
Ok, so actually, finals are creeping up on you faster than you thought. But you’re still fine. Everything is fine and you’re totally going to get all of your work done in an organized manner instead of waiting to do it all at the last minute like you did last semester (and the semester before that and the semester before that…)
3. Casual dread
You haven’t hit full on panic mode yet, but it’s getting there. It gets worse every time you look at your planner and contemplate all of the work you have left to do. Where did those deadlines come from?
4. Procrastination
If you look at your planner one more time, you are going to go crazy. So, you convince yourself that you need to get things organized/you need a snack/you need a nap before you can actually start doing your work. After all, how are you going to get anything done if you’re unorganized, hungry, and tired?
5. Determination, part 1
Alright. You’re well rested, rehydrated, and organized like you’ve never been organized before. You are more than ready to sit down and do all that work you’ve been putting off for weeks now.
6. Immense dread
You know that casual feeling of drowning you were feeling earlier? Before the excitement and the determination kicked in? That feeling? Yeah, it's back now, but it's worse because now you have even less time to get everything done and you’re not sure you’re even going to make it to the end of the day, let alone the end of the month.
7. Determination, part 2
Actually, you can do this. You aren’t paying all this money and suffering through all this crap just to be taken down by a few papers and a thousand daunting due dates. You are going to return to your work with renewed vigor and prove to everyone that you are that organized student you told your family you were during Thanksgiving break.
8. Resignation
You done screwed up. There is no way you are going to get all this done by the due date, and even if you somehow manage a miracle and get it all sorted out, it's not going to be your best work. At least you still have time to marry rich and forsake college altogether.
9. Finals
The week is upon you. You’re tired, running solely on coffee and dread, and you’re not sure you’ve slept more than three hours in the past week, but that is not going to stop you from going in to take that final.
10. Relief
Whether or not you actually passed doesn’t matter anymore. You’re done. You can sleep and eat like a normal human again. You're going to go home and tell your parents you love them and hope they don't check your grades until you're safely back in your dorm for the start of the next semester.