If you’re like me (or any other college student this time of year), then you’re probably about to hit the most stressful part of the year: finals. Finals time is a weird, weird time on a college campus.
For once, it’s not just you who’s stressed about grades/papers/exams constantly – it’s everyone. And while it’s definitely nice to have people around who feel your pain, that campus-wide anxiety can be super taxing after a while, especially when you can’t really leave campus too often (here’s looking at you, Ursinus).
I know we spend a lot of time collectively talking about self-care and how we can manage stress, and some of us even figure out how to not be stressed at all during this time (ok, I definitely made that up, but you get the point). But I think we have to be especially careful about how other people’s emotions can affect us – when you’re living amongst a lot of other anxious, over-worked students, it’s easy to minimize your workload or take on some of the stress that comes from living in this sort of environment. Be mindful not to do either!
I know that’s a lot to ask, especially when the “finals season” seems so long (three weeks, can feel like years when you’ve got 30+ pages to write). Luckily, there are lots of little ways to mitigate stress, even if it’s only for a little while, and hopefully, those’ll help to tide us all over until winter break.
A really, really, good way to keep stress at bay is to do small but nice things for yourself. I know that sounds a little silly, but it’s actually very easy to neglect the smaller ways that we care for ourselves in favor of doing “more serious” work. Every so often I’ll try and remind myself to do something faux-luxurious – maybe I’ll carve out 5-10 mins to paint my nails, or maybe I’ll spend an extra 15 mins in the shower listening to music. They aren’t things that are overly time-consuming or special, but they are things that I enjoy. Let yourself have nice things while you work – you deserve it.
Another way to fight stress is......don’t procrastinate. I know, I know – this is virtually an impossibility. But it can be done! Honestly, as much as I deeply hate doing work in advance, it does have its uses – and it does keep you from completely losing your mind before the due date(s) appear.
And anti-procrastination work isn’t always banging out a whole paper a week before it’s due or something like that – sometimes it’s just thinking about what you intend to do next, sometimes it’s making an outline for an essay – sometimes it’s just planning. Even if you only do little bits at a time, they’ll eventually add up to less work for you later, and less misery and tears stress for you.
In all honesty, a lot of this is going to suck. That’s what finals do – they suck, they sap your interest and your energy, and they make you really, really want to stay home after thanksgiving break. But they’re also possible to get through! It’ll be difficult (I know it will be for me, haha) but it’ll be worth it (and over soon).
Good luck, y’all.
