Life can be crazy stressful at any point, but stress is sure to arise during the height of the school year, also know as midterm season. When you suddenly find yourself buried under tests and papers and wonder how you will have time to even breathe, it can be hard to remove yourself from all that stress. There are a few things I always do both leading up to midterms and during them, and they can all be done throughout the year to ensure the that you feel the most stress free as possible.
1. Do yoga.
Not only is yoga good for your physical well-being, it enhances your mental health too. Yoga is all based off of meditation and breathing, so going through the poses will clear your mind of all its stressful thoughts. There have been studies that show that yogis are more calm on a daily basis, and react better to stressful situations than people who do not practice regularly. After doing a yoga sequence (try Googling specific calming flow sequences), you will feel way more relaxed and ready to conquer the rest of your day or tomorrow with a clear mind.
2. Keep a to-do list.
Keeping a to-do list is something I swear by, because no one can truly stay that organized in their head. Writing down all of the things you have to accomplish puts everything into perspective, instead of having a million thoughts racing in your mind with no order or importance attached to them. Write abstract and concrete things, big and small things, and you'll feel way better about it all. To-do lists also help you to visualize what your day will look like, which decreases stress and uncertainty.
3. Keep an un-do list.
Similar to keeping a to-do list, keeping an "un-do" list puts everything into perspective. This list is more of a mental housekeeping strategy, and helps you to unpack all of your stress. It is fairly easy during midterm season to forget about your mental well-being and the things you must do to stay focused. With an un-do list, you basically write what you should not do, like "procrastinate my English paper" or "let things out of my control bother me." By doing so, you acknowledge your stressors and allow them not to occupy space in your head any longer.
4. Set aside "being time."
During midterms, everyone has so many things to do that they can forget that there are other things going on in the world besides school. Even if you have a paper due tomorrow or a huge test to study for, setting aside some time to just be and not do anything can be majorly helpful. When you're constantly in action, the stress just keeps building and your mind doesn't have the time to realize what it has done, what still needs doing, and what is going on around you. By sitting down and relaxing your mind or thinking about unrelated positive things, like your dog or how nice the weather is, you give your brain a break and can reenter your workload with a clearer mindset.
While some of these strategies may work better for you than others, I can almost guarantee that one of them will help you to feel less like you're carrying the world on your shoulders.
