Christmas is personally my favorite holiday, and for most, a very exciting time of the year. The semester is almost done and break -- along with much needed family time and friends -- is right around the corner. But before…finals. The most stressful time of the year. It’s easy to get caught up in studying and feel like there is no time to distress or take care of yourself. While that is often true for procrastinators -- including myself -- it’s important to get to studying and leave time for distress-ers.
1. MAKE A TO-DO LIST
While it may sound like just another tedious task or a way to “productively” procrastinate, having everything that you have to do laid out in front of you is the best way to organize all those things in order of urgency and necessity and not forget anything -- which would just add a ton of stress later. It’s also helpful to make specific lists for each day; that way you’ll have daily goals to accomplish and won’t be able to just put it off to the next day. Having a long list can make you feel overwhelmed at first, but as soon as you check off that first item, you’ll feel motivated to check off more and realize how many things you can actually get done if you set goals for yourself. 
2. SNACK BREAKS
It’s really easy to overeat or forget to eat when stress studying, so a good way to make sure you are staying on top of this is allowing yourself to timely snack breaks. Don’t just have chips next to you while you study. You may feel more productive for doing the two things at once but this generally leads to mindless eating and takes away the “break” part. Allow yourself to have 10-15 minutes of no-study snacking every few hours of studying, of every few chapters -- however you want to organize it.
3. GO FOR A RUN
I know, physical exercise is the last thing you want to do with all these finals weighting you down. Or maybe you really want to, but feel like you don’t have time, which is stressing you out even more. Running is one of the best forms of relieving stress, and often only takes setting aside 20 minutes of your day. Whether you do it when you first wake up, before going to bed, or even in the middle of studying. Throw on some running shows and run a lap on the track, around the building, or even just up and down your street. And if you can’t go outside to run, put on some music and do other forms of at-home exercises.
4. PET A PUPPY
But wait, I can’t have puppies in my dorm. I wish I could. But in the meantime, many schools have a puppy petting event close to finals, in which the students show up and well, pet puppies. Dogs are also a huge form of distressing. 10 minutes of furry love and you’ll be much more calm and ready to do work. And if you can’t get your hands on one, watching videos of them is a close second!
5. BE ARTISTIC
You don’t have to be good, you just have to do it. Any kind of art -- drawing, painting, dancing, playing -- whatever you prefer. Art is a great way to focus on one thing and leave everything else aside, which is sometimes precisely what is needed to distress. So set aside a half hour in between chapter, or however long you think you have without it just becoming procrastination, and go be artistic.
And if none of these work, just remember to keep trying your best and that break is almost here!
