It’s the week before finals start. You’ve just finished classes and are now looking forward to the big day when you’ll test and see if you’ve actually learned anything this semester. It’s probably the first time you’ve ever had to take a single test worth 40% of your grade and that is terrifying. The pressure is immense. As with all things college related, it’s tempting to let the stress overwhelm you until you manage to get some studying, reading, or practice problems done.
Don’t.
College can be a tense time, but the stress of academic work and social situations shouldn’t be the aching constant in your life. It’s unhealthy to think that being under that much pressure every week of the semester is normal. In my short time here, I’ve met people who wholeheartedly believe that the stress from school work is just a part of what we sign up for as college students.
It isn’t.
Taking care of yourself is so important. While it might seem that the paper you’re trying to finish at 2 a.m. is the only thing that matters, I can tell you that’s not true. Forgetting to shower, missing meals, and losing sleep in the name of “learning” is not healthy. It’s not the right way to go about college and the long-term effects of this attitude are plenty.
Scrolling through my Facebook account this past week I saw some troubling posts scattered amongst the videos of cats and Adele’s "Hello" music video. As their status, the pinnacle of social media expression, someone had posted “Pain is temporary but GPA is forever.” There it was, burnt into the LED backlight of my screen.
GPA is not the most important thing in the universe. In high school, it was so common to aggravate over your grades because they were deemed as a necessary to get into college. I can’t honestly say I didn’t worry about my grades, because I really did, but I had hoped that once I got to college that kind of high pressure mindset would dwindle away. Sure, I knew that there’d be people who’d still work themselves to death seeking a good GPA for medical school or law school, but I assumed it’d be a minor portion of the student body that I wouldn’t see. That didn’t end up being the case. When a prominent school publication also published a blog post with the same saying, it made me worry about the culture being created in the last couple weeks of the semester.
Claiming that pain is temporary when compared to a good GPA seems dangerous and unhealthy, mostly because it proves untrue. An environment that stresses losing sleep and risking your mental health for the sake of scoring a few points higher on a final exam is not one that any student body should strive to create. So, this finals season, I urge everyone to take some time for yourselves and practice essential self-care.
You’ve been studying for three hours? Take a break to watch that new Jennifer Lawrence movie everyone’s been talking about.
Stuck on that final paper you’ve been writing for the last two weeks? Half an hour of Netflix will get your brain out of its rut and you’ll be able to finish it up in no time after.
Two of your final exams are scheduled on the same day? Treat yo self. Skip the dining hall and grab dinner at a nice restaurant a few days before your exams.
Make sure that your mental and emotional health aren’t being compromised while you study for exams. Your grades and GPA are not what you’re expected to give to this world. You, in all your complexity, are what this world is expecting, needing, and relying on. Take care of yourselves.
