The end of the semester looms closer and closer. By the time you’re reading this, there will likely be only a few weeks of school left—probably less than that. And with this time crunch comes stress, panic and anxiety about both academic performance and finishing the year.
For seniors, these last few days may be bittersweet. For the rest of us, they’re mostly bitter.
Here are a few survival tips for making it through finals week and the end of the semester without going insane.
NUMBER ONE: Put. Down. The Redbull. I know it’s tempting to juice up with enough caffeine to kill a horse, but there are so many better energy alternatives. Even the best students have a hard time making it without some form of energy, but try reaching for teas or natural caffeine instead of actual battery acid. You’ll feel energized, but less jittery. And if you have the strength, forgo late-night caffeine altogether, as literally everyone knows by now that it ruins your sleep schedule and throws off your whole body’s rhythm. We all know that caffeine is bad for us, and none of us care right now. But I promise that that Celsius is only going to make you more stressed and lead to an insane crash in about two hours.
NUMBER TWO: Plan out your entire day, by the hour. I know this is a little psychopath-y, but if you’re panicking about how much you have to get done and when, this is actually a good way to portion it out. When you know what you’re working on and when, you don’t feel decision or priority paralysis and panic about what to study first. Planning is your best friend right now. Even if one insane all-nighter feels like the easiest thing to do, portioning out your tasks evenly throughout the week will ensure you do your best work under the least amount of stress.
NUMBER THREE: Don’t let that Bible get dusty while your other books are open. Finals can feel like the literal only thing happening in the world at the time, but we sometimes need to bring it back into perspective. Cracking open your Bible in between study sessions is a good reminder that you are loved by God, regardless of your GPA. While grades are definitely important, they aren’t a display of our value or character. Thankfully, we won’t have to submit a transcript to get into heaven. The work we do is hard, and it does have value, but we should be careful not to place it above our relationships with God and others.
NUMBER FOUR: Just grit your teeth and do it. Finals suck, but let’s be so for real: you could be working at a Dairy Queen right now. You’re so close to being done, don’t take your foot off the gas now! We are tasked with running with endurance the race set before us, and we’re in the last few meters. Buckle down and finish strong! Summer (and sleeping in) is right around the corner.