With spring break come and gone, there are only a few weeks left before summer break. For most Mizzou students, spring break is the only time off during the spring semester. With it falling so late in the year, the second half of the semester ends up being barely over a month long.
Students everywhere are starting to feel this end-of-semester time crunch. Whether it’s time to start studying for a final exam, doing readings to prepare for an essay or starting a project that will soon be due, many students can be distracted and lack motivation. From the warmer weather to parties, gatherings and other events, finding time to focus on schoolwork can be hard.
I know that I still stress out during finals even though I’ve been through it multiple times now. Yet at this point, I know what I can do to stay organized and on top of my work. I can push myself through the rest of the semester and stay focused on the present.
While many students may be feeling overwhelmed, there is a silver lining. Here are some ways you can reduce the end-of-semester stress and anxiety.
Know Your Best Study Habits
Start preparing now for the semester’s end. Organize content. Schedule deadlines and project dates in a planner. Take advantage of office hours with professors and TAs and attend study sessions if they are offered.
Finding a place for you will be the most proactive. If that means bouncing around to different coffee shops to study or sitting in a quieter setting like your school library, or the comfort of your room, find what works best for you and organize your study space. An organized space creates an organized mind. Decide the best place(s) for you to study. Be aware of the most energetic and alert times of the day and night, when you find you’re best able to focus and retain information.
Take study breaks!
As I mentioned, the weather is warming up and there’s a lot more to do outside. Take advantage of this weather for your study breaks to ease the mind. Staying active during these breaks will allow you to shake all your jitters out. The benefits of exercise for stress management are well-established. But for students, scheduling exercises can be difficult. Whatever you decide to do in your study breaks, schedule them. Having that plan will allow you to not overwork yourself and remember how helpful breaks can be.
Monitor Your Mindset
If we lose sight of a healthy mindset, where does that lead? It’s worthwhile to take a moment to step back from the piled-high desk and review how you’re mentally handling each situation. Pretend you’re standing outside your window and looking in on yourself sitting at that desk, pounding your head on the keyboard. What would you tell that person who is beating themself up over the final paper?
Shifting our perspective helps us make choices in how we handle stress. Sometimes, we just need to see that we’re allowing ourselves to become carried away and then we can do something about it. To have a less frantic mindset, we can practice shutting off the out-of-control panic and examine the reality of the situation. A quote by actress Goldie Hawn explains this practice well.
“Stress is something that’s created in the mind, basically,” Hawn said. “It’s how we look at things. So our greatest defense against stress is the ability to change our minds; to change our thinking.”
Stay healthy
Staying healthy can take many different forms. For me, it ranges from getting enough sleep every night to making sure I’m still eating and staying active, all of which are super important to push through the rest of the semester. Stress can lead people to avoid all of this and other healthy habits, depending on the situation. So, don’t let stress win. You can be at the top of your game and crush the rest of the semester!
A smart sleep environment is necessary. College students should be getting around 7-8 hours of sleep each night! Power naps are effective in restoring and rejuvenating brain energy. Hitting the snooze button is not effective, nor is rushing.
What we ingest has a direct effect on the brain as well as body function. Food is the brain’s fuel and without it, you could find yourself lagging and experiencing fatigue.
Learn to say “no”
As the semester wraps up and students begin to realize all of the items they have left on their to-do list, it may seem overwhelming. So, when you are asked to do additional things, learn that it is appropriate and okay to politely decline and say “no” within reason. While it may not be beneficial for people to say no to work that needs to be done in a group project or assisting in finding resources for a paper, it is okay to decline additional tasks that aren’t personally beneficial. Don’t agree to do something that requires too much time or energy to accomplish, especially if that time and energy could be used on your to-do list.
This list provides just a few ways to deal with stress. On and off-campus, there are many other resources to help you manage the end of the semester, work or anything else that you may be dealing with. The Mizzou Counseling Center is always a great option to start with if you think you need some support.
Know that you are not alone. You are surrounded by people dealing with similar situations. Students, faculty and staff all have to worry about finals, whether that means grading hundreds of students’ papers and exams or staying awake for long hours studying for exams or writing papers.
In the words of actor Rob Schneider, “You can do it!”