To all the stressed students out there:
#TBT to high school: 8 hour days, waking up at 6 am (ugh) and being in class (sometimes even up to 7 of them) throughout the entire day… rough times right? Even though I’m very thankful that my days are no longer this long, I’m still constantly stressed and overwhelmed with work. Somehow in college, with only a couple classes a day and fraction of the time spent in class, work seems to pile up more than ever before. After a long month off for Christmas break, I felt as if work just picked up right off the bat in January; no introductions, no syllabus week, no slack…just work. The past few weeks for me have been full of exams, labs, papers, drafts, and every other type of graded assignment you could imagine. I definitely feel as if a lot of people are in the same boat, and trust me, it’s really no fun to be overwhelmed. If you’re also on the struggle train, know you’re not alone.
No one tells you this when you start college, but there will be some rough days. There will be days where you have to drag yourself out of bed, getting countless headaches from staring at a textbook that just does not make any sense, dealing with the jitters from drinking one too many cups of coffee, going through late or sleepless nights, and feeling as if you’re just not going to finish your work. There will be many times where you turn in an assignment that you did the day it was due, or get something back that you poured blood, sweat, and tears into only to find that you didn’t do too well. Also, there will be other days where you’re just exhausted (like REALLY exhausted) and all you want is to go on a month long vacation or go back home for a while. Other times, there’s going to be that one person in class who always does does well without trying, that one class that you just can’t seem to do get a good grade in, or that one professor who is just a little too harsh on their students… We’ve all been there.
Feeling defeated by school or grades can put a big damper on your mood because we did come to college to get an education after all. College academics are confusing, challenging, and put us to the ultimate test of our patience. As the year starts to draw to and end, everyone is trying to bring up their grades and maintain them in order to do well. Some of us are trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives (a scary thought) and some of us are starting to see our careers start to unfold and become real. Either way, its a time of pressure, change, and being forced to deal with stress like no other. Even though it seems as if everyone else has their stuff together, trust me, they probably don’t.
If you are stressed right now I want to remind you (and myself) of this: you are enough, you are capable, smart, and gifted. Things have a weird way of working themselves out. I know that when you’re stressed, the last thing on earth you want to hear is that everything will work out or be okay, but it’s true. Although we all may have different assignments, majors, and classes, we have all been in a place where we feel overwhelmed and as if we can’t be good enough to succeed. Each person here has been stressed and doubted their abilities. As we approach the end of the year remember to be aware of others and their own stresses as well as your own. Being a stressed college student is a rite of passage into the world of higher education but hey, you aren’t alone in feeling that way.
So, the next time you are stressed, know that there is nothing wrong with taking it easy and believing that you will make it through alright. Best of luck finishing the rest of the semester!
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