Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo

Stages of An All-Nighter As Told By New Girl

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter.

We’ve all been there. For whatever reason, you waited to study for that midterm worth 40% of your grade, or you forgot about that 20-page research paper due in the morning. So you pulled an infamous all-nighter in order to get the dreaded work done. Here are the stages of an all-nighter, as told by New Girl:

 

The Realization

You looked at your planner and it hits you: this is going to be an all-night task. The first stage for me is anger. Sure, I did this to myself, but societal norms are the reason I’m in college at all – so who’s really to blame?

The Prep

You line up your pens, you get a fresh coffee and some snacks, you pick a bomb study playlist, your textbooks are out, and your electronics are fully charged… you’re sorta hyped. You’re thriving, but note – this feeling will not last.)

The Distraction

There’s suddenly nothing in the world more interesting than the work you’ve already spent so much time avoiding. I mean, there was a reason you were avoiding it in the first place, right? This leads to the least productive hour or so of your life. You’re physically incapable of starting work until you’re completely up-to-date on every form of social media the Internet has to offer, and you may have browsed a Wikipedia article or two about Bitcoin just to stay with the times.

The Work

You’re doing it. You’re actually making progress. Go you!

The Wall

You’re tired, angry, hungry, and incapable of completing anymore work – a necessary break is coming.

The Crazys

You’re exhausted and officially the mayor of Crazy Town. You’re singing, you’re laughing at everything, you’ve taken 40 photos of yourself using the dancing grandma filter on Snapchat – all traces of your sanity have fled.

The Nap

Whether you planned it or it’s an accident, you definitely fall asleep on your textbooks for a while, resulting in a nap that’s simultaneously too long and too short.

The Second Wind

This is it – the last stretch. You pretend to be full of spirit in order to complete this work, and you know that if you can do this, then you can do anything.

The End

You’ve survived the all-nighter and completed your work. You’re out of energy and morale, but who cares? You also plan on never doing this again, but know deep down you’ll go through it all again next month.

 

GIFs via Giphy

Brittany Sherman is a junior at Penn State, majoring in Criminology with minors in Psychology and Political Science. She is a workaholic, avid TedTalk watcher, and Leslie Knope wannabe. She also makes bomb banana bread, and dreams of casually running into Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Allie Maniglia served as the Campus Correspondent for Her Campus at Penn State from 2017-2018. She majored in public relations with minors in international studies and communication arts and sciences. If she's not busy writing away, you can find her planning her next adventure (probably back to the U.K.), feeding an unhealthy addiction to HGTV or watching dog videos on YouTube.