Congratulations! You have almost survived the fall semester of 2016! In just a few short days, all of the assignments you have been hastily throwing together will be turned in, and you will be finished. Soon, you can go home for the holiday season and not have to worry about school for three to four weeks. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
Just imagine it: In a few short days, you can be laying lazily on a couch, reading a good book while sipping Yogi tea (maybe that’s just my dream). Or, you can sleep for twelve hours straight as you have wanted to do all semester long.
No longer will you have to wake up crazily early for eight o’clock morning classes; you will no longer have to pull all-nighters just to finish up a term paper or a big project; no more last minute presentations thrown together the morning its due: just sleep and beautiful freedom.
A little bit of advice, though: Do not spend these last few days of the semester dreaming about the upcoming Christmas season. Work hard to get all of your assignments in on time. Summon all of your strength to finish this semester strong, or you might regret your laziness later when your parents ask “How were your grades this semester?” Now, pulling out last minute A’s is extremely difficult to do if you have not worked well all, or most, of the semester, so don’t be surprised if your C’s cannot miraculously turn into A’s overnight.
All that matters at the end of the semester is that you are content with how hard you worked to get the grades you earned. After all, isn’t that why we are all in college – to prepare for the future? As a perfectionist, I have trouble accepting anything less than A’s, but college is a learning experience, and I have had to face the facts that life does not always end in perfection, no matter how much I would like it to go my way. In the end, all we can do is try our best and learn to accept the hard lessons of life that attempt to knock us down.
The truth is, getting knocked down is not the worst thing ever; getting back up is difficult, but staying up is the hardest task of all.
Teach yourself to focus on what you can learn from difficult situations instead of worrying over what went wrong. That way, you can be prepared to stand up strong next time a challenging task comes along and threatens to knock you down flat.
So relax. The semester is almost finished. Soon, you will be able to spend all the time you want hanging out with friends and family and doing all of the things you do all semester, and you can watch Netflix without feeling guilty for not working on homework instead.
You did it. You survived. Now go finish strong!