Finals week can drain many students, especially if there are more than three exams in the week. I am a senior and I still struggle with stress and anxiety during finals week. I am currently studying for five finals that are all in-person and are mostly science and language courses. So I know what it’s like to not know how to recover or still feel stressed about final grades or other personal matters. It is important to take this time for yourself and give yourself time to recover mentally and physically.
A good friend of mine from Germany told me a phrase, “When you feel stressed or think you failed, take a self-care Sunday.” This phrase resonates with me: taking a step back and just caring about your mental health and doing something that gets your mind off of the stressor. Self-care does not need to happen on a Sunday, of course, but I do like the phrase and sometimes you do need to step back and think about yourself. If you do not take that recovery period, you may experience severe burnout and before you know it, the next semester comes and you are still recovering.
My first year in college was while in quarantine and my finals weeks were terrible. I had no idea how bad they were or how stressful studying could be. After my third or fourth finals week, I started to figure things out. After finals, I would be a wreck and my family would try to give me a bit of a break for the first week when I got home. I definitely needed it but was still stressed. I learned that stressing over something that you studied days for, and you tried your best at is useless. Even if you failed or did not get the grade you were aiming for, it is not the end of the world. Yourself is what really matters and you cannot beat yourself up over something that is out of control once you leave the campus for break.
After finals week I like to sleep the next day and take a personal day for myself just to clear my head. The next few days after that, I will try to reconnect with family and friends or do things I did not have the opportunity to do during the semester. Depending on what semester, you may have the whole summer to recover or just a short month of recovery for the Christmas and new year’s holidays. No matter how long the break, just remember to take time to care for yourself and take multiple self-care Sundays if needed.