It’s the season of stress with exams, and the holidays arriving. Not to mention, there is homework, jobs, and family obligations that simultaneously want our attention, with so little time to do it all. So, how do we deal with it all? Here are four tips that will ease the rising feeling of panic.
1. Sleep: According to the National Sleep Foundation, young adults (18-36) need about seven-nine hours of sleep. If you do not sleep you will absolutely get nothing finished that you set out to accomplish for the day, as well as not having the required amount of energy you need to deal with the holidays and finals. So sleep. If that means at midnight you stop everything that you’re doing to sleep, do that. It’s okay.
2. Get your MOST Important Tasks Finished First: Yeah, I’m saying to stop procrastinating. Just get all of your last minute assignments, current assignments, essays, and projects finished or at least started. When you do this, you have all the time in the world to do the activities that you enjoy, and you’re able to be mentally present during the holidays. This eases a lot of the feeling of panic, because once one holiday is finished, it’ll steamroll right into finals and you’re hyperventilating that you have so much to do.
3. Start Studying for Finals Ahead of Time: This piggybacks off of getting your most important tasks finished first. With all of the homework, essays, and projects coming up, it’s important to start reviewing the material now, not the night before the exam. I’m not saying all of it at once, but just a little bit at a time will help you. If your final is cumulative (yikes) begin by creating flash cards, highlighting notes from the beginning of the semester or quarter, and do the same if your final is only on the material covered after the mid-term, just a little at a time will go a long way.
4. Early Arrangements: This is important if you’re non-traditional student and a traditional student. Get your clothes ready and picked one to two nights before, meal prep in advance, put all of your textbooks, homework in your bag the night before. Doing this gives you more time to give yourself self-care, which lowers that feeling of stress.
These tips are practical and can be easily applied to whatever you have been doing to survive the semester or quarter thus far. The end of the year is quickly approaching and there is a lot that has to be done, but that doesn’t mean you have to do everything at once or perfect, just take a step back, close your eyes and breathe. You can do this and you will survive until the end of the year.
XOXO, Sheena J.