When the end of a semester is coming, things can feel a bit overwhelming; a gazillion tests to study to and essays to finish, friends to see and a very limited number of glorious hours of sun to catch. Here are a few hands-on tips on how to calm down and what to do to feel like you have control over the time you actually have:
- Breathe. At times when you have way too much to do and way too little time: take a moment and breathe. It might sound like a waste of time but taking a couple (or ten) deep breaths will calm you down and hopefully see things a bit more clearly.
- Visualize. Now, to get a sense of order, make a list of the things you need to do in the near future. That way you can see what you have to do first (and the feeling of checking something off a list is really satisfying!). Looking at your list, think if there is something you can take off it. Maybe there’s something you can ask someone else to do for you, or something you can do when things have calmed down a bit?
- Find your productive time. Do stuff when you’re at your most productive. For many, it feels good to do important stuff first thing in the morning, but if you’re more of a night owl, maybe the evenings are better.
- Schedule. In crazy times, schedule everything from cram sessions, essay writing and chores to fikas with friends. That way you can watch a couple of episodes of your fave Netflix show in the evening without feeling guilty – because you know you’ve done what you need to for the day.
- Decide to be done. Speaking about being done, a huge contributor of stress for a lot of students is the feeling that you can always do more: read more, write more, rewrite to make a text better. To avoid that, make a decision on how many hours/words/whatever fits your assignment you can put on your assignment. Do it, and when you feel done, be done with it, without the usual anxiety.
- Sleep. This one might seem a little contradictive – you want more time, not less, right? But the thing is that getting up early and staying up late rarely makes for productive days. Also, it’s not great for your health; when you sleep is when your body heals. Put in your 7–8 hours of sleep every night and you’ll cope with stress (and life in general) much better.
