#midterm stress

[mediocrityisoverrated]

I was 100% sober when I made the decision to buy this. I have no regrets.

[mccreesgayhusband-blog]

Midterm Stress~

Beginning the studying for midterms and it already feels like a mountain of information I will not be able to cram into my head. Doing my best, though it feels like an uphill battle. Anxiety not helping >.> I need a McCree hug, TBH.

[madamemimic]

i swear to god i am going to have an autistic fucking meltdown in this goddamn classroom. i am Going Insane i hate it here

[aubadeempress]

My current academia vibe is the rage of lack of sources on my research topic

[signify-nothing]

Like I get that he was The Shit™ of the seventeenth century but I fucking hate John Donne and his insipid little horny-man poems.

[sextingwithsartre]

This is gonna make no sense.

But I remember learning as a child that sea turtles have their eggs in the sand and when they hatch they have to make it to the sea okay and on their own (or maybe with their siblings I don't really know). The sea shore is a really scary place for baby turtles though, or it can be. There are seagulls and people and just a bunch of obstacles that keep the babies from their goal. Usually just a few make it.  

Well I feel like we're all baby turtles that made it. But we picked up some scars along the way, like the sand or the rocks were too coarse or a crab bit us along the way. 'Cause I feel like we all just ended up in the ocean and now that we're here we finally have time to reflect on the journey we had to take here and we realize all that we've endured? Or how deep the scars we have now are? 

I'm so proud of us and I want us to be there for each other as we're in the ocean.

[studentsupportnetwork]

Yes, we are well aware of how awful these days leading up to reading week can be for students.  We too feel the almost crippling anxiety that seems to come hand in hand with the plethora of midterms and assignments thrown students’ way just prior to reading week.  Why do professors all decide to make everything due on the same days?  Why do they all schedule their midterms within the same week, or even on the same days?  Do they not talk to one another about these things?  One will never know the answers to these questions really.  We’ve all just grown accustomed to having no social lives or fun of any kind leading up to reading week; spending all of our time in the library cramming for midterms or racing to complete an assignment before a deadline.  

But fear not!  There are things you can do to alleviate some of that pressure and stress! It is important to de-stress every once in a while, especially during peak midterm season.  There are many different ways one can practice self-care, and self-care is defined differently for every person.  We all have special little things that we do to escape the hardships of our lives from time to time, to unwind and relax and forget about our worries.  In case you were looking for ideas for new self-care activities, or just are confused about what exactly self-care is, here are some examples:  

Catch up on some of your favourite TV shows you’ve been missing out on, or watch a movie you’ve been meaning to watch for a while.  Sometimes nothing feels better than just letting you’re mind go completely blank while watching guilty pleasure television (e.g. The Bachelor, The Vampire Diaries, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Pretty Little Liars, etc.)

Go for a run or a jog!  Sometimes the best way to clear your head is to move your body and redirect your emotions away from your anger towards your brain for its inability to retain an entire textbook of information.  But in all seriousness, a quick workout can be great stress relief and is good for you to boot

Journal a little, or write some poetry, or a short story, or a song; whatever floats your boat!  Focus on an activity that isn’t work for a little while, even if it’s just for 15 minutes or so.  It allows you to use your mind in a different way that could actually prove to be beneficial to your studying later on (maybe? I don’t know)

Listen to music and have a little dance party!  Seriously, even if it’s just for a few minutes, it could really help your overall mental health.  Let your mind relax and take a dance break from all the stressing and worrying for a while.  It’s important to take care of yourself, and music can help remind you of better times when you weren’t studying constantly

Hang out with friends, do something social!  Maybe get together with some friends for a quick bite to eat, everyone’s got to eat right?  Your friends can be amazing at helping to distract you from your studying anxiety, even if it’s just for a little while.  No one can cheer you up and make you feel better like they can

Hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of how to better care for yourself during these dark times of pre-reading week midterms and assignments.  There are so many things you can do to cheer yourself up at times of hardship, and everyone is different in terms of what makes them feel better.  It’s okay to be different, being different is awesome!  That’s a whole other topic for another day, but the important thing is that you do what’s right for you.  No one knows how to take care of you better than, well… you.  So good luck from the SSN team on the remainder of your semester, and don’t forget to not let stress and tests get the best of you because you’re awesome :)  

-Reece F.