Written and media by Charley Phillips.
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It is finally here. The homestretch of spring semester. For seniors, it is a bittersweet time of ending their journey at Greenville College. Other students might be planning for their summer break or even thinking about the dreaded finals coming up. Personally, after spring break occurred…my schoolwork went full speed ahead. I was stressed out to the max, going to bed super late (or maybe early morning?) and feeling like I needed to contemplate on whether or my major was the right fit for me.
After a couple weeks passed, my workload thinned out slightly and I am starting to focus on the objectives. Can you believe that finals are almost a month away? Before you start to panic, read through these tips and life hacks to get you to the end of the semester…in one piece, I hope!
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If you do not have one already, it would be best to purchase a planner of some sort. Planning out daily tasks, homework/project due dates, as well as any other important times in an organized manner will help one succeed in the long-run. A plus to these planners is that you can use them for the rest of the year (eco-friendly AND responsible)! Planning your days can also show when you can have a social life. Another great way to look organized is highlighting, using different pen colors, or anyway that changes the look of dates so they all do not look identical! If an exam is coming up…HIGHLIGHT, UNDERLINE, BOLD, or anything that would make you see that date first. This technique can be applied for other prime tasks that might be due soon.
Time management can be carried along with planning your day. We all have done the: “Oh, I have typed half a page of this paper…lets check out Facebook for the 100th time…” deal. This is a great example of poor time management. There are only 24 hours in a day…unless you are constantly up without sleep which is NOT HEALTHY, so use them wisely. I am not saying to deactivate all your social media apps, but more put them aside and focus on that education! I heard in a class one time that “we [as students] do not pay to ‘Facebook’ during class…” which is without a doubt true, and if we are doing so we should have stayed at home.
There is a down-side of surviving the final weeks of the semester, which is trying to study for all your exams, finals, and projects. The majority of teachers say you need “x” amount of time to study outside of class. So hypothetically, if you are taking five 3-credit classes that equals 15 credit-hours. How in the world are we suppose to spend “x” amount of hours on ONE subject in addition to 4 or more other classes students are taking? This was definitely my stress trigger, freaking out that I needed to sleep YET work needed to be completed. Sacrifices I guess. (#carpeDM) When looking on the positives (yes, we all need these) on time management, there will be times where you need to crack down on your studies and the results will be success! Do not let time slip out of your hands, time management and planning your schedule go hand in hand…like PB&J.
At the end of the day, you cannot stress about the semester. To me, that is half the battle.When you are cramming for those exams or editing your life away for a project…take a breather. There are always 5 or 10 minutes to step away from your work and recharge your brain. Stress relief can be any sorts of activities YOU enjoy. Feeling a little tense? Go take a walk around Greenville’s campus or if you are like myself, hit the Annex! Doing something you enjoy can make the most difficult work seem not too bad. If you also feel like crying, let it flow! Do NOT build up your emotions…get a bestie or a mentor you trust and ask to talk to them for a few minutes. (If you need someone, I am always a good listener!) I am sure they would like to hear what is on your mind and help you if needed. A break like this is also a good time to use social media! You can vent with an angry tweet or be happy with a wonderful status that you are finally done with a paper! Either way, just spending a few minutes on Facebook or Twitter (and any other app) can ease your stress.
The last thing about not stressing is realizing that these are ONLY classes. Yes, we are paying a lot of money to attend Greenville but that does not mean Greenville is a life-drainer. Classes are for learning and to make you grow into a successful human being. Let us all be glad we are on the homestretch and almost done with the 2013-2014 school year!
