Finals week is accompanied by many deadlines for your essays and projects, on top of any exams you might have to complete. Here are some tips to stay on top of everything and manage your stress 🙂
- Remember where we’re at in the semester – you’re so close to being done with the semester! It’s taken a lot of hard work to get here, and that hard work doesn’t stop during this week. However, you’ve reached the last stretch, so give it your all and let that power motivate you!
- Prioritize sleep at night (and maybe even the occasional nap) – keep your mind sharp by sleeping enough at night, and reward your hard work with a nice afternoon nap if you need! Sleep will keep you on task and feeling more refreshed if you focus on getting enough of it.
- Take breaks – don’t force yourself to study, write, or work for hours on end. You’ll only end up exhausting yourself. Set aside a time limit to spend working/studying (1-2 hours), and then go take a break and grab Starbies before you get back to it!
- Be mindful about the time you’re not spending studying – if you’re choosing to give your brain a break from studying, find something aside from doom scrolling to do. Turn on your favorite Christmas movie, take a shower, go to the gym, meet with friends at the dining hall, or find other miscellaneous things to do to fill your time (return your textbooks, do some Christmas shopping, or just find something to do to be productive!)
- Create a to-do list – as high maintenance or silly as it sounds, to-do lists can make you feel SO much relief when you’re overwhelmed with the amount of work you have. It can make you feel like you CAN really manage your work and study load. You don’t need a fancy planner either; just log it in some scrap notebook paper!
Just a friendly reminder that, as much as finals week can feel like your final week, it’s one step closer to graduation; all of your blood, sweat, and tears will be rewarded by a winter break, so work hard now and soak it up later!
Sending the Millersville community good luck with their final week of the semester!
~ Lauren
