It is that time of the academic year where stress and anxiety are floating in the air as the midterms schedule is announced.
Most people are never ready for this time and this leads them to feeling stressed as they feel like time is running out and they barely know what the subjects are talking about. Thus, they end up in a loop of stress, and getting stressing out about being stressed (if you know you know). But here’s the thing, you need to take a deep breath and pause. Although stress is a normal feeling, too much of it will lead to no good. Therefore, you need to learn how you can de-stress yourself and be less anxious during that time by following these small steps:
- Remember that you always can do it
No matter how hard it seems or how much content you need to study, I assure you that you CAN always manage to do it. Our brains always make a big deal out of things that are not that much of a worry. So always remember, being chill is the key and all you need is time management and sticking to a plan.
- Make a schedule
This is an essential part of your study plan. Making a schedule to organize the subjects you need to study and setting the timings and days according to each subject is absolutely crucial. Start with the easy, light ones so you don’t feel drained right away. However, make sure you take a break after every task; perhaps do something you are find of during the day.
- Sleep well
Staying up late will waste your time without much productivity or progress, so maybe you should use that time to rest your body in order to wake up early and benefit from the daytime you have
- Get a study partner
It’s always comforting when you have someone else who’s involved in the same process as yours. You could motivate each other to stay focused and actually encourage, and cheer for each other whenever needed. If you don’t have a particular friend who can do that, you can always join public study rooms on Zoom/Discord or Omegle.
- Unplug a bit from electronics
Electronics can be very distracting and one of the reasons why you feel stressed out and anxious is because you’re procrastinating and wasting time by using them. Perhaps try to restrict yourself from any device and only use them during breaks. If you need the device to look up something/take notes, etc… then maybe you should turn off all the distracting notifications from applications you shouldn’t be using.
Last but not least, take a chill pill! With some focusing and determination everything can and will be okay.