Hi all,
The time has come! All things final exams, papers and projects are upon us in this last three week stretch of the semester. To say I am not feeling the stress would be a total understatement. I am very much feeling it and have been for probably a week now. For this post it seemed fitting to talk about my go to tips for stress management and how to still live your life despite the approaching deadlines.
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- Sleep! I cannot emphasize enough the importance of sleep. I am a firm believer in the mantra “if it isn’t finished by 10:30 pm, it’s for tomorrow.” This has saved me on so many occasions. At the end of the day, I am not going to be producing excellent work if I am sleep deprived and cranky. If anything, I will be putting out work I will later need to revise or even worse scrap completely! Brains need sleep and allowing your body to sleep rather than staying up all night is not a selfish thing to do. It is just smart practice!
- Eat! Carving out three meal times a day will make study days more smooth and give you something to look forward to! Something I have been doing with my friends recently is we will camp out in a coffee shop (KC Peaches specific to Dublin), and we will have a hearty breakfast and then work in blocks of time. My friend sets a timer for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half and we will work in silence during that time. Once the timer dings, we give ourselves typically a quarter of the “work” time to chat, grab a snack, go on our phones or take a walk. The presence of knowing a break isn’t far away, whether it be a mealtime or just a snack, has made it so much easier to break work into chunks and limit the overwhelming feeling of never ending deadlines.
- Fun! Having an activity, an event, anything to look forward to is key to keeping yourself motivated, happy and in a routine. Personally, I look forward to attending my spin class everyday and have found it to be a great way to take a pause on whatever work I have to do and to get my body moving in a way that suits me. This activity certainly doesn’t need to be exercise based but can be anything that sparks joy. Sometimes I look forward to watching a show (recently it has been Modern Family reruns) or meeting up with friends to hang out. Regardless of the activity, any pause at work is a great way to destress and keep yourself grounded!
I hope these tips have helped you as much as they have been helping me. We will make it through this finals season together!!
Until next week,
Anna Tutek