So, the time is currently upon us. After a relaxing weekend Thanksgiving break filled with over-eating and crashing on the couch, the countdown has OFFICIALLY BEGUN until our LONG Christmas break!

...and I think I can speak for all of us when I say it could not come at a better time. After an exhausting Fall semester filled with late nights, chugging coffee and KickStarts, tears, and running on pure adrenaline I think we all deserve some couch time to veg and eat away our fears with Christmas cookies and goodies.

However, before we can take part in such well-deserved heavenly goodness, we must focus on the duties of being a college student and come to terms with the last major event of our semester: FINAL EXAMS.

This is the time where most of us tend to feel like we are losing our minds, or feel spread so thin that we just want to crawl under the covers and never come out. But it is important during this time to stay focused, calm, and organized to successfully ace every exam before Christmas break!

So here are 5 Easy Steps to De-Stress Before Final Exams:

1. Make "Me-Time" an Essential Part of Each Day.

Whether it be 10 minutes on the bus to class, a 30-minute nap, an hour break from homework, or simply taking 5 minutes to sit still and take a few deep breaths - "Me Time" needs to be a CRUCIAL part of your day-to-day to routine. It is the one point in your schedule where you do not have to worry about your friends, parents, teachers, or due dates, but just three very important people: Me, Myself, And I. Take this time to check in with your breathing, your heart rate, any aches and sores in your body and try to release them.

If sitting still isn't your thing, pick up that remote and crash on the couch and turn on your trash Reality television -- you deserve it homie. Started a new Netflix series you can't look away from? Keep watching, no one is stopping you. Take a shower, put on some jams, enjoy this time for YOU.

2. Aromatherapy - Get that Smell Good

I am a firm believer of aromatherapy -- the study of how smells affect the brain and soul. Valerie Gennari Cooksley, writer of Aromatherapy: Soothing Remedies to Restore, Rejuvenate, and Heal wrote:

“Aromatherapy is more thoroughly defined as the skilled and controlled use of essential oils for physical and emotional health and well-being. Science is now confirming what has been known for centuries: essential oils have healing properties on both physical and emotional levels. Absorbed through the skin and via the olfactory-brain connection through inhalation, they have been considered among the most therapeutic and rejuvenating of all botanical extracts throughout the ages.”

Dim your lights, and light your favorite scent. Whether it be lavender, fresh linens, eucalyptus or lemon, let the scent calm you.

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3. Get Physical!

As cliche as it sounds, physical exercise is a fantastic way to relieve stress, plus lose weight before you gain it all back on Christmas goodies! Now I'm not saying you have to be #SWOLE or #RISEANDGRIND, take a walk, try taking the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, look up on Youtube some fun Zumba workouts.

Here's a video that is great for a quick workout:

4. Find Yourself Through Yoga & Meditation

Now trust me, I'm no human pretzel myself but there is something about slower stretches with deep breaths that is shockingly calming. Although "finding your center" and "aligning your suns and moons" sounds like some pretty psychadelic stuff, this goes hand and hand with finding your "me time." Try it out, find a comfy rug and you align those suns girl.

5. Get lots of REST.

This is the best part of this article right.... the piez de resistonce!? Sleep is NOT for the weak people... it is very much for the strong and healthy. Put your mind at ease, rest your body and your soul and go for that R.E.M.

And with these 5 steps you should be on your way to a stress-free Finals week!! Remember, never forget ME TIME, get lots of rest and yoga practice, and get some nice smelly things to put around your dorm.

Namaste people, Christmas is just around the bend!