It is the fourth week into the school year here at St. Francis and I have come to terms with the fact that I am already tired of school. It is a sentiment shared by many who wake up to the buzz of a cell phone alarm clock, as they look at the time, and have the same conversation with themselves every morning:

"I could just NOT show up today."
"Maybe if I say I got into a car accident... maybe if I ACTUALLY get into a car accident."
"You know, I coughed once last night. I could be deathly ill. Better stay in bed."

By no means is it a bad thing to already feel tired. Many of us are doing more than just school; we are juggling jobs, social lives, mental health, AND school as if they were chainsaws and we're waiting for one of two things to happen.

1. We're waiting for someone to hand us a medal and tell us we can stop juggling now
-OR-
2. We're waiting for one of those chainsaws to lop off an arm so that we have an ACTUAL reason to get out of class tomorrow.

The hard part about being tired and despondent, especially because it's so early in the semester is exactly that; IT IS REALLY EARLY IN THE SEMESTER. Let me be your hypocritical guide on how to get un-tired and keep pushing through this long semester.

1. Admit Defeat
Stop lying to yourself, kid. You've already had to write a couple 5 or 6 page papers about 4 lines of poetry, crammed from your first science test, or stayed up all night to read a dense history book instead of spreading out that reading over a two week period like you were supposed to do. Be honest with yourself, you screwed up somewhere already, and that isn't a terrible thing. You're doing hard work and its alright to have screwed some of it up. Just pick yourself up and learn your lessons, both in and out of the classroom.

2. Treat Yo'self
I mean it, but don't go overboard. It is important that you treat yourself right while you're tackling these next weeks. When you decide you're going to take care of yourself, make sure your prize matches the dedication you put into your work. Do not go on an Amazon shopping spree every time you read a page of your textbook. If you finished your required reading for class, watch an episode of your favorite show on Netflix. If you finished a term paper, go out to dinner with a friend and celebrate!

3. Ask For Help
Whether its to hide a body or hide gross time mismanagement, its never too late (or too early) to ask for help. Ask your friends if they can help you study or stay on track! If y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ your friends are busy, your school has a fantastic group of people who get paid to help you learn and pass your classes. They get paid because they're good at helping you pass your classes. It doesn't take a genius to see why you might want to get help from them.

4. Take a Mental Health Day
This may seem counter-intuitive, but listen to me on this: life gets stressful and sometimes you just have to take a break from life. By no means to I advocate for ignoring your problems the way most of us ignore a notice from the bank when we binge-spend on Taco Bell. Sometimes, it isn't the worst idea to just take a break from your hectic life, especially if you find that stress is eating away at your physical and mental health. Take a day off to do things that are good for you.

5. Make A Game Plan
Any successful person can tell you that its a good idea to plan for everything. It is essential when you plan for the rest of this school year, you plan for EVERYTHING. Studying for a test? Schedule it. Doctors appointment? Set a reminder. Nap time? Yes, plan for nap time. The more you can plan, the more efficiently you operate! And if things change for better or for worse, plan around it as soon as you can.

6. Cry
The world is an overwhelming place and it sucks. Be emotional about it. Let it out because bottling everything up only gets worse. Not the crying type? Find another outlet to vent out frustrations! Try working out, writing, focusing on things your passionate about, l̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶r̶e̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶u̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶f̶e̶, or talk to a trusted friend.

7. Measure Your Successes
Wanna feel really good about yourself? Being humble is great, but make a big deal every time you do something worth making a big deal out of! Brag about how you Aced that Chemistry test you studied for. Call your parents when you find out your professor loved your paper about 18th century Russian politics. Share with the world when you're doing well and make note of your successes and before you know it, you might become your own inspiration. And these successes don't have to be huge. Got out of bed after a bad test yesterday? You earned a gold star. Keep chugging along, friend.

8. Just Do It
Not much more I can say here, folks. Stop overthinking whatever it is you're overthinking about, grab life by the horns, and do whatever it is you need to do.