Welcome to spring aka the most stressful time of the year for any college student.

For some reason, fall semester is a glorious time of beautiful weather, football, and fun holidays. It lasts forever, and you get to go home to Christmas decorations and lots of holiday food.

Spring semester on the other hand is hell. It starts in the dead of winter and when it finally decides to warm up, pollen comes and ruins your life with its yellow haze. January feels like 8 months long and February lasts 3 days.

Midterms sneak up on you and before you know it, spring break is over, and you have a month to get your shit together. You have about 103 sorority events, 5 projects, an internship to secure, finals, and darty season and within the month of April. It is honestly one big cluster storm that comes at you 75 mph with no intention of slowing down.

I am currently running on three cups of coffee and zero cups of food. My legs are not keeping up with my body, my eyes wont move fast enough for my brain, and I have a million things on my to-do list. I have date parties, tests, events, assignments, projects, advising, my job, my other job, and laundry pile that could very well grow legs and fight me. Spring semester is the most stressful time ever.

And as close as I am to a full-blown panic attack, I remember to slow down, sit, and breathe.

School is my number one priority. It is my first job and my greatest responsibly. But I kill myself trying to get everything done. The bags under my eyes, the tightness in my chest, and the gray hairs that pop up unwelcomed are not normal for a 20-year-old. This stress that we put on ourselves to be the best and to get perfect grades and have a social life and get a job is not worth the deterioration of our mental health.

This society has so many expectations for us, it is truly ridiculous. These expectations drive us to the grave and we do it just to get a job after college which is even more stress. I am not saying that we all shouldn’t strive to be the best we can be, not at all. But I do think that we need to slow down a little bit and take a moment to say “I am doing good. The best I can. And that is enough”.

It might sound selfish and not applicable to your busy schedule, but just try. Schedule out two or three hours every week just to lay in bed and watch Netflix, or read a good book, or paint your nails, or go eno outside. Do something that relaxes you, that makes you feel at peace. Put all your stressors and your worries to the side and just breathe. There is no grade, no job, no to-do list that should make you stress so much that you lose hold of your inner peace.

There is balance to everything.

So, for the sake of your mental health, your heart rate, and your over worked planner, take a damn break. School can wait. It can all wait.

You WILL get it done.

You WILL get the grade.

You WILL succeed.

You WILL survive.

Finish out this semester in good standing with your grades and your mental wellbeing. You got this. We both do.