It’s that time of the year again! For college students and even high school students like you, the months of April and May are jam-packed with assignments, quizzes, projects, plans, and final exams. Yes, this happens all year round for you, but in these two months, everything seems to pile up and be due around the same time. This probably makes you want to pull your hair out, scream, or maybe even drop out. Times like these during the school year really make you question your ability to do things, your future, and whether you can even make it through another semester or not.

Don’t fret though! You are completely capable of handling the end of the school year stress. You just have to believe in yourself. Of course, believing in yourself is easier said than done, just like most things are. To make it a little easier though, don’t lose sight of what your goals are. College is a very challenging thing to conquer and it may not be as challenging to one person as it is to another. Some may have the added stress of working full time, taking care of children, financial struggles, mental and physical health problems, and so on. Things like this make college a lot harder than it already is. Although that these added problems may make college seem unbearable, always look at your goals. Your goal may be to finish college to start your dream career, give yourself a new life, prove to yourself you can take on a challenge, or simply just to prove to yourself that you can make it through anything. Keeping whatever your goal is in mind while you struggle through the end of the semester can keep you motivated and on the right track even when life gets hard.

Something that people forget to do many times during the hard time of the end of the semester is to take care of themselves. Yes, I understand that the high demands that deadlines put you in pretty much leaves you no room for “you” time, but please, take the time to make time for yourself. This will help you relieve stress and stress is something that makes pretty much everything a lot harder than it already is. Take one to two hours of your day to enjoy yourself. Go for a walk, read a book, watch some television, or do whatever makes you happy or feel relaxed. This will help you unwind and refresh your mind. Also, please remember to get some sleep. Sleep is so important during these times of stress. It helps your brain function properly and gives you the energy to get up and do the things you have to. Don't stay up to cram for a test. You might end up forgetting what you crammed or just completely stress yourself out even more and lose sleep for no reason. It is best to set yourself a study schedule to avoid losing beneficial sleep and having no time to do anything else.

School assignments and tests may not be the only thing going on around this time of the year. It also may seem like your friends are planning a lot more outings and trying to get you to go out more than usual. For me, it is very hard to resist the urge to go out and have fun with my friends instead of study or work on school assignments. I always try my hardest to persevere through those urges though. It is okay to go out with your friends from time to time because you can’t be studying and working on assignments too much or you will just end up very stressed. However, you must still keep a healthy balance between how much you hang out with your friends and how much you work on school. You do not want to make the mistake of always going out or you will end up doing a lot of last minute studying and procrastination. Also, keep in mind that your friends will more than likely understand that you are busy with school and will be completely fine with you missing out on plans because of it. You can try to make plans with them later on after the semester is over. You can also tell them to let you know about plans ahead of time, so you can plan out when to study and work on assignments before your plans with your friends.

These next few weeks may be very hard and stressful. Being a student, whether you are old, young, full-time, or part-time, is a very challenging thing to be. Although these times are hard, do not lose sight of your goals and remember to make time for yourself. Whatever you do, do not give up. You got this!