When I talked to my dad the other day on the phone, he asked me how school was going. My response was, “This semester is beating me up. Literally. I feel as if it has kicked me down and stabbed me.” I wasn’t exaggerating either -- this semester started off as a walk through a field of daisies compared to what it is now: a walk through a hurricane.
All was fine and dandy pretty much up until spring break. When midterms rolled around, I realized not only how fast this semester is going, but how difficult it actually is. Compared to last semester, I’m struggling. And I know college isn’t meant to be easy, and it never has been easy. I’m just saying, the mid-semester stress is hitting me. And I’m freaking out.
Two weeks ago I was on spring break. I was lucky enough to escape my town and travel with my best friends. I went from cold weather to lying on the beach. Which made coming back to reality a lot harder. I want my feet back in the sand, not my nose in a textbook for five hours.
So I’ve come to embrace the mid-semester stress. This is the time when my stress level, due to school, is at an all-time high. Between school, work and personal problems, I wish I could crawl into bed and pay someone to clone me and finish the semester. But since that can’t be done, I must do it on my own.
When the mid-semester stress hits you, my advice to you is: breathe in, breathe out. Close the textbook for a few minutes. Put your earbuds in. Listen to your favorite song. Take a walk. Do whatever you have to do to clear your head. If you’re that stressed out about an assignment you’re working on, chances are you won’t do the best you can while trying to complete it.
For me, hitting the mid-semester mark during the spring semester is much more difficult to handle than hitting it during the fall semester. When you’re halfway done with the spring semester, you realize you’re so very close to summer, and all you can picture is the three months of textbook-less days that await you.
But trust me, do everything you can to avoid letting the stress win. Don’t let the stress get so bad that you let your GPA plummet -- it’s not worth it. You’ve been putting your all into the first half of the semester, so keep doing it. You’ll be happy you did. Then you can sit on the beach this summer, a drink in your hand, happy you pulled through the semester, and you won't have to worry about retaking that class you bombed. You can fight the mid-semester stress.
