Leila Durmaz is a journalism freshman and Mustang Daily freshman columnist.
I think this past week has been the most stressful seven days I’ve had since coming to college.
Luckily, I wasn’t stressed to the point where my eyes were pouring out tears after finding out about an assignment on the syllabus that I wasn’t aware existed (I know you all know how that feels). Instead, I was stressed to the point where I basically lost my voice — and no, I’m not sick (Mom and Dad), or I’d like to think I’m not.
What could possibly stress you out in college when you thought it would be so much more fun than high school?
It is definitely more fun than high school, let’s get that straight. But the thing is, we have so much more work than we did in high school, even if we only have three to five — or maybe more — classes this quarter compared to however many classes you had as a senior in high school.
And with midterms this past week, the week before and possibly this week, it feels like we have an insane amount of reading and work to cover, even though it’s only been five weeks.
Maybe it’s because some of us have switched from the semester to the quarter system, or maybe it’s because some of us just haven’t kept up with the reading or work because … well, just because.
Whatever the reason, midterms have definitely been stressful since we’re still babies crawling around campus, trying to find our way and figuring out how to do well in our classes.
Managing stress for midterms and the upcoming finals (which I don’t even want to think about right now) is important in order to prevent cramming and crying, or maybe losing your voice, the day before a midterm or final. Take it from someone who stresses out quite a bit, but knows how to handle themselves, because learning how to de-stress is something you’ll need to know how to do throughout your college career.
My first tidbit for you, if you haven’t realized this already, is to actually do the reading and work for classes. You know there’s a midterm coming up, and you know there will be a final for the class, so take notes on your reading when it is assigned. That way you will already have something to study off of when midterms and finals come around.
During the week of midterms and finals, don’t surround yourself with stressful people (which is probably me, for my friends reading this). Stress can be contagious, believe it or not. It does no good for you to be with people who will freak out and complain about their work.
Take a break for an hour from studying and do yoga and some breathing exercises. When I’m super stressed, I sit down in a comfortable spot, cross my legs, close my eyes and take 10 deep breaths: in through your nose, out through your mouth (thank you to a magazine I read that gave me this tip). It really does help you feel a lot calmer. Do some simple stretches and a few basic yoga poses, and you’ll be stress-free.
Another tip is to visualize. Oddly enough, I learned this through my public speaking class. What you do when you “visualize” is you visualize a successful outcome. So if you’re studying for a midterm or a final, visualize yourself doing well on it because chances are, if you do this, you will do well.
It doesn’t help if you don’t believe in yourself because you doubt yourself even more and that causes you to mess up. So a simple solution: don’t.
Lastly, if you’d rather attend a study skills seminar, check out the one on campus tomorrow, Oct. 25. We all received an email about study skill seminars, but sometimes we just look at the subject of the email and decide it’s not worth reading. So this is why I’m telling you now. There’s a Stress Management Seminar tomorrow at 11:10 a.m. in the Robert E. Kennedy Library, room 111-H. Check it out if you really do want to sort out your stress. They’re only 50 minutes long, so you’ll be able to sit through it.
Otherwise, go outside, take a hike, walk to the arboretum or architecture graveyard on campus, go downtown, eat comfort foods or de-stress at the beach. There are so many things that you can do, on and off campus, to help yourself prepare for midterms and finals. You just need to find the best de-stressor for yourself.
Good luck with midterms!