Mid-Semester Crisis

Please tell me I’m not the only one with a gazillion things due this month. It seems like I have a project or test or paper or something due every second now.

You know that feeling that comes after studying too much? When your brain turns to mush and you can’t hardly think at all? And you try staring 30 ft away to rest your eyes, but it just doesn’t help?
This is me right now.

Making a massive to-do list helps visualize all the things that need to be done, but it can also be overwhelming. Like, how in the world am I going to accomplish all of these tasks, still have a life, and sleep? 

Hello stress. (Now, please, stress go away!)

I’ve talked about stress relief before. And I know I really do need to pull out my coloring book and color a picture of Cinderella, or go for a walk, or maybe just cry. But those things take time. And I don’t have a whole lot of time.

So what do we do when we don’t foresee a lack of stress in our future?

• Pray.
• Rest.
• Trust that everything will turn out alright in the end.
• Call a friend. Study and stress together.
• Change up your study method.
• Count down to your next break.
• Breathe. Get that oxygen flowing.
• Work on a different assignment.
• Pray some more.
• Go to sleep at a decent hour, even if it means saving the rest of this project till tomorrow.
  Just rest.
• Create a plan to accomplish your tasks, so you can knock procrastination out of the park.
• Study outside. Get fresh air.
• Smile. Smile despite of all this stress.
• Listen to calming music.
• Realize you’re not alone. (Please comment if you’re relating to any of this to help me and others know we’re not alone.)
• Drink water. “Hydrate or die!” as one of my past youth interns once said.
• Eat brain food. Like veggies and fruits.
• Clean something.
• Accomplish tasks in small bursts.
• Schedule in study breaks.
• Vent the frustration to a journal.
• Pray. Sleep. Breathe.

Mid-Semester blues are the worst.

Believe me. I’m experiencing this first hand.

We need to keep pushing and keep taking things one day at a time. We’ll soon be over this terrible homework-projects-tests mountain and have the end of the semester in sight.

One last bit of encouragement before I take my own advice and go pray:

Don’t forget to look up.

Look up from your studies. Look up from your stress.

Look up and see this beautiful world around you.
It’s October, y’all! Leaves are changing colors and pumpkins are everywhere. Look up and experience this beautiful season.

Look up and see the people around you.
There are students, professors, librarians, surrounding you. They’re probably experiencing some sort of mid-semester crisis as well. So be kind to them. Smile. Encourage them, even if it seems small to you.

Look up and see your friends.
Don’t neglect them, even if you think that watching that movie or going to eat with a group will hinder your studies.
Let me reassure you of this one very important truth: people are more important than grades. They are. In five years you’ll probably forget how stressed you feel today, but you won’t forget the memories you forge with those closest to you.

Look up and see your God.
God wants to carry your burdens for you. Will you let Him? Will you trust him even in this season of stress?
When life stresses us out, we should run to Jesus and cling to Him all the more. We shouldn’t allow our textbooks to take the place of our Bibles. God is only a prayer away; will you call on Him?

Dear friends, may we look up. Today and tomorrow and everyday.

Posted by Kara Beth & filed under College. This post has 5 comments.