College Girl Problems: Coping with Insanity

Wow, has it been a hectic semester! But finally I can rejoin the land of the living as this portion of the semester draws to a close. My insanely stressful semester has led me to write this post on coping with the insanity that is college.
Every college student struggles at one point or another with difficult classes, huge projects, and the oh-so-lovely midterms and finals. But you, too, can survive without all-nighters!

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1. Plan. I cannot stress this nearly enough. This comes in various shapes and forms. In a previous post, I mentioned the idea of doing homework on the weekends and studying during the weeks. I finally managed to begin this regime, and has it helped! When your time management is in order, stress decreases greatly. You won't have to cram for tests the night before if you study throughout the week, even if there is no test looming on the horizon. Huge projects are much better done in spurts.
How I've accomplished this is by distributing my schedule. I created a document in Excel and counted the hours I have between classes, then distributed these hours between the four classes I study for every day so that I get 9 hours of studying for each class.

2. Sleep. No matter how much work you have left, no matter how much more studying you think you have to do, sleep! The body does not function well with little sleep. Thinking processes, immune function, and other parts of your body need sleep to work efficiently.

3. Rest. This can be something with your roommate, something with your dorm, or something by yourself. Just give yourself some time every week to relax and recuperate, not to think about anything you have to be doing that week.

4. Eat. I don't mean junk food and sweets, though those are nice in small amounts. Your body needs its nutrients in order to function fully, and you will feel much better when you've had the appropriate amounts of the major food groups, plus water. 

5. Relax. This is time to yourself. Read your Bible, nap, go running. Whatever it takes to get on your own and not think about anything else around you. No matter how much of a social butterfly you are, you need some time to be on your own.

This has been a stressful semester for many. Finish the semester strong!