This may be the week all of Grounds goes insane. Between elections, midterms and the millions of applications that are due between now and spring break, there is way too much to do and essentially five minutes to get it all done. I can already feel the stress-induced pre-exam panic attacks sneaking up on me and the week has barely started. Awesome.
Let’s be honest, the requisite delirious all-nighters chez Clemons are coming for all of us. You can’t stop a moving train. And when you do sleep, the stress dreams will get you, guaranteed. So the question is then how to find a smidgen of sanity in a hopeless place.
After hours of staring at ancient French texts and reading dense media studies theory, I put in my headphones and dance it out in my bathroom. I’m not really sure if it’s more or less humiliating that I’m totally alone, but honestly there’s nothing better than de-stressing with Beyoncé’s “Love On Top.” Just make sure you close the door so none of your roommates can document your put-a-ring-on-it hand move.
Unsurprisingly, most of my friends are similarly strange. One drives out to Target just to shop for their sock collection, another turns the bass up and drives out into the middle of nowhere blasting Matchbox 20 and a third opts to binge eat Cheetos with peanut butter. While I’m not sure I would quite recommend any of the above, I definitely would advise finding some de-stressing tool — no matter how embarrassing.
Because it doesn’t matter how weird your de-stressing habits are, you should have something you do that genuinely makes you feel better. One of my least favorite parts of college is how unstable it is. It’s four years of high highs and low lows — whether it’s an awesome week or a hellish one, chances are you’re exhausted.
And at the end of the day — no matter which extreme it tended toward — it’s important to find a way to see the bigger picture. Even if you lock yourself up in the library all day and get every ounce of studying possible done, your stress won’t go away. In fact, you’ll probably walk away even more freaked out than before, plus infected with whatever strange flu illness the warm air on first floor Clem seems to breed.
All that tense energy created by stress stays in your system and builds up for years. We are way too young to start adding lines to our foreheads. We need to pick our fast-typing hands up and walk away from the computer. Get outside and go for a run — or, if you’re me and you hate running, power walk to the Downtown Mall. Yoga, long baths and Skype chats with my parents are also personal favorites. Choose what brings you peace, balance and, better yet, laughter. There is truly nothing that an episode of “Friends” — or better yet, a quick drink with a friend — can’t solve.
And when all else fails, bring up iCal and count the days until Spring Break — there are only 10. Best of luck to my fellow Wahoos toughing it out through these last two weeks. Remember that even the worst days only last 24 hours and that there’s always tomorrow — better yet, there’s always next semester.
_Anne-Marie’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at a.albracht@cavalierdaily.com. _
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