Ways to Reduce Stress & Anxiety During Exam Season
It is officially the month of November! The trees are growing more and more bare each day, and with the cold weather sweeping through, so are everyone’s favorite: midterm exams. This time of year can be very stressful, triggering feelings of stress or anxiety-ridden thought patterns. While stress can sometimes be a helpful & motivating emotion, it can be detrimental at times as well. With multiple courses, study sessions, and endless to-do lists, levels of stress can easily rise before we have a chance to control it. When we begin to feel overwhelmed by course material, or even our own stress, it can be difficult to ensure we are taking the best care of ourselves physically and emotionally. Below, is a list I’ve curated of helpful ways to ensure you are honoring and taking care of yourself and your mind this midterm season.
Make a list
Try writing down everything on your mind that is contributing to your rising stress or anxiety levels, leaving you feeling overwhelmed. Often writing everything down into a tangible list can serve as helpful visualization in realizing you may be feeling there is more on your to-do list than there really is. Listing your stressors can also help you identify which task is causing you the most stress, and therefore which tasks you should prioritize in order to reduce levels of stress. It’s important to note that it is totally okay to leave tasks uncompleted on your list, the goal is not to complete everything. It should just serve as a helpful visualization to understand what is contributing to your feelings of stress and anxiety.
maintain your energy
When we become overwhelmed, it can be difficult to prioritize taking care of ourselves. When stress levels become too elevated, even the simplest of tasks can feel exhausting and leave us feeling drained. Pushing yourself to your limit and ignoring your basic needs and physical & emotional health can lead to burnout. Ensuring you honor your needs and take care of yourself can help you accomplish more of your list in a more efficient manner. Taking breaks can be a helpful way of honoring yourself and emotional health.
break it down
Once you have a list created, it could be helpful to identify how the items on your list make you feel. If one item leaves you with feelings of anxiety or stress, try and ask yourself why that is. Once you have determined why certain tasks may be causing you to feel more stress and anxiety than others, it can be beneficial for you to begin breaking those big tasks down into smaller ones. This way you are taking each task one step at a time, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the big picture.
celebrate small wins
Often we criticize our progress or success before we celebrate it, and there are always small victories to celebrate! Allow yourself to acknowledge and celebrate the small wins along the way. Whether you answered every flashcard correctly, or completed a lengthy study guide, it is important to honor your progress rather than stress about what you still feel needs to be done. Celebrating can look like taking a break, treating yourself to a comfort meal, or enjoying a day off.
Prioritize your time
This one is really important. Often we think about or visualize all the tasks we have to accomplish by a certain point and become overwhelmed. It can feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to accomplish every task, and it’s easy to misjudge our time. Once you have curated your list, sort through each task and prioritize the ones that are most important or time sensitive. It may also be helpful to try and gage how much time you believe you’ll need to devote to each task. This way you can develop a more level-headed thought process regarding your time management.
do the “next right thing”
This tip is one of my favorites. The "“next right thing” is the next step you can take to help move you forward in studying or accomplishing your next task. While this can look like completing another task on your to-do list, the “next right thing” can also mean taking care of yourself and honoring what your brain and body need. This can look like taking a break or deciding to move certain tasks to another day so you can accomplish them with more clarity. It may also be helpful to check in with yourself after completing an item on your list to decide what you need and what you feel you can handle.
reach out for support
Always remember that it is always more than okay to ask for help! If you feel you are having a difficult time, or are unsure of what to do next please reach out to a friend, peer, family, professor, or another trusted individual. They will be more than willing to help provide you with guidance and reassurance, in turn reducing your levels of stress and anxiety. Most campuses have free tutoring services available to all students, and it may be helpful to reach out and make the most of the resources that are in place to help you.
