[author image=”http://echo.snu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Amy-Calfy-e1454020805830.jpg”]
Amy Calfy, Staff Contributor
Amy Calfy is a senior English major at Southern Nazarene University. She is a writer who also loves reading, watching television and films, playing video games, and discovering other innovative ways to pass the time. [/author]
Right now, you’re drowning. You can see the surface mere inches above you. Yet, the tide is dragging you down. Try as you might, you cannot seem to break through. It’s so much easier to just give up. Let the waters swallow you. Give up on reaching the surface because what’s really so bad about lying on the seafloor for the rest of eternity? Once you’ve let go, there’s nothing more to worry about or stress over.
Let me share a secret with you. The seafloor actually sucks. Sand gets everywhere. Wallowing in salt water is not as fun as it sounds (and it doesn’t actually sound fun at all.) Fish will swim over you. All the residents of Bikini Bottom will find your corpse, think you’re a sea monster, and likely try to set you on fire.
But, if you struggle just a little longer–if you put in that extra effort needed to survive these final weeks–your future will look much brighter.
Remember the promise of the future, but focus on the now. Don’t think about everything you have to do all at once. If you start listing all your obligations and remaining assignments in a single breath, you will overwhelm yourself. Feeling overwhelmed will only set you back further and make it harder for you to get anything done. Take it one step, one project, one paper or one test at a time.
Prioritize. Finish the assignments due immediately before you start worrying about finals week. Try to be logical. You don’t have to do everything right now. You can usually tell what’s going to consume the most of your time: set a time to begin work on that and a time when you’d like to be finished.
Students around SNU have different strategies for motivating themselves through the final few weeks of the semester. Depending on who you ask, you’ll receive varying advice. However, pretty much everyone will suggest you just try not to die.
“Treat yo’ self,” advised junior Mady Martin.
“Laugh,” suggested junior Jessica De La Cruz, who added that humor keeps her motivated.
Senior Celeste Forrest-Blissett mentioned one of her strategies is to read Echo articles on how to stay motivated.
“But seriously, I would say give yourself rewards . . . food is a great motivator,” said Forrest-Blissett.
“I think about going to the lake after school is over,” said senior Miranda Taylor.
You have made it through three months already. You survived 14 weeks. 3 more weeks? That’s nothing.
Kick it into first gear. If you just flounder, these next weeks will flounder by as well. If you start powering through, then before you know it you’ll be crossing the finish line. You’ll be free. And in the end, that’s what we all want: freedom from school.
So, what are you waiting for? Go fight the battle so you can win the war. Swim those last few strokes so you can celebrate the freedom you’ll deserve.