It’s the time of year where assignments are impossibly long and difficult, social time is all the time, it’s harder to get out of bed, there’s studying to be done for midterms, cafe- food sucks, roommates suck, any extra-curricular activities like cabinets or clubs are starting to dump responsibility after responsibility onto your already-taller-than-my-seven-foot-tall-editor’s to-do list and well, you feel overwhelmed. Fear not, here is a list of ideas on how to unwind!
Take a day to do absolutely nothing. Stay in bed, read for fun, catch up with whatever you want to do … or stay in bed. Enjoy a commitment free day.
See how long you can sleep on your common room floor before someone gets the Don. For bonus points, try this on another floor or section’s common room.
Grab some friends and try a new café down town. Mmmm… tea.
Go to the gym.
Get your hair done.
Organize all of your school materials so that you can find information and notes easily, and so that you are prepared to study when the time comes.
Make a master schedule or timeline of when things are due in each of your classes so that you can prepare for busy times accordingly.
Spend some time catching up on your favorite television show.
Take a study break to watch your favorite childhood movie.
Ladies: Get your nails done.
Gentlemen: Get your nails done.
Enjoy applying copious amounts of your favorite scented moisturizer. Bonus points for letting a significant other help you with those tricky-to-reach places… or all the places.
Look at hilarious cat videos on YouTube. After all, they say laughing is good for you!
Take your favorite fluffy pillow or teddybear to class. For bonus points, also bring a blanket and wear slippers (at this point you might want to prepare a full on “comfortable in class” duffle bag).
For community de-stress, leave window writers and chalk in the common room and let everybody doodle on the largest canvas: The windows and walls. (Chalk does come off no problem, I did this to my Gzowski common room all last year with no trouble cleaning it and no complaints from staff.)
Crank up the music (before 11PM on school nights if you’re in residence) and dance with the absolute conviction (and hope) that nobody is watching.
Do some yoga. Seriously!
Go into a pin-coma and continue browsing Pinterest for upwards of three hours. (Non-pinning people may go into a game-coma, same deal but with video games.)
Do something you’ve never done before. Perhaps bring a friend that’s never tried it either.
Talk to your profs. They know it’s not easy being a student and that you also might work or be involved with clubs and groups. If you show that you are trying, a lot of profs will help you out with deadlines on busy weeks.
Take one of your also-stressed-out buddies and go for a beautiful fall hike on the drumlin, or any of the trails, including the trans-Canada trail, near Trent and throughout Peterborough.
Go home for the weekend. You don’t have to tell your friends that Mom’s hugs or Dad’s cooking are the best, but not admitting to being homesick is no reason to deny yourself some home time when you need it.
Do an assignment. Seriously, nothing is as de-stressing as lessening your workload.
