Moody Musings: Fighting the academic plague

I had an energy shortage this past week. I lacked inspiration and I felt like I was moving much slower than usual in everything I was doing. I even struggled with deciding how I wanted to share some form of encouragement and inspiration for my column. Then I remembered, it’s almost that time of the year.

This is the time of year when the weather begins to change, exams become more frequent and deadlines start approaching. This same time of year means it’s time to make big decisions like whether or not you want to stay in the course or whether or not something even deserves your energy and time.

It’s like our body and minds know when the time is coming, and we have to react accordingly.

It’s not exclusive to anyone either. Every Mercer student is in danger of feeling this sudden change of time, but it may affect everyone differently.

While I felt a lack of energy for a few days, some people may lack motivation, may get physically sick or may want to sleep more and stay in their room more than usual. It’s like the plague, and it hits our home here on campus pretty hard.

There is a way to fight it. We’re just reaching the four week mark, so there’s still time to not just prepare for this mid-semester change, but to also beat it and come out on top.

In the past, I wrote a column about beating the mid-semester crisis that follows midterms, but I’d like for readers to be prepared for this season so that they don’t have to figure out where they went wrong in order to fix something.

Planning is the first step. It sounds like it’s almost too early to be creating yet another plan, but creating a how-to guide on getting through the next four weeks can be very helpful.

Write out all of your upcoming tests, assignments, projects and quizzes. Make a note of every event you have to plan, attend or help out with. Write out your work hours and anything you think may pop up during this time as well.

List everything in order of urgency and importance and be very detailed. If you know some things will take more time than others to complete or study for, make sure it is higher up on the list. This can overwhelm you at first, but that it why it’s important to break it down.

If it’s not urgent today, don’t spend today worried about it. If it’s not as important as other things, don’t worry about it at all. Get it done as you can, but don’t let it stress you out.

Nurturing is the next step. Nurture your goals and nurture your assignments. At the beginning of this year, you set goals for yourself, big and small. These goals are what had you so excited to begin this school year. Allow that same excitement to feed your energy and motivation and to push you over the hump into the finish line.

There are some very creative ways to tackle this step, including vision boards, visual reminders on your computer, phone lockscreens or even assigning people in your life to hold you accountable.

However you choose to do it, make sure that they are pleasant reminders of how great the finish line looks compared to the process. This will recharge your energy and give you the encouragement you need to prepare yourself for “that time of the year.”

Lastly, practice healthy habits and coping mechanisms. Like fighting off any other sickness or virus can be, in order to avoid dealing with what’s to come during this time of year, it’s important that your body is mentally and physically prepared. Mercer staff writer Blossom Onunekwu writes a column, Heart Drive, that will provide you with advice and assistance you’ll need to stay physically healthy on Mercer’s campus and how important that is for collegiate success. Be sure to check out her articles for reference and advice.

Don’t forget that mental health is equally as important. Take some time to do the things that make you happy and consistently take study and school breaks in order to rest your thought process and regroup. Your mind has the power to put you in a slump before midterm season, but if you work out that muscle before-hand through encouragement and positive thoughts, you’ll be well prepared for the fight.