The Month Where Everything Is Due

Thanks to Google and the awesome people who make Spongebob memes, I was able to find a perfect picture that describes how college is going right now. It is April, everyone, and it means so many different things.

April is the month where everything is due. Essays, projects, group projects, tests, presentations, and more. Professors jam everything they can into the final month of school to make sure everything got covered. A lot of assignments end up being due all the same week, and then it happens again the next week.

Students sit and cry over work, they procrastinate (me), stress over what they are doing, and end up not sleeping. April is the month when students run off of fumes, caffeine, and just pure determination to make it to the end of the month. Sleep is scarce, cooking is minimum, and bank accounts start being emptied because we are too busy to cook so we buy food that isn't good for us.

You could easily say April causes majority of students to go slightly insane.

This is my last "April" of college. But it has not disappointed. It is busier than I've ever been before. I won't even be able to fully enjoy Easter break because of a major project due as soon as we get back. Yay for classes! I've had presentations, papers, meetings, lessons, and more papers in the past two weeks to last me a lifetime. It is quite dizzying at times. Yet I know I'm not the only one who is going through all of this.

For all of us college students, I have 2 suggestions to help keep our sanity. It could work for you, or it couldn't. I'm just suggesting what helps me during incredibly stressful times.

1. Make time to sleep for at least 5-6 hours. Even that seems like a lot of time wasted, but your body needs it. If you don't sleep, you don't function. Coffee and energy drinks are great, but they wear off eventually, and you'll regret drinking so much of them. Trust me, I've definitely hit my limit already with how much caffeine can help me. Rest not only helps your body physically, but it restores your mind and helps your emotions stay in check. Because if you're anything like me, sleep-deprived Haylee = emotional wreck. So do yourselves a favor, and SLEEP.

2. Find a time to do something other than work. This could be cleaning, doing laundry, going for a walk, reading, cooking, or even going out to lunch or coffee with a friend. While we are all super busy and have tons of stuff to do, we need time away from it. If all you ever do in this crazy month of April is focus on work or even just watch Netflix to relax, you're going to go crazy. Yes, Netflix is nice to relax, take a breather, and eat during breaks. But it does not replace physical activity. You need to do something other than sit on your butt all day. And I'm guilty of this. But I've found that when I go out for a walk, or I clean around the house, I feel so much better. And then when I get back to writing papers or doing work, I have a fresh mindset and am not bogged down by what was plaguing me before. So go do something active. It can just be taking a lap around the apartment complex or something like that. But get away from your work, even for 30 minutes. It will help.

Those are my top 2 answers for advice on how to survive April. It is the craziest month of the semester - yes, even beating out March - and people need a game plan going into it. So keep your sanity, fellow college students, you're almost there. Only a few more weeks until we're done, so keep at it! And good luck!