Jessica Barnett
Editor
Photo by Braxton Maclean.
With everything going on these days, it can be really tempting to toss in the towel. Maybe you got a little too lazy on Spring Break and you can’t get back in the swing of things now that school has returned. Maybe the assignments and deadlines piled up, and there’s so much on your plate that you just want to crawl away and hide from it all.
Whatever your reasoning is behind procrastination and avoidance, trust that you are not alone. Students all over campus are feeling the end-of-semester drag. Summer is just a few weeks away, and as much as we’re dreading each day that brings us closer to another deadline or exam, we are eager to get through each day that brings us closer to summer.
This doesn’t mean we dislike school. In fact, some of you may be reading this and thinking, “That’s not me at all! I had a blast this semester!”
If you genuinely fall into this category, I applaud you. Not every semester will be like that, and I hope you are properly grateful for the luck that has been bestowed upon you during Spring 2016.
For the rest of you, let me offer another word of encouragement. Not only are you not alone, but you’ve gotten this far and only have a short time left to go. I know it feels like a lot, but it really isn’t. Look at all that you have accomplished so far.
There were mid-terms and research papers, late nights and low grades. On the other hand, there were parties and celebrations, sleeping in and high grades. Maybe you made new friends or became reacquainted with old ones. Maybe you lost something important. Maybe you found something even better.
I could go on, but my point is that whether you see it or not, you have done a lot this semester. You struggled, you climbed, and you made it to April 1. You made it 92 days into 2016. Each of those days held an accomplishment of its own, and you should be proud of yourself.
I am. Even if we’ve never met, I want you to know that I’m proud of you. A lot of people haven’t made it this far, but you did. You deserve a round of applause, too, because you are now one step closer to graduation. You are one day closer to achieving this goal and moving on to the next.
Don’t be afraid to stop and congratulate yourself on this accomplishment. Take a moment to pat yourself on the back. Cheer for yourself. Turn to the person next to you and say, “We’ve got this.”
Because you do have this. You are going to get through these next few weeks, and you will confront the challenge of finals head-on. Then, when finals are over, you will walk into the summer and whatever it has in store, knowing that you have made it this far and are capable of making it even farther.
We’ve got this.