As finals and Thanksgiving break approaches, many students feel pressured. Whether it is assignments piling up, encounters with family, athletics, preparing for graduation, or figuring out how next semester is going to turn out, this can often be a stressful time for many.
When they are stressed, the most common response is to withdraw, whether from others, the things they enjoy, the things they need to do, or their future. There’s plenty of advice floating around that says you should advocate for yourself and that you should make yourself a priority and while we encourage that we at the Owl are offering a different approach, take a risk on yourself this time of year.
As many students settle into this time of year they convince themselves that they are stuck and can’t try anything new lest they risk blowing up the barely balancing life they are currently holding on to. However, this is the time of year when making a new change in your life can grant you freedom at a time when you normally feel confined to routine and bad habits.
Go pick up that book you swear you’ve wanted to read for months, go make that friend you always wanted to have, sign yourself up for a class you might not normally take next semester, try and build a new habit or routine that makes you a better version of yourself.
These are often the times that define us as students. Those long nights grinding away on papers and projects that you should have long had done by now, but that’s why especially now changing things up and taking a risk might give you the boost you need.
Sometimes, a change in perspective or routine can radically change you for the better. There will never be a “perfect time” to take these risks, but taking them now will eventually pay dividends as these risks will break up the normally tortuous finals season.
