Take a Mental Health Day

Just like with taking a rest day from the gym, your mind needs a rest day from it’s responsibilities. Taking a mental health day is nothing to be embarrassed about, and can seriously help to improve your end-of-semester slump. Whether taking a mental health day means missing a day of class or work, it is important to take that time to yourself to recoup. You need to give your mind a rest, sleep in, watch that show you haven’t had time for, and eat all your favorite foods. The idea of taking a day off to destress may sound kind of stressful, but you will thank yourself for doing it.

Clean Your Room

At least for me, a cleaned out environment is a cleaned out mind. Whether you spend your mental health day cleaning or set aside a different time throughout the week to clean, one thing is for sure...wash your bedding!! Washing your bedding is probably the number one thing that college students forget about, and trust me when I say you will not regret doing that load of laundry. In addition to washing your bedding, clearing out old clothes and vacuuming your floor may not sound like a permanent fix to your end-of-semester slump, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. Cleaning your room gives your mind a break from focusing on the assignments building up in your classes. Instead of being wrapped up in coursework, you can give your mind a healthy alternative. Create an in-depth checklist or just turn on your favorite playlist, whatever works best for you! (As long as you wash your bedding... I’m serious, please do it).

Find Something That Gets You Excited

It’s getting colder outside, it’s getting darker earlier, and you have test after test. All of these things together don't sound like the most fun in the world, which is why it is important for you to find something that gets you excited. My freshman year, something that helped me to get out of my end-of-semester slump was listening to podcasts! I would listen to them as I walked to class and back home, and I would get so excited for their weekly episode drop. Maybe podcasts are for you, or maybe they're not, but either way it is important to find something that gets you excited. Maybe this new, exciting thing could be a new holiday drink at the on-campus Starbucks, a new music artist or YouTuber, your new favorite coat that you get to wear now that it’s colder outside, or your daily meet-up with your friends to hangout over lunch. Finding something that makes your day just a little more exciting can help you to get excited about other things, and maybe even help you out of your end-of-semester slump.

Take It One Step at a Time

All of these fun tips aside, what’s really going to help you through your end-of-semester slump is recognizing that you are in your end-of-semester slump, because guess what: it’s going to happen again next semester, too! Which is why it is important for you to come up with ways to gain your motivation back. The important thing to remember is to take it one step at a time. Don’t expect your one mental health day to end and the next day you’re ready to wake up at dawn and work on homework until dusk. You have to take things slow and at your own pace. Maybe create a plan of action for each day that slowly breaks down all of the studying and assignments you have to do that week or designate each day to working on a specific class. Whatever works best for you, just remember you won’t get over your end-of-semester slump overnight. You got to take it one step at a time.