What’s one tip you have for people taking finals?
Here are some of my friend’s answers:
“You should calculate what your grade is now to see what you need on your final.”
“Trust your gut.”
“Do the superman pose before taking your final.” *Does pose “No really it works.”
“Take breaks.”
“Pray before your test.”
“You need at least 4 hours of sleep to process what you study.”
“When you’re testing, don’t overthink a question. My mom once told me, if you’re stupid, you’re stupid.”
“Don’t procrastinate.”
“Don’t skip class before you have finals. Like the whole two weeks before. Don’t do that.” *nervous laugh
“Study breaks = dance breaks.”
“Try not to stress too much. It is what it is.”
“Your finals don’t define you.”
“When you put an answer down, don’t second guess it. Your first answer is normally right.”
“Study.”
“Put away distractions. I get distracted by my phone. I get big distracted.”
“Start studying a week in advance. Divide it up. 45 minutes studying. 15 minute break where you don’t think about the material at all. Then repeat. You could go forever.”
So I will run every day on these leaves I will run until the orange bleeds red bleeds brown It all bleeds white As snow falls I will run the snow fall until it breaks Into bloom
Every semester, as finals creep their way onto my calendar and ruin my desk with scattered books and crumpled sheets of notebook paper, I find myself gazing out my window, pen clenched in fist, hair tied into knots, wishing I could run my way out of finals. I know I’m not a fast runner. I’m more of a scenic-appreciation runner. But running is running and during finals I run my stress away.
But I’m trying this new thing where I actually trust the Lord. It’s humbling. I realized I am not trusting Him if I create a back-up plan in order to cope with the idea of being out of control. Instead, I am to tear down those false attempts at control and trust the Lord. He is completely worthy of my life and my affection. When I return to Him time and time again, His character, His person, His being proves this: He is trustworthy. For the past few weeks, I have been trusting the Lord with my finals.
And it’s hard.
And the most difficult part has been breaking my habit of worry and stress, which leads to me grasping for stability within all the deadlines. I look and sound ridiculous when I act out of this habit, when I act out of my worry and stress. I don’t listen well to people. I lose peace. I forget purpose. I neglect identity. A lot comes from a life lived out of worry and stress, but none of what comes is beneficial. I’m left longing to trust something constant.
Finals this semester have been the least overtaking in my college career, not because they are less time-consuming nor less challenging, or because I studied more, which I wish I did, but because every moment that tempted me to worry and stress out I chose to view as an opportunity to quiet my mind and surrender my grasp on control to the Lord. A few weeks ago during one of my Bible Study’s a group of over twenty of us took 5 minutes of silence:
No one said a word. We were asked to choose one name of God to repeat over and over as we inhaled and exhaled. Our mind was described as a loud and frantic place. Because of that, the name of God we chose was to act as a defense against anything that threatened our meditation and focus on God. As I sat in His presence, so many bombarding ideas, thoughts, worries, and stresses vied for my attention. But the word “Adonai” was all I repeated in my mind.
“Adonai”
“Adonai”
“Adonai”
There is no replacement for a mind stayed on the Lord. A mind entirely devoted to surrender and wholly resistant to outside chaos. So, my tip for finals is to: take 5 minutes to quiet your mind and let go of the worry and stress. Then go for a run;)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13
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