Take a breath. Count to ten. Do your best.
Exams. Just reading the word evokes a sense of fear and anxiety *shudder*. And to all those people who say “why stress? it’s just a test”, I say ‘think again’.
Now I’m not here to frighten you more deeply than you probably already are. All I’m saying is that, if you are scared or anxious or stressed, you are not alone. There’s a rainbow after this storm, so hold on and give it your all. I guarantee you’ll do great. Far better than you think you are gonna do. Trust me.
But I know how hard it is. I know how hard it is to believe that everything will be okay. Because honestly, it’s a lot. It’s overwhelming. It’s all-consuming. You feel lost because no matter what you do, how much effort you put in, or how hard you work, it seems to be fruitless. Like it’s leading nowhere. There’s no one to tell you if you’re on the right path. No teacher, no parent, no friend can assure you that this is the exact way to achieve your goal. There is absolutely no way to know how you are going to do, or how you did. All you can do is hope and pray that what you studied will be enough because you don’t know that either. The entire situation is so unpredictable that at one point you just want to give up.
At least I did. I said “ah screw it” and just wrote my exams to whatever I knew, came back and laughed about whatever I got wrong because that’s fine. It really is. We as humans are meant to make mistakes. Plus, all I learned from the four months of exam prep I went through, was that it is not worth it to sacrifice your mental and physical health over an exam. It’s just not.
I can say from experience, that taking stress only leads down one path, and it’s not pretty. It ruins your attitude so your next papers are ruined too, and it escalates and keeps getting worse. Only when you calm down, will you be able to understand that the only way to move forward is to be optimistic and coolheaded. And that you might not get a perfect score, and that’s totally fine. And if I, being the perfectionist that I am, can say that and believe it, I think everyone can.
So believe me when I say it’s okay to take breaks. Watch that show you’ve been eyeing on your watch list. Drink some water. Eat well. Read a book. Listen to music. Talk to your friends. Just relax. Because if you don’t, you’re gonna go insane, I swear. Don’t stress too much, just be happy.
Look. I know you may not believe me now but hang in there. It might take some time, but you’ll come to realise and accept that you can’t control everything. So take whatever comes your way with a pinch of salt and find a way to come out victorious in the end. Matter of fact, whichever way it is that you find, it’ll lead to victory. How can I be so sure? Well because you did it. You pushed through.
Inhale. Exhale. You’ll be fine. This is not the end of the world. And I’m proud of you. So see ya on the other side ;)