In September, this moment felt years away - as we marked the gradual fall of the leaves, one by one, we knew that we had some months ahead, some months of downtime, only slightly warped by hills of mock exams and assessments to climb over. And these hills were covered with trees, obscuring the horizon, our view to today, so that it seemed so far away. Now that the hills have rolled past us, and behind us, and we are here; it’s the cusp of exam season, and some have worked tremendously for this moment, and others still claim they are going to ‘lock in’ before the exams. No one is ecstatic about it, but, as I said, we are here now, so how do we go about climbing this hill?

 

Calm

My friend Aidan Brown once said during a Spanish lesson, ‘…calma!’ If those words are anything to go by, then I think that the solution is patently obvious: just remain composed. It’s difficult, and we all fail at it sometimes, but it is what it is and maintaining a calm mindset, rather than succumbing to crippling stress, is what we should strive towards. Ultimately, paralysing yourself in worry won’t help when you need to put pen to paper, and it won't help change anything either.

Sleep

My friend Aidan Brown once said during a dreary lunch break, ‘… sleep is amazing!’ and I think that what we can infer from this cryptic statement is that, in all situations, even stressful ones, sleep is a gift that we often cheap out on, and thus our relationship with our sanity can oftentimes be caught in the crossfire. Sleep has been shown to improve mental health, and, notably, in this context, to help with memorisation and concentration - so what am I doing staying up so late, revising that last stanza from The Emigrée? 

What use will that be when the alarm goes off, as evidence of sunlight, and I can’t remember a thing? 

Commit

Everyone knows how much preparation they need to do, and how much they have done; it is easy to resign to the temptation to either take the bold ‘go all out’ path, or the euphemistic ‘hope for the best’ road, but neither is likely to take you where you need to be. Instead, plan out how you are going to utilise the little time you have left, to the best of your ability, and commit - don’t overwhelm yourself, and don’t stumble over the feeling that it might be too late. 

 

I understand that these pieces of advice are not uncommonly relayed annually in assemblies, but, for some reason, they don’t resonate with all of us. Sleep, in particular, doesn’t come naturally to all of us; but, what if, for once, we actually tried to go to sleep a bit earlier, rather than feeding some sort of illusion that if we just despair hard enough, then we’ll be alright? What then? Then we'll be alright.

Like the staple of a pair of boots, a rucksack and water bottle, the advice I have given you is no avant-garde fashion statement, but if you’re going hiking, you’re going to need it. Whether you see this period in your life as a mountain or a mole-hill, focus on climbing over it and nothing else.