Midterms, final exams, summatives or whatever you want to call them, can cause a great deal of stress. Yes, you’ve guessed it. In a blink of an eye, four months of school has past and now the majority of us are stressing out. Grade nines are feeling uneasy about their first set of exams coming up in less then a week. On the other hand, the older students are tearing their hair apart because of all the load on their back. Now, the question is, how can we de-stress?
Music, of course! What can be better then that? You can use music in your daily life and achieve many stress relief benefits on your own. It’s helpful in many different ways and most people depend on music for various reasons. You could even use music when studying for exams. Do you find memorizing things hard? Then, why not try memorizing your notes by making a song or rap out of it? Just bear in mind not to start singing or rapping throughout the exam. I’m pretty sure the exam supervisor wouldn’t be too pleased about that.
The wonderful thing about music is that it can be listened to while you carry out your normal activities so that it really doesn’t take time away from your busy schedule. You can use music from when you’re getting up in the morning to when you’re getting ready to go to bed. Soon you will notice increased enjoyment from what you’re doing and also reduce stress from your daily life by listening to music. Wow, who ever knew that music can come in so handy, right?
Although music is very helpful in various ways, there are plenty of other ways you can de-stress. Have fun doing things you’ve haven’t done in the longest time. Take a few minutes to do whatever you want that will bring some enjoyment into your day. Play your favourite instrument, watch cartoons, sing out loud like you’ve never sung before, make a cake and lick the beaters and get crafty and messy. Some of these ideas may sound crazy to you, but hey, at the end of the day, you won’t be as stressed as you were before and when you get back to your work, you’d feel more lively and ready to get things done. Just remember, don’t put yourself down by keep telling yourself that it’s going to be hard. If you know you can do it, then don’t be negative about it. If you’ve done it before, then I’m sure you can accomplish it once more.
GOOD LUCK WITH EXAMS EVERYONE!
-Dharshie Vimaleswaran
