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Espresso and Ambition

A not-so-serious gal with some serious dreams.

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Managing the Stress of Finals Week

December 5, 2016 by Taylor 1 Comment

If your university is on the same calendar as mine, you’re quickly approaching (or have already started) the most daunting time of the year: finals week.

Even if you’ve stayed on top of everything the entire semester, there’s something about this week that sends everyone’s stress levels through the roof and makes procrastination so much more appealing.

I’m going to say something that may be a little controversial (please don’t come after me): I think finals week is actually better than most other parts of the semester. Why? Well, you have so much more time for starters. During finals, you don’t have class, your extracurriculars have died down, and somehow finals are a great excuse to get out of being scheduled to work. So now, you’re left with completely free days to study and get work done.

However, that’s not always how it happens. When you think you have 12 hours to study, you somehow always end up procrastinating and doing pointless things for 11 of them and cramming everything into the last hour. Which, of course, is a horrible way to study.

I think the best tip for handling finals week is what I call “scheduling your procrastination.” I make a point to plan out a bunch of non-studying activities, so that then I’m left with short blocks set off for studying. When you only think you have a 2-hour window to study, you tend to be a lot more productive (even if you have 6 of these windows planned out). These breaks also are a great way to manage stress, because you know that these windows are blocked off for things that aren’t studying, so you avoid the guilt you’d usually feel when procrastinating.

With that being said, here are my favorite ways to “schedule my procrastination” during finals week:

  1. Take a bubble bath

      

In a post about reducing stress, y’all had to expect that this was coming. This is my first year in an apartment with a bathtub, and I only really started enjoying the fact that I have a bathtub about two weeks ago. There’s just something wonderful about dropping a bath bomb into the tub and pulling out a good book – I’m also terrible at making time to read, so this is a wonderful combination of two great things.

(P.S.: check out those wonderful LUSH bath bombs – they’re vegan, smell amazing, and look ridiculously cool when you drop them into a tub. There’s a ton more but those are my two favorites at the moment.)

2. Go out for brunch/dinner with friends

Finals Week Brunch with Friends           Finals Week Coffee with Friends

While I’ve suggested both brunch and dinner, I’m 100% on the brunch train for this. All of the great brunch places in Athens are super crowded on the weekends, so weekdays are the best time to go. Since you don’t have classes during the week during finals, it’s easy to make plans with friends and go get some great food. Bonus point: if forces you to wake up at least somewhat early so you don’t waste the whole day away by sleeping until 1 p.m.

3. Yoga/some form of workout

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m obsessed with Pure Barre. I’m usually at the studio about 6 days a week, and it’s one of the biggest things I miss about Athens when I’m home for the summer or on vacation. I’m pretty good at scheduling time even during the semester to work out, but during finals week it’s fun to try different things – one of my friends really wants to try yoga, and there’s a bomb little yoga studio in Athens called Rubber Soul, so I’m taking her there one day this week.

4. Shopping (either of the online or in-person variety)

Makeup Palettes

Accept this advice at your own risk – I always end up buying so much when I go shopping during the holiday season. Between the awesome sales and actually needing to stock up on things for my study abroad, I’ve already made a sizable dent in my wallet via online shopping.  I’ve got a few gift cards to redeem from my birthday, so I’ll still be going out shopping at least once this weekend. This is also an awesome time to do any Christmas shopping you haven’t already- two birds with one stone

5. Play with puppies

Finals Week Playing with Puppies

I’m glad UGA understands college students, because every finals week there’s at least 3 events that feature puppies to play with. Animals are the best stress reliever – if you can somehow swing a trip home or convince your parents to bring your dogs to you, that’s even better.

So if you need me for the next week, I’ll likely either be doing one of these four things or I’ll have my nose in a book – happy studying, y’all!

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Filed Under: College, Lifestyle, Productivity

Comments

  1. Tom B says

    December 5, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    Great tips to debunk the belief that “stress free / studying” is an oxymoron… Thanks!

    Reply

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Meet Taylor

A real-life combination of Elle Woods and Hermione Granger. Recent graduate of the University of Georgia, currently living and working in DC. New blog posts every Monday, new YouTube videos every Thursday. Subscribe by clicking the link below for post updates and exclusive content!

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tayy_kay

📍 dc
🔥 nasm certified personal trainer
✨ self-love + balance
🎥 2 new workouts per week!

tayy_kay
without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little c without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little challenging to really feel like i’m working at my full potential on leg days 😶 enter: single-leg movements. since all the weight is in one leg, you’re putting way more emphasis on it than you do during two-leg movements - and you’ll definitely feel that 🔥 you also get some added bonuses in the form of ensuring you’re working each side of your body equally AND a balance challenge!!
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you can add in weights or bands to up the challenge level, or do it all bodyweight like i am here!
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1️⃣ 15 single-leg box squats per leg (use other leg as a kickstand for an easier modification!)
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2️⃣ 15 bulgarian split squats per leg
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3️⃣ 15 single-leg hip thrusts per leg
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4️⃣ 15 single-leg deadlifts per leg
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throw on at the end of a longer leg day workout or do it 3-4 times as a workout all on its own!!
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👚 @girlfriend 🎧 numb - neffex
🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time 🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time to be alive, and it’s more important now than ever to listen to your body and stop being so hard on yourself. motivation is a fickle thing and working out when you don’t have all the equipment you love is weird. give yourself permission to take a break when you need it. don’t beat yourself up for missing workouts - exercise should be something you do because it makes you happy, not because you feel like you have to punish yourself. if it doesn’t make you happy that day, that’s okay. give yourself a break, come back and try again tomorrow. 💪🏼
circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not kidding about how much i love this long resistance band, it’s so versatile! definitely worth getting your hands on one for home workouts 😊 (although almost all of these can be completely with dumbbells or heavy objects if that’s what you’ve got in hand)
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also please watch to the very end of the fourth video for quality footage of greg 😂
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1️⃣ 12 long band shoulder presses to standing chest presses
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2️⃣ 12 upright rows to bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 overhead triceps extensions per arm (the one leg stance is some bonus balance work!)
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4️⃣ 12 rear flies, featuring greg trying to fight my shadow
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5️⃣ 12 commandos
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6️⃣ 12 side-to-side pushups
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repeat 4x total!!
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👚 @underarmourwomen
🎧 best of me - neffex
giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, cra giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, crazy time in the world a little differently, and for me, it’s looked like a lot of establishing to and sticking to routines (seriously, sometimes it feels like my skincare routine and workout split are the only thing still giving meaning to days of the week, lol). my morning smoothies have been another important one - there’s a recipe in my story highlights and surprise surprise it uses this protein powder 😛
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anyways, onto the real reason you’re here! i’m giving away 25 $20 giftcards for @310nutrition with NO STRINGS ATTACHED 🤯 you hear that? you ain’t gotta do a thing to win - the first 25 people to use the code KAYGC20 on their order automatically win. get your hands on some fire plant-based protein powder, courtesy of me and 310 😋 (p.s. if you’re still seeing this caption, there are still giftcards available!!)
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#310gc20 #310shake
sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and hold a fake photo shoot just to prove to yourself that you’re still a real human
posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangen posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangentially topical. link in bio.
upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating towards circuit-style workouts lately, because they really work up a sweat and home workouts just don’t feel as legit to me unless i’m hardcore sweating 🤷🏼‍♀️ i don’t mind not breaking much of a sweat at the gym, but it feels weird not to when i’m working out at home - anyone else feel this or am i just weird?? 😅
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do all exercises back to back with no rest in between!
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1️⃣ 10 push-ups to renegade rows
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2️⃣ 12 alternating bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 diamond front raises
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4️⃣ 8 sets of 3 tricep pulses to this lil cross-body weight move that doesn’t have a name {keep your core tight to feel it on your obliques!}
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5️⃣ 15 bent-over rear delt rows
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6️⃣ finisher!! 🥵 10 burpees with 2 shoulder taps and 2 toe taps in the middle of each rep
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repeat 🔁 for a total of 3 rounds!!
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👚 top from @gymsharkwomen, shorts from @nike 🎧 dangerous - neffex
would be nice if both sides of my head could agree would be nice if both sides of my head could agree on whether my hair is wavy or straight, but apparently that’s a little too much to ask of it 😂
got a circuit-style leg workout for you today! 🥳 there are 3 sets of 3 exercises that you’ll complete back-to-back - once you’ve done those three moves, rest for 30 seconds before repeating them all over again 2 more times! rest for 1-2 minutes in between each circuit - keeping your heart rate up is the goal here, i was driiiiiiipping sweat by the end of this one 🥵
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circuit 1️⃣: 10 step-ups to reverse lunges per leg
10 reverse lunges to curtsy lunges per leg
20 lateral lunges
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circuit 2️⃣:
10 squats to surrenders (stop in a squat position before standing up at the end to really feel this one)
10 stagger-stance rdls
20 criss-cross squat jumps
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circuit 3️⃣:
15 leg lifts per side
10 single-leg glute bridges per side
15 frog pumps
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👚 top from @fabletics, joggers from @gymsharkwomen
🎧 watch me - neffex
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