Spring break is over, and with its end come a lot of questions and self-reflection, such as “How can it possibly be over already?! It just started!”

Be that as it may, we are forced to face the truth. School is back in session, baby. We either gotta shape up or ship out, and let’s be honest — we don’t even know the way to Berkeley’s docks.

Yes, it’s sad, but we just don’t have time to go through the five stages of grief. That leaves us with only one real solution. We’ve got to get our heads back in the game — it’s what Troy Bolton, notable Berkeley alumnus, would have wanted — and move past the denial, anger, bargaining and depression, straight on to acceptance.

If you’re half as stressed as most of my (three) friends are, you might find yourself overwhelmed in the tide of assignments and the knowledge that we only have four. More. Weeks. Before. Dead. Week.

First thing’s first: Get out your calendar 

Start counting down to your finals — notice every paper, every midterm, every nerve-wracking class presentation. If you don’t currently own a day planner, it’s not too late, but your phone may work fine too. Just make sure you put in enough alarms in advance so that you don’t notice that pesky assignment only 12 hours before it’s due. (Did I mention we only have four more weeks of class before dead week?!) This is no time to mess around.

Next: Organize, organize, organize

This can also include sorting through your notes and preparing yourself for these last four weeks by cleaning out anything you won’t need for the rest of the semester (at least until dead week) and either setting it aside or throwing it out once you have what you need from them. This is also a good time to make sure you have pens, blue books, money on your Cal 1 Card for printing (past those 10 free pages you get daily at the OCF) and anything that could potentially trip you up in the future by not having it on hand when you need it. This might sound silly, but it doesn’t hurt to clean your room either. Once you have a clean space and an organized desk, notebooks and computer, you’ll feel ready for a fresh start to the semester.

Finally: Take a deep breath

You actually can do this.

That may seem hard to believe. Maybe you buried your head in the sand with your friends this past spring break and are now up to your ears in coursework, or maybe you had to spend the week working on a late midterm and you don’t feel like you even had a spring break. It may not seem like it right now, but it actually isn’t too late for you. The game isn’t over yet. We’ve got this, Bears. Though there may be blood, sweat and tears, we’ve got this.

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