New semester, new problems

When I first started at uni, the start of a new semester was exciting. But now, I find myself associating it with stress.

At the start of my uni journey, I would be excited by the prospect of a new semester. As I created my new timetable, colour-coordinated my books, and began to read over the course outlines, I would be eager to learn. 

Yet now, as I enter my tenth and final semester of my undergraduate degree, this process feels repetitive. Purchasing an overpriced textbook online, I found myself exhausted before I had even started. But why is this?

Starting a new semester can be stressful because it often feels as if you are receiving an overload of information. Assignment due dates are established from the get-go, there are new faces to learn, and reading through the topics that will be covered in the semester can seem quite daunting. For me too, the stress comes from the burn out of enrolling, studying, doing assignment after assignment, over and over again. 

However, now that I have had my first week of classes, I feel that the stress may have simply been my anxiety talking. Of course, there is a bombardment of information, but most of it is about the exciting content that I am going to cover. 

So perhaps I should adjust my way of thinking. Instead of feeling stressed that I have a difficult and busy semester ahead of me, I should be intrigued at what I'm going to learn. And it's early enough for me to prepare myself for what lies ahead!