By: Cameron Ulmer (’20), Staff Writer
America’s favorite season is here. Brown sugar-glazed honey hams are prepared and baked for the big dinner. Crisp corduroys and cozy cotton sweaters are ironed and pressed to ensure that maximized style and comfort are achieved. Gifts are shopped for. Packages are shipped. Happiness is in the air and the jovial atmosphere is spreading fast, far, and wide.
That is, until you get to a college campus — where the current atmosphere is scented with dread, ripened with apathy, and seasoned with a disinclination of coursework that is fed on by most students. For those students, they find themselves experiencing a period of apathetic disdain for classes and work called ‘the slump’. The slump is a serious condition that affects college students who are smack dab in the heat of their semester. The effects of the slump are usually presented right before homecoming season, before winter break, and the entire months of February and March. The slump affects your work ethic, your motivation, and most importantly, your grades which you try to work so hard for. C’s do in fact get degrees, however, the slump will not. The slump will leave you stressing instead of dressing, then playing a game of catch up with all of your classes that have no intentions of slowing down for you. The slump is an unforgiven attention seeker that feeds on your stagnancy.
I should know. The slump and I are very acquainted.
I somehow survived the slump’s feast on my life. I even managed to thrive during some seasons of it. Here is how to stay motivated when you wind up in the claws of a slump.
- Realize that you are in a slump. You have to self-reflect to find out why exactly you are in the slump. Is it weariness? Is the pressure of balancing school, work, social life hindering you? Is it your mental health? Once you figure that out, start working to remedy it. Begin the process of nurturing yourself out of the slump.
- Remember your why. What motivated you in the first place? What is your reason for being successful? Why do you grind as you do? Remembering your why will remind yourself that you are here for a reason. My favorite way to do this is by using visual and verbal affirmations that remind me of my goals, who I am, and why I am.
- You’re more productive with friends or a study group. In all my slumps, the worst days were when I was alone in my room. I found every reason to cuddle with my body pillow and Netflix while my assignments gathered dust. With my friends, we found motivation with each other. We pushed each other to stay on track while also taking time to just talk and decompress. The slump will make you weak. Lean on those you love for strength.
- If you are afraid to do something, do it afraid. This is a weird one but a valuable trigger phrase that jumpstarts me into action. The slump has tendencies to not only create a spirit of unwillingness within you but to also bring doubt into yourself and what you can accomplish. If you ever find yourself in a mindset that you are not going to try to do something because it will probably not work, the slump has yet again succeeded. The slump can falsely ally itself with the feeling of safety and security. I am here to let you know, THAT AIN’T IT! The slump doesn’t want you to try, it wants you doubting your abilities and it wants you afraid. Don’t feed the slump by giving up or giving in. Take risks, step out of your comfort zone, and just do it, even if you have to do it afraid.
- Last but not least, self-discipline is the only way you will become successful, whether that is in academics, work, or life and general. Learn how to overcome your procrastination tendencies by creating new habits that generate positive incentives other than getting your work done before the 11:59 deadline.
Those, my friends, are just a few ways to defeat the slump.
