Hello everyone,

We made it to December and have reached the last stretch of the semester.

We have also gone through Thanksgiving, entering the holiday season.

The holiday season seems joyful and cheerful, but it can be hectic. The holiday season is also a stressful time for college and university students. During the holidays, a balancing act is emphasized between things that try to disrupt the usual routine for college or university students compared to the times outside of the season. During the holiday season, travel often comes up for gatherings to celebrate these occasions with family and friends, and packing has to be planned; however, students must hold off on the process if they want to dedicate their time to studying and completing assignments and projects; the same delay goes for other gift shopping and deliveries, organizing, decorating the house and similar activities such as baking gingerbread cookies with loved ones.
For many of us, Thanksgiving was a stressful time. The combination of coursework, travel arrangements, cooking, and family planning can be overwhelming. As we move into the rest of the holiday season, it’s important to recognize that these stressors may continue and proactively manage them.
We can all use a break and, sometimes, a friendly family reminder is needed that we, as university students, need to slow down and breathe so that we can focus on finishing off the semester by handling our overconsumption of final exams, projects, last-minute or extra credit assignments and regulate the emotions of stress, and anxiety that arises when trying to tackle them while attempting to balance the to-dos and fun activities of the holiday season. The holiday season opens a time of gratitude and is an opportunity to show compassion for other student family members, friends, and ourselves; we tend to want to do it all around this time and get too hard on ourselves. The holidays differ for everyone, so we must cut each other some slack.
Instead of overwhelming to-dos, here is a reformed holiday to-do list that is sympathetic and helpful for the university student and everyone around also feeling overstimulated or anxious with the time of tacking various tasks

For number four, you do not have to donate food if you do not have the means or wish not to. You could donate other things too, such as clothing, books, or toys; you can also make food, like bake cookies or make some crafts, to give to people as appreciation gifts

I wish you all luck in these finals.

Happy Holidays everyone, and I hope you can all enjoy a relaxing time filled with love and warmth.