I don’t know about you, but for me this semester has sped by faster than any semester in my college career thus far, and I can hardly keep up. Having made it to November — and surviving the many exams, essays and projects of dreadful midterms — I think it’s time we all take a break and focus on some self-care. Here’s my top five tips to rejuvenate your life post-midterms. 

 1. Make like a grizzly bear and hibernate 

As our iconic Marketing Director Tori Coker once said, it’s about time you put your Grizzly title to action. Now that it’s finally not 70 degrees everyday, winter is fast approaching. What better way to refresh than to go into a cave and sleep through the rest of the year? You did enough, bestie. Take time for you. 

2. Buy a birthday cake

You are an adult. Remember you can buy a birthday cake whenever you want. Getting through midterms is a celebration, even if you maybe botched them all like some people…um definitely not me (y’all stay safe though). Head to the store, get a sheet cake and grab a fork. Meijer doesn’t even background check you for it — they are legally not allowed to ask whose birthday the cake is for.

3. Take a break from schoolwork 

Nothing is more important than your mental health, and the stress of midterms can certainly take its toll. What better coping mechanism than passively scrolling through endless stupid videos that you’ll never see again for hours on end? Replace studying until 4 a.m. with watching TikTok until 4 a.m. Watch until that guy says, “Hold up, you’ve been scrolling for way too long…” Ignore him as you always do and try to set the record for most times seeing that guy in one consecutive period of binge watching. There’s nothing sexier than an average screen time of 12 hours a day — that’s time well spent. 

4. Reframe your thinking 

Speaking of TikTok, @thereforeispam on TikTok revolutionized my life. As they explained to their therapist, they started doing all healthy habits ironically. Get out of bed ironically. Show up to class on time ironically. Hell, go crazy and even do your homework ironically. The most important ingredient in this life-advice-for-mental-health recipe: call everything camp. Actually checking your OU email? That’s camp. How about Moodle? That’s looking camp dead in the eye. 

5. Withdraw/drop out

Tried steps one through four with little success? Realizing that a journalism degree isn’t as promising as it sounded? Withdraw from those classes. Nothing says “I tried my hardest but you don’t need to know that” better than a nice neat symmetrical “W” on your transcript. Wanna take it up a notch? Drop out entirely. Future you will thank you.

All jokes aside, take care of yourself. It’s been a wild time adjusting to being forced to see humans everyday, and on top of that, do work, but you got through the first half of the semester, so you can survive the second half. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.