Night Terrors
It’s the day before Halloween, and I’m sitting in my dorm. It’s been happening every day. Every week.
The phone calls.
The emails.
The GroupMe’s.
Putting my phone on Do Not Disturb doesn’t help.
It’s still there.
It won’t stop.
It won’t go away.
1 day.
The most recent notification to pop up on my phone.
1 day.
There it is. The reminder that no matter how hard I try to avoid it, the clock is slowly ticking away.
It’s been 3 weeks since I received the initial email. I was sitting in this very spot, binge-watching YouTube videos when it appeared. I quickly clicked away from it and disregarded the whole situation. I thought nothing of it because there was no way that it could be happening now. It’s too soon. It’s not even October yet.
After that initial email, they seemed to come to me more often. I stopped checking my email and thought I was in the clear.
Until they started showing up on my phone.
Text messages.
GroupMe’s.
More notifications.
I couldn’t take it anymore. The days were dwindling and my anxiety was slowly taking over me.. As the hours counted down, I stopped leaving my room and spent my days in bed, just hoping that it would all go away. I couldn’t take it.
1 day.
The final email.
There it was.
The email I had been dreading for weeks now.
The email that I had attempted to avoid by silencing my phone, curling up in bed, and pulling the covers over my head.
Avoiding my classes. My friends. My sleep. My appetite.
None of that had kept me safe from what was about to come.
I stared at the illuminated screen in my pitch black room for what seemed to be hours, my eyes burning from forgetting to blink.
This is it.
My heart pounding and my blood turning cold, I finally did what I had failed to do for weeks…
I opened the email.
Hello class,
Tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for. Is everyone prepared? Have you studied? Remember to check back over my emails from the past few weeks containing the review questions and study guides, they will help tremendously for the exam tomorrow. The classes, review sessions, and study guides have been preparing you for tomorrow so I am confident that everyone is well equipped to blow this exam out of the water. Good luck, and get some sleep!
See you all tomorrow!
~ Professor
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It’s that time of the school year where midterms and papers are engulfing, throwing us into an emotional frenzy that most of us aren’t prepared for. Despite all of our academic and extracurricular obligations, remember to find your eye in the middle of the storm. It can be extremely overwhelming trying to keep up with everything going on in college, especially with all of the festivities approaching . Halloween may be right around the corner and the spooky feels are all around us, but make sure to take some time to yourself this month. Check on your health when referencing all aspects (mental, emotional, physical), and don’t be afraid to reach out to someone if you ever need help or a shoulder to lean on. October is an extremely exciting month, but in the midst of it all, don’t allow these midterms and papers to scare you too much.