Ask Tiffany: Join the SCenior Stress Party!

Hi Tiffany!

I am a senior, graduating in May (LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS AAAHHH!!!).

I need your advice. I’m trying to live up my senior year as best I can, but I sometimes feel like I am drowning in a pile of work. I thought senior year was supposed to be fun and carefree? I need advice on how to prioritize. List of anxieties include unemployment, leaving my best friends after college, unemployment, GPA, adulting, unblazed trail that is the future…Maybe I just need stress management advice? Don’t know if this is your area of expertise, but maybe just acknowledgement that I am not crazy will be plenty.

Wow, are you my psyche? Did I subconsciously submit an Ask Tiff to myself???

You’re not crazy. It is incredibly taxing to juggle all of those stressors and still make time for a social life. I’m definitely no expert on how to do so successfully (read: while retaining sanity), but here are a few things that have given me solace:

1. Your semester GPA probably doesn’t matter at this point. Yeah, yeah, maintaining that killer GPA is important, but by second semester senior year, there is no point in running yourself into the ground over it. Your GPA is not going to change much unless you flunk everything… which is hard to do…ha-ha, right…?

2. So what if you don’t have a job after graduation? I am constantly checking myself to remember that travelling, working part time, spending time with friends and family or a summer finishing your lease out in L.A. is certainly far from the worst thing ever.

3. The fun stuff is important. You’re right about the friends — you’re never going to get all of these amazing people in the same two square mile area again. But there’s no point wallowing in your sorrow when there’s nothing that can be done about it. What you can do is take advantage of the ten weeks you have left by enjoying their company, whether it’s making time for wine nights at home or spontaneous weekend camping. After graduation, you’ll see the people that really matter again.

Even with your best attempts, this semester might be a sinusoidal wave of times when you’re feeling on top of it all, and times where you feel like you might implode. But riding this rollercoaster is still better than living in a rabbit hole of despair. Focus on the things that will still matter a year from now (i.e. your friends, your mental health, potentially having a job), but be okay when things don’t go as planned.

Tiffany Kuan is a senior majoring in business administration. Her blog advice column, Ask Tiffany, runs every Monday.

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