The month of January means exam season for a lot of school and university students. I, myself, am victim to the stress, tension, and anxiety that this month brings along with submissions, tests, and projects. In times like these, we forget to take care of ourselves and give ourselves enough break during the preparation time. What people don’t know is that during such a tense season, you can still be sustainable! Sustainability in terms of exams doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to benefit the environment, but it also consists of certain habits that can be “sustained” for a long period of time that could become beneficial in the long run.
Here are a few sustainable tips that you can follow during this exam period that could help you keep your cool:
- Healthy snacks
Binge-eating and midnight snacking are your best friends in times like these as a lot of us prefer studying till late at night. Several times stress eating becomes an extreme sickness during exams and then there is no going back. Now, no one is telling you to stop eating but what you can do is switch to healthy and quick zero-waste snacks like nuts, fruits, etc that will be extremely filling but healthy too.
- Booster drinks
What is your go to drink when you feel extremely drained? Energy drinks like red bull? Or coffee from Starbucks? Instead of supporting these big companies that already have an extremely high carbon footprint, why not go buy your fuel from a local coffee shop near you that would be producing its ingredients naturally and organically. In this manner, not only are you supporting your community but also the environment by not entertaining the mirage generated by multinational brands.
- Take notes
Personally, I prefer writing my notes down on paper as it helps me remember, but every time I do this, I am guilty of wasting dozens of papers that are thrown away in the trash and aren’t reused or recycled. If there are other people out there like me who prefer writing their notes, why not switch to an eco-friendlier method? Reusable white boards or just a simple app and a stylus go a long way than writing on paper that would never be of use again.
- Go Outdoors!
Sitting in one place and studying at home can start feeling a bit suffocating. Instead, why don’t you try switching it around a bit? Step out of the house and study in the common room in your accommodation with some friends or walk down to a café or sit down in a garden near you and be surrounded by nature. That freshness and that breeze would just wash all the tension away.
For someone who has exams coming up very soon, I know for a fact that I will need to resort to one or all these tips quite often. Are there any other habits that you develop during submission time that help you get through the month with ease?