Doing assessments is never a walk in the park, but when it starts getting dark as you’re walking home from your lectures, and every morning you open your blinds to dark mornings, full of rain and gloom, assessments become ever more depressing.
"Seasonal depression is horrendous, and being from England, we are all susceptible to the absence of vitamin D and the dark mornings and evenings."
Mid-module assessments are at a time of year when motivation is lacking, and the weather makes everyone want to cosy up in bed with a cup of tea, not sit in the Philip Robinson library staring at a laptop for hours. First year felt like a breeze. There was still adrenaline as the mid-modules were released, and it didn’t matter if you didn’t get a first, because you only needed to pass. Whereas now, it starts to feel real, and increasingly hard work is needed to get the grades. Seasonal depression is horrendous, and being from England, we are all susceptible to the absence of vitamin D and the dark mornings and evenings. It makes it hard to function normally, and each year, myself and many others dread the seasons changing and the clocks going back.
"When seasonal depression takes over, you forget to prioritise yourself, ending up in a vicious cycle of stress at impending deadlines."
My advice is to prioritise mental health and give yourself a break. University is hard for everyone, living without family and being far away from your home friends feels much stronger when you’re stuck in rainy, dark England. Even more so in Newcastle, where it’s a few degrees colder than the majority of the nation. Take time to watch a movie, cook a healthy meal and call your friends to debrief on the recent nights out. When seasonal depression takes over, you forget to prioritise yourself, ending up in a vicious cycle of stress at impending deadlines.
Mid-modules are important, but it isn’t the end of the world if you take a day to prioritise yourself; this will make sitting down to do work much easier to cope with. Also, do your assessments somewhere that opposes the seasonal darkness and the cold. If Phillip Robinson Library is busy and feels stressful, go to a coffee shop with friends, or find a quiet study room on campus. As I write this article, I am sitting in Luther’s with a hot chocolate, and it makes it so much more enjoyable!
If you take a positive attitude with your mental health and help battle the dark days and freezing cold wind, and rain, it will make the mid-module assessments much easier. Give yourself a break, seasonal depression is not for the weak, and it’s something so many people suffer with.