By Kathryn Green
With finals under a week away, students can be overwhelmed with the surplus of information and the strain of retention.
But Rachel Hickman, who works at the Department of Women''s Services and Resources, said this weeks'' 'Managing Finals Stress' lecture contains a message to help students not only manage, but conquer the anxiety of finals.
'We need to sweep away the inessential things in life,' Hickman said. 'When we do this, what is God-given and divine in us can expand.'
Hickman said she does not want to focus on techniques to manage stress, because she said she thinks those types of things feed into the stressful feeling.
Instead, Hickman said she wants to take the topic down to the elementary level and examine why finals are so stressful and try to eliminate students'' self-doubts.
'We already have all the talents and gifts that we need to succeed, and we need to trust in our abilities,' Hickman said. 'We''re already complete.'
Molly Wilhite, 23, a senior from Pasadena, Calif., majoring in English, said she is not looking forward to finals this year.
Wilhite said she would not mind so much if finals week only consisted of the tests themselves.
But with the added papers and assignments due the week before, Wilhite said she is not able to put in the study time she wants.
'I wish school was hardest in the middle and then you could cruise out towards the end,' she said.
All together, Wilhite estimated a whopping eight papers due in the next two weeks, ranging from short three- to five-pagers to a couple of larger 10-page papers.
Bryson Green, 22, a sophomore from Orem majoring in zoology, said he also finds his stress level rising as finals get closer.
'I''m about to pull my hair out,' Green said. 'There are so many tests and so little time.'
Green also said he finds himself at the library almost every night until closing time.
However, Hickman said these concerns are extraneous and self-defeating.
The most important thing for students to do during finals week is to slow down and be spiritually in tune with their bodies, Hickman said.
Praying, eating correctly and sleeping are a few of the measures students can take, she said.
'I want to offer a different way of studying and a different way of being,' Hickman said. 'Instead of anxious cycles, students need more peace and serenity.'
Hickman also said students can fall into the mindset of thinking they have to succeed on their finals for their self-esteem.
In the subconscious, students think they are not good enough by themselves and need to prove they are more through their finals, Hickman said.
'It''s a false way of thinking,' Hickman said. 'How can you possibly be more than the Lord has already given you?'
The seminar will take place Thursday, Dec. 13 in room 3223 WSC at 11 a.m.