It’s almost finals week (or it is finals week for some). That means that the semester is drawing to a close. By next Friday, I will officially be done with my first semester of college! It feels like it has flown by. A lot of upperclassmen have asked me if I am stressed about finals. My answer is always no. The biggest reason for that is that most of my finals are not cumulative. Four out of my six classes just have normal tests. My sociology professor even drops an exam. My social studies education professor told us we did not need to study for our final, and my Honors final is more of a project. However, what I AM stressed out about is the mass amount of papers and projects due in the next couple of weeks. Let me tell you what I mean:

• SS 150 (social studies education)- Group project where we had to plan a miniature lesson based off a book we all read and present it to the class (my group is presenting last on Thursday). All of the lesson materials were due today. We also had to individually write a paper about the book and which social science lens we used to read it (options are history, geography, political science, economics, psychology, and sociology; I chose geography) due on Thursday.
• Sociology 100- 300-500 word paper about Obamacare, due Wednesday.
• Geography 150- partner project about refugees in Africa, due Wednesday.
• History 201- weekly reading questions, due Thursday.
• Honors 201- 5-6 page paper about any topic that can be connected to at least three texts read over the semester (I am doing the pursuit of knowledge across cultures), due Friday. 700-1000 word essay over reflections on the class as a whole, referencing at least two texts, due Monday. For my final, I have to create a metaphor answering a question about the meaning of life with a two page explanation of the metaphor as well as a visual representation, due next Friday.

I mentioned earlier that I have six classes. I have something due in five of them. At this point, I have all of them done except the Honors ones. But I do still have to study for my tests as well. To give everyone else struggling in a similar predicament the motivation to continue, I thought I would do something different for today’s post: A list of motivational quotes to put somewhere you can see them (most of these are on my board above my desk):

1. A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.
2. Don’t let anyone (or anything) dull your sparkle.
3. Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself; be proud of every step you take toward reaching that goal.
4. Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
5. If there is no way, create one.
6. Don’t count the days. Make the days count.
7. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
8. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
9. Giving up on your goal because of one setback is like slashing your other three tires because you got a flat.
10. No one ever injured their eyesight by looking on the bright side!
11. The question isn’t “Who’s going to let me?” but rather “Who’s going to stop me?”
12. Broken crayons still color.
13. Be stubborn about your goals and flexible about your methods.
14. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
15. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.
16. I am not better than anyone except the person I used to be.
17. Take some time to be thorough.
18. Great things never come from comfort zones.
19. Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.
20. A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence.
21. Embrace what makes you different.
22. When you feel like quitting, remember why you started.
23. A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.
24. Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.
25. Turn your cant’s into can’s and your dreams into plans.
26. You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.
27. If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.
28. My life is constantly under construction. There’s always something to improve.
29. Go the extra mile; it’s never crowded anyway.
30. Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
31. If you don’t fit in, you’re probably doing the right thing.
32. Live in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you, no one would believe it.
33. Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.
34. Never stop doing your best, just because someone doesn’t give you credit.
35. A successful person is one who can build a firm foundation from the bricks thrown at him/her.
36. If an egg is broken from an outside force, life ends. If an egg is broken from an inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from the inside.
37. The best way to predict your future is to create it.
38. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
39. Don’t stumble over something behind you.
40. When you focus on problems, you’ll have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you’ll have more opportunities.
41. If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.
42. An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward.So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus and keep aiming.
43. Always be persistent in your pursuits. Consistency shows value in whatever you’re after.
44. The greatest prison people live in is the fear of what other people think.
45. You have to be odd to be number one.
46. A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it; it just blooms.
47. Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
48. Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
49. Anyone can give up; that’s the easiest thing in the world. But to hold it together when everyone else would expect you to fall apart, that’s true strength.
50. It’s not the load that breaks you down; it’s the way you carry it.