The second semester always brings a plethora of changes to students, besides it just being a new year. This adjustment period can be tricky, and the weather can make the whole season seem dreary – but it doesn’t have to be!

Start off your day right. The sky may be dark but you don’t have to sleep through your whole morning. Find some good lighting, pick out a comfy outfit for the day, and get up early enough to eat breakfast before school. A good meal can have a great impact on your day, and make the classes leading up to lunch surprisingly more tolerable – not to mention the fact that you’ll get to enjoy a whole host of breakfast foods you may have been skipping out on during your mad dash out of the house before.

One good way to keep yourself going throughout the day, without giving into the gloom of the season, is to play some of your favorite music. Pick some upbeat songs you can listen to while you’re getting ready or while you’re driving, as well as some songs that you can focus while listening to. Use the class time you are given to zone in and work on finishing assignments- there’s no better way to end the day than realizing you have no homework to complete. This feeling can leave you walking out of school feeling as light as air, even if the skies are grey and cloudy.

Another way to beat the new semester is to stay organized. You have an entire semester’s worth of papers for each of your classes, and making sure all of your school stuff is in order will make day to day school life significantly easier. This is also true for your new classes. Now that you have whatever new school supplies you obtained for this semester, keep it neat! Whether you have one large binder for all of your classes or a color-coordinated notebook and matching folder for each class, make sure you aren’t throwing important documents loose into your backpack or into the wrong classwork. The last thing you need is to start the year off with a zero for an assignment you completed, but couldn’t find amidst the mess of your bag. Stay on top of your work! It will make the year so much less stressful.

A new semester is a wonderful opportunity, so don’t let it go to waste! It’s not too late to get a year-long class grade up, and it’s never too early to be prepared for your new classes. Try and stay positive throughout this season, and enjoy what the new year brings.