Overwhelmed, at a Minimum
Overwhelmed, at a Minimum
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The Link, May 8, 2025
By Jair Zechariah G. Era & Christian Jiro B. Legaspi
‘Hell Week’. The name of the phenomenon that occurs when students are overwhelmingly swamped with assignments and have no room to relax leading to copious amounts of stress, exhaustion, or in some cases, even depression, for roughly a week's period of time, usually occurring before or during the exam period. Hell Week is infamous for being a dreadful event that spells doom for students’ sanity, often being the cause of overwork, burnout, or collapse. No student is exempt from the effects of Hell Week no matter how smart or talented they are. Which brings us to two questions. “What are the causes of Hell Week?” and “How do you overcome Hell Week?”
What are the causes of Hell Week? Based on our observations, we believe Hell Week to be the result of inadequate planning, lacking educational policies, poor behavior and work ethics, and pervasive distractions. Hell Week is a problem that repeatedly occurs because of the inadequacy of the related parties. For the students, it is the work ethics ingrained into them that (for the most part) does not plan for the future and the behavior that leads to constant procrastination.
Why haven't we put our heads together and thought of a solution to this problem yet? It is only by uniting together as one group that we can solve this problem and yet how do we keep on missing the elephant in the room?
How does a student overcome Hell Week? It is surprisingly simple. Just plan ahead of the curriculum and finish tasks ahead of time. Efficiently manage yourself and you would be breezing through Hell Week. Easy, right? But, there is a problem. We are only human. We cannot do such a thing with so many distractions around us. With our primitive instincts still intact, unchanged from those of our ancestors thousands of years ago, we are attracted to the causes of the dopamine that surround us at every turn and become slaves to our desires. That is why we get screwed over at Hell Week. We are suddenly forced to strictly manage ourselves after living with the freedom to do the things we want.
Moreover, this sudden change of events usually implements a rather concerning mindset for students and teachers alike in the following days. Empowering the urge to just get the week over with in hopes to return to our unfinished business or leisurely activities without the countless stressful thoughts laying on our backburners. As mentioned earlier, it is ideal for us to counter all of this with a positive attitude and utmost effort into achieving the recurring list of responsibilities that are assigned to us. However, there is only so much we can do in such a time constraint filled with an immensely high amount of pressure to perform up to expectations.
Additionally, saying that you’ll manage your responsibilities well is way easier than actually doing it. Whether it’s because of the rapid evolution of technology swaying our attention towards multiple directions or the compilation of heavy tasks repeatedly getting added, it is not an easy thing to do. Possibly leading to a seemingly fan favorite concept called “procrastination”. Essentially delaying the inevitable deadlines for every single task until you are forced to do it. Either sourcing from a lack of motivation, or severe exhaustion to keep exerting effort in everything you do.
In conclusion, Hell Week strikes many problems not only academically but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Challenging us to gather the strength and knowledge we can carry on to overcome these troublesome responsibilities. Everyone surely has this period in their lives and we all have our different countermeasures in tackling such burdens. Upholding the significance of responsibility and ideal time management in a society filled with distractions. Embracing what the future gives us in compensation of the efforts we give towards not only ourselves, but to others.
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