Trying to remain calm a mere ten days before my life crashes and burns and is painfully destroyed (sorry – I mean, exam week) is proving to be something of a problem right now. I’m a worrier at the best of times, so the meek little voice in my head telling me to stop panicking is really rather unconvincing.

I’m pretty sure you all know how I’m feeling. Loads of you are probably getting close to this stage yourself – after all, May is upon us, bringing with it the incredibly unfortunate concurrence of exams and increasingly sunnier/warmer/less-rainy weather. Slaving away at your desk (or fridge/sofa/bed/park, depending on whichever stage of procrastination/revision you currently find yourself at), while the sun and blue skies and chirping birds taunt you endlessly, seems so awfully torturous that you’re quite far gone in the process of convincing yourself and everyone else that there surely must be laws against such revision-provoked mental torment.

OK – so I’m being slightly dramatic. But you get the message… revision is, almost certainly by universal consent, one of our least favourite pastimes. It’s true that the vast majority of us, at some point in the exam period, will get so stressed that we reach a point of giving up and sliding into what can only be described as panic-induced apathy (and kudos to those who manage to avoid such lows).

For those of you who, like me, are perhaps reaching/have reached said point, here’s a text that I got from a friend today (may God bless her – she’s brilliant):
“When I feel stressed about work, I think about the greatness of God and think about how He created the heavens and the earth, and think about myself in proportion to that… just a tiny, tiny fraction. And then my worries – an even tinier fraction. If God has given me these worries, He’s also given me the strength to conquer them.”

Words of wisdom and comfort, don’t you think? Now, we’re never going to get rid of all our stress, and rightly so; we need some pressure to sharpen our minds, drive our efforts and better our performance. But I’m currently in the process of staring out my window and contemplating… surely, exams aren’t worth getting this worked up about, are they? (Little voice in my head is making a commendably valiant attempt at being convincing)

We all feel the pressures of life; the expectations placed upon us (by both ourselves and others), non-stop work and noise and activity, and the general atmosphere of competition (be it for a seat on the Underground, a place at university, or a job… all of which are much sought-after situations in life, unfortunately). It’s so easy to forget that Allah is there to turn to. The power of prayer is so often underrated; even a few minutes after each salah, reading a few ayah of Qur’an, doing some dhikr, or just sitting in silence, really helps you to find some calm and peace in what is an otherwise hectic whirlwind of nerves, stress and last-minute cramming.

As a last thought… we could ALL do with a little perspective; especially about exams, I reckon.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet (may God’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: Allah said “Were he [my servant] to ask something of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant it to him” (Bukhari)