The storm is fine (It's the calm after that's dreadful)

Right now my exams are not yet over, although most of my friends have completed theirs and are enjoying their holidays now. My final paper will be on Friday, after which I will join them in the Land of Freedom -- whatever that means, ha.

And I've been thinking. I realize that I'm quite stressed out thinking about my last hurdle. It's the final lap of the race, the crucial last kilometers, the defining moment. I've had a good run, and I've got to keep up this momentum; I need to maintain this stamina. Exams are taxing, I'm sure, to every student -- to most people, exams are synonymous to sleepless nights, panic attacks, last minute cramming, delusional thoughts, talking to oneself, self-imposed isolation, etc.

And I've been thinking. Exams are not so bad.

It's the holidays right after the exams that I dread.

It's always a buildup of energy at every paper, just to find at the end, a total anticlimax. I would find myself asking, "It's over? Now what?"

Indeed, right after the exams, most people would feel at a loss of what to do. This is because for weeks or maybe months prior, they've dedicated their days and nights to this short term goal -- to clear the hurdles.

At least after crossing the very last hurdle, the athlete instantly knows his standings. Analogously, in the case of exams, it's a pressure-cooked, very stressful season filled with closedly spaced hurdles, one after another. But after the very last one, there'll be a moment of sudden silence.

At that moment, there are no more hurdles to cross. Straight ahead, the road is suddenly devoid of signages. And the student asks, "What now?"

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