As we enter what is perhaps one of the busiest, most exciting and also most stressful term for the year, filled with internals and sports tournaments, it is perhaps unsurprising that we will all begin to feel more than a little fatigued this term.  For all our good personality traits, fatigue is a killer - it makes us more short-tempered, more upset, and more irritable with each other. 

Irritation, I believe, lends itself to reluctant tolerance: putting up with someone because they’re stressing over an internal when you believe you have more right to be stressed because you have TWO internals, is hardly helpful to either individual, and just leaves everyone feeling worse off. Irritability gives everyone a short fuse, and creates tension in relationships that are otherwise healthy and uplifting. 

So, what I ask of you this term, is to have the courage to be kind and patient. Be empathetic, give people space to breathe, calm down, and clear their head. It is easy to be irritated when your head is a black cloud of due dates and to do lists, and far harder to try and love others who feel the same, but ultimately it is much more rewarding to support each other, particularly when others will then do the same for you. A smile, compliment, or passing greeting could be a small flicker of hope in an otherwise hectic term. So, have courage, and above all, be kind. We are all in the same boat.