Identifying What’s Stressing You the Most Can Help You Deal with It
Some things in college stress you out and yet you have very little, if any, control over them: Your bad chemistry professor. The guy in the room above you blast his music at 4:00 a.m. The people in your hall refuse to clean their hair out of the shower drain every morning. Some things you, fortunately, do have control over, especially when it comes to your personal life.
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If you’re feeling stressed from personal stuff, spending some time to figure out where the stress is coming from is often the best way of figuring out how to reduce, if not eliminate, these stressors. So just where should you start?
Keep track of where you’re spending most of your time
Make a list of all the locations you visit over several days: your room, lecture halls, classrooms, the quad, the coffee shop, your on-campus job, and your girlfriend’s place. If you’ve spent more than a minute somewhere, write it down.
Keep track of how you’re spending most of your time
Take the list you made in the previous step and write down what you’re doing in each place. Studying? Hanging out? Working? Make sure, to be honest, too; if you meet your study group in the campus coffee shop to study for 2 hours but end up gossiping for an hour and a half, make sure to write it down. Additionally, write down what you were supposed to be doing versus what you did. Did you spend the time positively or negatively? Did how you spent your time help or add to your stress level? Once you see where and how you spend a lot of your time, you’ll be better able to gauge what is adding to the stress in your personal life. And having good time management skills in college can be crucial for having a positive experience.
Cut down on your commitments
Chances are after you review where and how your time goes, you’ll realize that you spend a lot of hours on things that are not academic-related. Which is, of course, okay … except when your commitments start to cause stress in your life. The best essay writing service reddit emphasizes that if your schedule is more full of personal commitments (like club meetings) than academic work, it’s time to reprioritize. Realize, too, that it’s okay to say “no” when people ask you to help, be more involved, or otherwise contribute your time. Your friends will forgive you for not helping out as much as you had been; your family, however, won’t forgive you for failing school.
Look at your friendships
Are your friendships helping or hurting your time in school? Are your friends supportive of your college responsibilities or do they detract from them? Would you be better or worse off if you kept all of your friends or if you let a few friendships fade away? It may sound harsh, but people grow and change quite a bit during their time in school — meaning that the friendships that worked a year or two ago may no longer be beneficial to you. And if they’re causing you stress, it’s time to let them go.
Look at your relationships
Your significant other might be the best thing that’s ever happened to you — or he or she might be the biggest cause of stress in your life. Take a moment to stop and think about your romantic relationship(s). Does it make you happy? Do you feel better about it? What does it add to your life? What does it take away? Does it contribute to or detract from your goal of earning a degree?
Relax your standards
Remember: You don’t have to be perfect at everything. You ideally should be able to enjoy your time in school, and if your personal life is making you stressed, it’s time to let some things go. Realize that there are lots of ways to have a successful college experience. If you looked back at your time in college right now, what would you regret? What are you focusing too much on? What are you not focusing enough on? What might you be missing? What do you want to think and feel about your time in school when you’re 10, 20, or 30 years past graduation? Are the things that are stressing you out worth it in the long run?
Take some time to take care of yourself
It may sound old-fashioned, but taking some time to take care of yourself really can help put things in perspective. If you’re feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, it can be hard to evaluate your situation and make healthy choices. If you are a hard-working essay writer, make the time to eat well, get enough sleep, exercise at least a little bit, and even meditate for a few minutes here and there. You just might surprise yourself with how much better you feel — and how much better able you are to deal with the personal stress in your life.
Consider talking to a counselor
Many schools have counseling centers for a reason: Students have a lot to deal with during their time in school. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or even just want some tips on how to deal with the increased stress that college puts on people, consider talking to a counselor. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you. It just means you’re being smart and asking for a little help. After all, you wouldn’t think twice about asking a professor for a little help with the material she covered in class, right? Asking a counselor for a little help in dealing with the stress of college life is practically the same thing.
Let yourself have fun in relaxing, positive ways
If much of your life is causing you stress, make sure to just let yourself have some good, old-fashioned fun. Sometimes, however, the things you think are super fun — heading to a large campus party on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights — might be causing you a lot of stress. Sure, the party can be fun for a few hours, but the after-effects (physical, personal, emotional, academic, etc.) can cause stress and problems for a lot longer. Take a moment to evaluate whether you’re enjoying the things you think you are. Because who wants to miss out on really having fun during their time in college simply because of poor choices that only add to the stress that’s already there?