College is a time for meeting new people, going new places, and learning a wide variety of information that spans across many areas of study. These elements will help ease your transition into the real world. However, as wonderful as this may be, college is also a time when the stress factor reaches an all time high. Handling stress in college could be considered, in my experience, one of the most challenging bumps to overcome during these four years. But, there are ways to cope with stress that will make your college experience so much more worthwhile.
Between striving for good grades, participating in extracurricular activities like sports and clubs, and maintaining a social life, the average student is bound to feel the weight of a busy schedule fall intensely on his or her shoulders. It is an inevitable fact of attending college that most will experience if they are putting in exactly what they would like to get out. Stress can be overwhelming at times to the point where it makes you want to just give up. But that cannot be an option, especially considering the coping mechanisms I have discovered over the last several semesters.
The number one factor to surviving stress is making time for you. It is important to take a small portion of each day to do something for yourself that refuels your mind, body, and spirit. This will hopefully give you the motivation to strive for excellence inside and outside of the classroom. Go on a drive, head out for a walk or run, meditate for a few minutes, paint your nails, clean your room, call home, take a hot shower—whatever it may be that keeps you sane, then go for it! These events may sound a bit mundane to the average person, but to a college student they are the luxuries of your existence.
Another coping mechanism for stress is being able to just let it go. If you are a perfectionist, constantly studying to maintain an impeccable grade point average, then you might want to listen up! It’s okay to make the occasional bad grade, even a failing grade, as gut wrenching as this concept may seem. Let it go. Just let it go! There’s always time to make up for it. If you slept through a class, well that may have been just what you needed anyway—sleep. If you were late to a group meeting, I think it’s safe to say they survived without you for those ten minutes when you were scrambling to collect your books and papers in a rush to head out the door. While these instances should not be made a habit, it is still imperative that we realize the importance of letting it go and moving on, whatever that “it” may be. Time will continue and you will go forward almost undoubtedly intact.
All in all, make sure to do something each day that helps maintain your sense of self and peace of mind. In doing so, your stress factor will hopefully begin to decrease. These two factors will benefit you more in college than any textbook ever could. Like the great political theorist Hannah Arendt once said, “Dedicate yourself to the good you deserve and desire for yourself. Give yourself peace of mind. You deserve to be happy. You deserve delight.”