Since I have started school, I have been asked, “How is school going?” I give the same answer every time, which is: “It’s stressful.” I feel like stressful is an understatement. What I really want to say is, “I constantly feel like I am getting nothing done, and I just want to say screw it.” However, none of this is true. I am actually getting a lot of things done, and I am doing very well. Junior year is going to be one of the hardest years because of all the work that is needed to get to the next level. Don’t worry, I’m not going to give up, but you will hear me complain about how much time and effort it takes to get to where I need to be. I have learned over the past two years of college that different stressors will come and go, but stress will always exist. For anyone that constantly deals with stress, here are the things that I do to make it a little more bearable:
- Crying.
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You may think, “Oh no, don’t cry,” but it has to be done. If I don’t cry and let all the stress and emotions build up inside, I will eventually explode. IT IS OKAY TO CRY. Crying is natural. Crying, sometimes, is a good thing to do to “get it all out.” I call it my “good cry.” My good cry is when I cry for five minutes and then get back up to finish whatever I was doing. This doesn’t happen very often but mostly around midterms and finals.
- Exercise.
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Exercise has always been a stress reliever for me because it gives me an hour a day to think through my issues, or completely forget everything all together. Exercise also makes me feel better about myself in a self-esteem aspect. Going to the gym or going on a nice walk may help to get your mind straight.
- Talking it through.
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Over this past week, I was working on my Behavioral Neuroscience midterm, and there was a question that was really stressing me out. I knew the answer was right in front of my face, but I couldn’t figure out where to start. My roommates, who are the best girls ever, have never taken a Behavioral Neuroscience class but were willing to listen. Well, maybe they were willing after they realized they had no choice (love you guys). Once I was able to lay out all of my thoughts to them, I was able to come to the answer that I needed to finish the question.
- Something to look forward to.
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At the beginning of every week, I make sure that there is something good to look forward to for the weekend. It doesn’t have to be big. It can be something like getting Chipotle for dinner on Friday night or having a horror movie marathon with that stupid clown Pennywise (had to put that in there for my roommate who loves to scare me… you know which one you are).
Maybe these things will help you, maybe they won’t. All I know is that college is hard and so is adulting. The adulting part will never end, and all the stress will just keep coming. However, if you look on the bright side of things for this month, at least it’s spooky season! Happy October!