The best way I can describe the week after spring break is by saying everybody just wants to take a nap. Whether or not you splurged on your savings and went somewhere warm for Spring Break, the second semester workload does not get any easier no matter how relaxed you were the week before. For many students, this is the most stressful time of the year and it seems as though the stress will never go away. First things first, let me tell you to take a deep breath and that everything will work itself out at the end of the day. Now let me tell you why this whole “stressed-out” feeling is actually good for you.
You Need Stress in Order to Do Your Best
You might be thinking to yourself, “This is insane. I do my best work when I’m NOT stressed. That’s the whole point.” Well actually, stress can be your friend when the stakes are high. We’ve all heard the argument about stress motivating you to not to procrastinate and to act upon your responsibilities, but what I’m trying to emphasize here is that stress boosts your brainpower. Whether or not you realize it, the stressors in your brain are activating your thoughts to be generated quickly, hence boosting productivity and concentration. There are a lot of articles out there on this phenomenon, but you can find the basics from this magazine.
Stress Makes you a More Valuable Student and Worker
I’m not saying that “easily stressed” should be a character trait that you list on your resume, please do not ever do that. What I am saying, though, is that humans often experience stress when they face a task that is either unfamiliar, challenging, or both. Stress is the very element that causes us to act upon these difficulties and adjust to them, something that humans have a very strong tendency to achieve. So when you start to get hard on yourself for being so easily stressed, think about it in a sense that you are continuously challenging yourself to become better than you were before. This, in the long run, will shape you into an employee who isn’t intimidated by new responsibilities.
Odds Are That When You’re Stressed, Something Good is on the Way
You definitely aren’t stressed for no reason. There’s something on your mind that you care a lot about and you don’t want to fail. When you find yourself focusing on the “what-ifs” and the “how will I ever get all of this done?” you need to take a deep breath and remember that eventually, everything will be said and done. No matter how stressed you are, life will go on, and something else will take the place of your stress. (I bet you anything it will be something good!)
As students, we all can relate to the feeling of being extremely stressed or anxious over an assignment or exam, but there’s something that goes unsaid about the sweet feeling of completing your assignment or exam and being able to relax your mind of these thoughts. Always remember that your stress is temporary and it will always subside when good things come along.