In college, we do not take stress seriously enough. Some of us believe it’s the only way to function and get work done. We think that we can handle multiple organizations, work, school, sleep, and a social life without any consequences. While this is possible for some people, that is definitely not the case for everyone. Stress is a serious issue facing young adults. Listen to your body. Slow down if these things happen to you.
1. Less energy: The more you keep going, the less you will feel like pushing. We could start out doing everything we think we can manage. Then, before you know it, all of our responsibilities and obligations wear us down to the point where it feels like the fate of humanity is in our hands.
2. Less Strength: It will be ten times harder to get out of bed. You will feel like you are dragging an anvil with every step you take.
3. Lack of Sleep: Your brain won’t let you rest. You will only think about what needs to be done, when, and if it’s done right. Your brain will go ninety miles a minute.
4. Increased Sleep: Once sleep finally finds you, waking up seems like the end of the world. Snoozing your alarm for five minutes turns into snoozing your alarm for 30 minutes. Now you have slept too much and have to scramble to get back on track.
5. Inability to focus: Your once one-track-mind is going left, right, forward, backwards, up, and down all at once. You’re “multitasking.” You’re trying to do everything at once, thinking that will help when, actually, it does the complete opposite.
6. Sickness: You didn’t listen when your body told you that you were tired, so now it is taking matters into its own hands. Your body will shut down. You will get sick and that sickness will make you rest. Trust me.
Do not bite off more than what you can chew, lovelies. No one looks pretty spitting it back out.