Coping with Stress
Written By: Falak Asad
You come home from your last basketball season game at 7 pm and open your planner. Three tests, two projects, and one essay, that you have not even started, are all due tomorrow, and you have exactly 12 hours until you need to be in school again. Panic rushes your body, stress enters your head, how can all of this possibly be done with time for you to sleep? This situation is relatable to most, if not all high school and college students, and people go through stress at all times in their life. From homework to career work to even family stress, it all affects the human mind, preventing it from enjoying life, and always focusing on the negatives. Therefore, it is important to learn to manage stress and how to take things one step at a time.
To start, think about how common stress is a feeling in your life, and if you are good at coping with it already. One of the simplest ways to manage stress is by writing down feelings. This can help you identify the person, place, or things causing you the most stress. Then, try to eliminate that factor from your life. However, this is not an excuse to drop out of school or quit your job; education and money are crucial to survival, and without either, financial stress would take over. Maintaining a healthy life with exercise, nutritious food and healthy relationships help bring contentment in life. So, cut off toxic people and learn to say no when you are too busy.
Bottling up your emotions piles them up and leads to severe breakdowns, therefore, it is better to spill the tea to people you trust and make time to have fun. Set aside an hour for your favorite TV shows, or call your friends while you are in the car (not driving), but do not forget your social life matters. Set a schedule for yourself to prevent procrastination and spread out all the work that needs to get done, but make sure there are times for you to relax.
Stress from relationships, breakups, or arguments is different. They are harder to share, but if possible talk about it; it will give you advice and make you feel better. Also, cut off the person for a couple of days to think about if you really need them in life. Forgive, forget, compromise, stay thankful, and know what is in your control. If you find it better to cut ties with someone, that is fine. Nobody is obligated to suffer under someone else; people have their own lives.
Above all, relax and take a deep breath; you are not alone. Learning to manage stress can prevent issues like depression and anxiety from building up in the future. Life is full of ups and downs, so, people just need to understand how to cope with the low moments and grow from them. Now, get out some paper and write a schedule for the rest of your week: every day, set aside some time for work, some time for fun, and some to relax. And actually follow it!
Sources
Robinson, L. (n.d.). Stress Management. Retrieved July 22, 2020, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm
