The semester is finally in full throttle as mid-terms are behind us and papers, exams and projects breathe down our necks until finals arrive. Uncompleted homework assignments seem to lurk behind every corner and the stress of grades, internships, social lives, extracurriculars, a healthy diet and regular exercise feels nearly impossible to manage. In the midst of the stress, here are five things we should all be doing to cope with the chaos the school year brings.
1. Accepting it.
So it sounds cliche, but the truth is that the first step to managing and even conquering stress--or really anything for that matter- is admitting that it exists. Accepting the fact that the school year has you swamped and you've spread yourself a little thin is necessary in order to gain control of your stress and accomplish those things you need to get done. Once you've understood your sources of anxiety and stress, they will become much easier to manage.
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2. Distraction.
This might sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. You cannot constantly obsess over the sources of stress in your life. Distraction does not equal procrastination. Distraction simply means focusing on things that make you happy, the things that you love doing in order to make the stress more tolerable. Even if you take only a half hour study break to focus on something you enjoy -watching TV, listening to music, reading for fun, going for a walk- to keep your sanity, it will help take a little bit of the edge off.
3. Eat and sleep right.
It's so much easier to stress-eat an entire pizza while you're pulling an all-nighter, or to chug a Red Bull or a venti iced caramel macchiato to keep you alive and buzzing through your work, but these are not long-term fixes to manage stress and get work done. Keep your diet under control and try not to go too crazy with the quick fixes like energy drinks, coffee and junk food. They might give you the sugar rush you need to complete that assignment, but they'll also cause you to crash and feel super sluggish later on. Get seven to eight hours of sleep at night, eat lots of vegetables and drink tons of water to keep you focused, energized and feeling well throughout the day.
4. Take some time for yourself.
It's always super tempting to spend the weekend after a long, rough week going out with your friends, partying heavily and spending the morning after sleeping all day and feeling like trash. There's definitely nothing wrong with this in moderation -we all want some fun more often than not. But if this becomes the norm, you might start to feel run down. Take a weekend or even just a whole day to yourself every once in a while. It might be tough to fight the urge to socialize at first -I know I always struggle with this initially- but give the social butterfly in you a breather and you'll be glad you did. Spend the time doing something you enjoy, relaxing or even working on something you've been putting off or haven't had time for during the school/work week. Once you're feeling relaxed and/or accomplished, you'll be glad you did.
5. Trust your gut.
Stress can easily get the best of us, but trusting in your own abilities and having total faith in yourself can ultimately remove the stress from our lives. This is not to say it's reasonable to assume we can have total confidence in ourselves all day every day, but having a solid foundation of confidence in ourselves most of the time, most days sure isn't a bad place to start. It might take a while to gain this confidence, and it definitely doesn't happen overnight -it's an everyday battle for some. The journey to complete faith in ourselves is a long and trying, but completely worth it, too.
