In life, most days go by smoothly. Taking each task as it comes flying at you and getting it done in the same manner. This cycle just continues day after day, until one day you hit a massive wall and come to a screeching halt. Except it’s not a wall, it’s a massive pile of things that need to get done and you can’t even fathom how. You start to scale the pile hoping to sort through everything in an orderly manner, but it’s overwhelming and terrifying.

No matter how you try to cope with it - screaming, crying, getting frustrated - it gets the best of you as it does everyone every once in a while. When you feel like you have had enough and just can’t handle anymore, that’s when you know you’ve hit that wall. That’s when you know you’ve hit your breaking point. Maybe its caused by an overflowing amount of school work with due dates speeding closer and closer each second, or because of your long list of responsibilities and activities, or maybe it’s that nonsense job or the boss you just can’t stand. Whatever it is that is causing you to stress, the best thing to do is to recognize it, don’t repress it or it will grow larger. Ignoring your stress will just cause it to boil and become larger.

By taking a step back and evaluating exactly what the sources of your stress are will help it dissipate as you start accomplishing tasks. Another important thing to remember when trying to deal with stress is to calm yourself down and try to stay that way. It doesn’t benefit you to have your brain racing in a million directions at the same time or being overly flustered when attempting to finish tasks. Organize your thoughts and write down everything you need to get done and by what deadline. Start at the soonest due date and move towards the farthest, checking off items as you go. Keep a level head; if you need a break, take one, but within reason. Just because the deadlines aren’t speeding towards you anymore doesn’t mean they’ve come to a standstill. Lastly, look at the big picture not the minuet details. Sure a low quiz grade would be disappointing for about a month, but it won’t matter once you have a degree in your hand or even credit from the course for that matter.

Task by task the giant mound that you used to be engulfed by is a small little cluster of things that have due dates into the future. You can finally see an end and it is bright and stress free. Suddenly, you can tell that you’re getting back into the ongoing cycle and life is getting easier. Better yet, your stress is disappearing and next time you’ll know how to keep it small.