--Original published at Jayln's Perspective

For this blog post, I will be analyzing my current stress management strategies and how they work, and then I will be discussing other strategies which could also be effective in alleviating stress.

As I started college, I don’t think I was completely aware of how stressful it can be at times. Compared to the stress of high school, college stress manifests itself in more intense ways. For example, in high school, my teachers would constantly remind us what assignments were due and when. In college, a lot of knowing what is due falls on the responsibility of the students. This is just a part of the growing up process, but it can be difficult and stressful to adjust to at first. Another part of college that is stressful is learning how to time manage effectively. In high school, we spent the majority of the day in class. This is very different than college because most days, I only have one or two classes, which means that I am only spending about 1-2 hours of the day in class. Even though I am only in class for a couple hours a day, there is a lot more work and reading expected of me. In high school, most of my grades revolved around homework, paper, and in-class assignments. If I did not do as well as I wanted to on a test, there were still a lot of chances for me to earn points back. This is very different from college, and a specific example of this is my Biology class. In Biology, there are no papers, homework, or in-class assignments; instead, the grade received in this class is based on how you perform on quizzes and tests. Since our tests are so high stakes, it creates a very stressful testing situation. I tend to get very anxious as I am taking the exam, and I am sure this affects my performance.

In order to cope with stress, I make myself a schedule. If I have 2 big exams in one day, like I did last Monday, I will set a certain amount of time aside to make sure I am dedicating enough study time for each exam. I know that this is an effective strategy because whenever I make a schedule, my exam grades typically increase. Another strategy I use is whenever I get stressed, I listen to music because it relaxes my brain. Any type of music usually works, I just like focusing on the lyrics. Lastly, I have a “stress journal” I like to write in whenever I am feeling overwhelmed. Writing stressful assignments down usually helps me prioritize them, and then I feel like I have more control over them. Getting thoughts down on paper and out of my mind usually does the trick, and I highly recommend this strategy to everyone.

Three other strategies that I would like to become a part of my regular schedule are working out, to quit procrastinating, and to get more sleep. I have read online that working out helps relax your mind. Whenever I get really stressed, I go to the gym, and I normally feel much better afterward. I am hoping this can eventually become a habit. Secondly, I feel like everyone struggles with pushing things off to the last second. Whenever I do this, I tend to feel pressure and an uncomfortable amount of stress. I would like to stay more on top of things, and I think this would reduce my stress levels. Lastly, getting more sleep is always a good idea. If I would stop putting assignments off to the last minute, I could go to sleep earlier. Then, I would wake up less stressed out.

--Original published at Kaylyn's PSY105 Blog

As a college student, I am very used to the feeling of stress, and not always the best at finding ways to alleviate the overwhelming feeling. I cannot say that I have the best stress management strategies and am overall a very large ball of stress. My two biggest ways to alleviate stress are hanging out with my friends and watching Netflix. I really enjoy being able to walk around Park City Mall or Target with my friends because I am able to socialize and get a bit of exercise while enjoying myself. My friends are the main reason why I have not collapsed under stress so far this year because they force me to leave my room and put my books down. Also watching something a tad bit mindless and something that does not take too much brain power relieves a lot of my stress. These tend to work pretty well for me because I am able to reduce the amount of brain power that I need to use. However, I do not believe that I use them as much as I should because still the majority of my time is dedicated to studying until my brain feels numb. This is not a healthy strategy; however, since I have anxiety no amount of studying that I do is enough for my brain to feel calm. I always feel guilty when I am with my friends or am watching Netflix because it is time that I could be studying. I do believe that I would get many benefits from adding in some more stress management strategies and making more time for them. I do see benefits in exercise and believe that I would benefit greatly from incorporating it into my daily life. It will be able to help me work out my stress and get my body a way to relieve the physical stress on my body. Overall, I would benefit greatly from adding some more stress management techniques and making time for them in my life.

Picture Credit: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-more-bleating-goats-gone-gourmet-8885k7xnq

--Original published at Chey's Blog

College life is filled with stress. I do not think that my life is as stressful now as it was in high school. I think that is because I am learning what I want to learn and I am not just thrown into random classes. I deal with my stress in a lot of different ways. One of the main ways that I deal with stress is by making art. I do a lot of painting to put my focus on something other than what is stressing me. Just moving the paint or charcoal or graphite around on paper and canvases is very stress relieving for me. I also play the guitar and/or sing to relieve stress.  It also works really well for me. One of the things that relieves stress the most for me is something I do not get to do very often. I love to drive my car with the windows down and the music up. That is one of the most freeing and stress relieving things for me to do. I love it so much, but as a poor college student I do not have the gas to do that. That fact, in turn, puts stress on me. I think that one thing I could start doing is keeping a journal.  I have heard that writing out what happens in your day and what is stressing you can help to relieve that stress.  I think that would be a good idea for me since I like to write.

--Original published at Cecilia's Thoughts

Stress is extremely prominent in college students because of the difficult classes, rigorous schedules, and the want to succeed brings a lot of stress on a student. A large number of college students do not know various stress management strategies that are healthy and helpful. I have a lot of stressors in my life because of sports, school, and high expectation of myself as well as from my family. This causes high stress levels almost all the time. In order to cope with this stress I do not have the best strategies, I usually just go to sleep and ignore my problems for a few hours. Other times, I make lists whether it just says to do my laundry or I sometimes go as deep as saying I need to study a certain chapter in a certain course. These lists allow me to feel like I have accomplished something, even if it is a small, easy task, at least I am being productive in some way. I think that sleeping is not working at all because it is just a way to procrastinate and avoid my assignments and studying. Making lists is very helpful in my opinion because it lays out what I need to do and shows what I have already accomplished and what I still have to do. In the future there are much more realistic and effective ways of dealing with stress. I will try to incorporate eating healthier and going to sleep at an earlier and more consistent time, without taking as many naps. These will hopefully help alleviate some of my stress, which will ultimately make me a happier person.

--Original published at Psychology 105

As a college student, I find that I have a lot of stress but there are certain things I can do to help with its effects on my life. The most significant sources of stress currently are school and work. To help with these, I try to plan out my weeks and work schedule so I can space out all my assignments. This helps to make fewer days where I have a huge list of things to do all at once. This is important because it keeps me from getting too overwhelmed at one time and helps me manage my time a lot more efficiently. A big problem I have is that I tend to take on many things at one time, and often say yes to other people even if I don’t really have time. I think if I cut out some things so that I could focus on only a few that are important than I would be a lot less stressed. When I do find that I’m stressed, I’ll usually go work out or talk to friends and family to help me deal with it. Sometimes I’ll do yoga to help me relax or just go for a walk and spend time outside. There are some things I could incorporate into my routine that would probably help even more. I think a big factor in my stress is how much sleep I get, so if I tried to get even a little more per night this would be beneficial. I do sometimes procrastinate as well and avoiding that would probably really help as well.

--Original published at Wolfman Productions

No matter how you slice it, everyone has stress within them. Some may break under it easier than others, but everyone still has it. Now along with everyone out there, I have to cope with stress, but I may have different ways to de-stress myself.

The ways I de-stress myself is by playing video games or watching a YouTube video or movie/TV show. When my stress reaches a certain level, I need to step away from reality and play a video game that lets me escape. This is how I got hooked on RPGs because you get lost in the world of the games due to the ways you can change your character and the story around you. Watching the YouTube videos or a movie/TV show also helps me escape, but it also lets me learn new things I may not have know before. Mr favorite show to watch when stressed out is Mythbusters. No matter how many times I’ve seen an episode or what the episode is, I will always watch because I love seeing these people solve these myths while also expressing their background of special effects. They always manage to make me smile and laugh even if I’ve heard the joke before. It’s the best show to veg out on because you can still learn something.

Granted these only work for me if my stress level is low to medium level. If my stress reaches high then these methods will barely work for me because of how I can’t pull my mind away from what’s stressing me out. When my stress levels reach its high, I just have to sit down and focus on what it is that’s stressing me out. If I keep pushing it away, it’ll keep adding up until a huge mass of stress just hits me all at once. This is where it’s a good idea to try out other ways to reduce the stress levels.

Other things I can try to do is read a book I’ve been trying to finish, go on a nice walk in the sun, sit down with friends and chat with them or do an activity, and do some meditation. The ones I’d most likely try would be reading a book and talking among friends. At home I have a stack of five books I’ve been trying to get through for years, I just haven’t had the time to. If I need to lower my stress I’ll try to read a book for an hour or two to see if that helps. I’d also like to talk to my friends because they can also be dealing with this stress and want to talk to others about it. If I would incorporate these two methods to my de-stress list, then most stress that occurs during a week would disappear and I can focus on my classwork.

--Original published at Tyler's Ideas

Stress is a very prominent emotion felt in almost all college students. Being a freshman, I can absolutely attest to that. Due to the fact that I can in undecided and I also currently play two sports I feel my stress levels may be higher compared to others with less responsibility. With the stress of having to perform every day in my sport, having to find the correct path for me to take and ultimately decide on a major, as well as take on the increased amounts of work compared to high school, I have encountered much more stress than I ever have before. Currently, I know my stress management activities are not great at all. Currently, when I am stressed, I will most like put off whatever is causing the stress and do my best not to think about it. This means I will sleep, or go get food, or simply just play on my phone for hours before I feel that I just need to get the stressful thing out of the way. As I am sure you can imagine this helps nothing and ends up causing more stress than I began with.

There are many different things I think I can do to properly manage my stress. The biggest thing would most likely plan out my school work and work ahead. Procrastinating and doing my best to not think about all the assignments and studying I have to do only adds to my stress. I think if I make a schedule and follow it properly, I can relieve some of the stress. I am sure there are many other strategies to help me deal with stress, maybe I should look some up sometime.

--Original published at HarrysCollegeBlog

Stress is a big part in College life, especially with so many classes and responsibilities thrown upon us so suddenly.  How I go about dealing with Stress is to take breaks. In my time working and growing up in my parent’s restaurant, Constantly working and serving customers was the norm, and you can Imagine getting tired out would be easy in this environment. Taking breaks increases your own efficiency, rather than forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to. This applies very much so to my current college lifestyle: overworking myself is only going to decrease my quality and motivation to get assignments done, its far better to do them willingly, if possible.

Taking breaks occasionally not only gives me time to socialize and have fun, but time to calm down and not let the stress drive me to anger, anxiety etc. This method works surprisingly well, except when my breaks lead me into occasional procrastination. The best way to get rid of this problem is through better Time Management, but most importantly, making sure I’m still satisfied with my life. Satisfaction is a chain that binds you to doing menial tasks willingly, after all.

--Original published at AlyssaM

Stress management for me is actually not that hard and I really like my own methods. It does help my schedule is very laid back with only two classes every single day (four in total). If I start worrying about all the work and assignments I have to get done, I may start with one small quick one and get it finished. Then I take a break and write because writing calms me and takes me to other worlds or I get a snack or do something similar. After I have rejuvenated, I am more motivated to get work done and I begin on my next task. I may do two pieces of work switching between them at the same time, so I do not zone out while reading one assignment or the other.

My trick is I do not look at the calendar and panic over all the lurking deadlines and things to do. Instead, I take it one minute at a time and before I know it everything is completed on time. I know which assignments need more attention, so I plan accordingly and just go for it when I have a super will power to get it all done.

My methods work really well for me and make stress basically dissipate to the point, I hardly think about it from day to day. Maybe one thing I could do is fine more time to write because sometimes instead of writing I do other crafts or think if I want to write or do something else. Adding more writing would relax me even more and help me ultimately get more work done.