It’s that time of year again. Finals week is coming up. We are bombarded with loads of homework and studying. In these weeks is when most of us college students are overly stressed. But school isn’t the main cause of stress. It can come from numerous things, such as work, relationships, activities, etc. Stress can affect you physically, emotionally, psychologically, and behaviorally. These are the categories our warning signs of stress fall under. Have you ever watched Bruce Almighty? It’s a very funny movie including Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, and Morgan Freeman. There’s a scene where Bruce, played by Jim Carrey, is driving in a car, stressed to the max, begging God to give him a sign. While he’s begging, literal warning signs and lights appear, but Bruce ignores the signs. Sometimes this is how we treat God. It’s also how we treat the warning signs of stress.

For this next part, I recommend grabbing a pen and a piece of paper. I’m going to be asking you questions for you to answer and reflect on. I’ll be sharing my answers as we go along.

• What causes you stress?

For me school work, relationships, work, cheery, and money are all stressor for me right now.

• What are some of your “warning signs” when you are stressed? (think back on how you react physically, emotionally, psychologically, and behaviorally when you are stressed)

When I’m stressed, my “warning signs” are I get in a bad mood, my muscles in my shoulders tense up, I tend to think more negatively and have no motivation, I don’t eat as much and I have constant headaches, and I overthink everything.

• Now go back to what causes you stress. On what you put down, what do you have control over?

I feel like I have some control over my school work because I can determine when I want to do it and how well I want to do on it. I would also say my money because I can chose either to save it or spend it.

• When you are stressed, what are your go to things to relieve that stress?

Exercising is probably my number one way to relieve stress. Other ways to get rid of the stress for me would be relaxing and watching a movie, reading a book, doing my devotional, going on a walk outside, playing the piano, and listening to music.

Sometimes if we get too stressed, it can be because we have set unrealistic expectations for ourselves. Remember that it’s okay to say no. We need to learn how to set boundaries to help establish our priorities. One thing that I’ve started doing is making my bed first thing in the morning. Some of you have probably heard of this, but making your bed in the morning makes you feel more accomplished since you’ve already completed one task for the day. It jumpstarts your morning and puts you in a better mood. Another thing that I have been trying to do is make a “to-do list” before heading to bed so I don’t have to try to remember what I am suppose to do the next day. Sometimes I forget and fall asleep, but like I said, I am trying haha. There’s a saying that says “eat the frog” which means do the worst thing first. I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes I procrastinate and I hold off the stuff that I really do not want to do until the very last minute, like with homework. I honestly believe that if I put this into action, I would have 100% less stress than I do right now. That’s just something to think about. So how do you establish your priorities? And do you have realistic expectations for yourself?

Two of the best ways to relieve stress is exercise and controlled breathing. Some of you gonna be doctors or nurses out there know of the parasympathetic nervous system. When you exhale longer than inhaling when you control your breathing, you’re able to put yourself in that parasympathetic state faster. That just means you are relaxed, have slower breathing, not in the “fight-or-flight” mode as you are when you are stressed. A reason why exercising is good is because sometimes when you are stressed, you have excess energy that you don’t know where to place (that kinda where you are just having to pace all the time or fidget). Exercising helps get rid of the excess energy, putting you in a better state.

Now after reading this, I probably have already stressed you out by having you think of all of the stressors in your life right now. So I say, take some time and relax. And if you are saying “I don’t have any time to relax” then take a 5-20 minute break. Go grab a coffee, clean your room, take a nap, do something that doesn’t stress you out.

I hope you all have an amazing rest of your week. Let’s knock out these next couple of weeks!!

Much love,

Emily