“I’m so stressed!!!”
I bet you have said a similar sentence at least one time this week. Stress seems to be inevitable in the lives of modern-day high students. This makes it important to understand that stress is a double-edged sword, and with a few helpful tips, you might be able to use the condition to your own advantage.
First of all, what exactly is stress? To solve a problem, we must understand it first. Stress is one brain’s reaction to challenges in the environment. It is a psychological mechanism our minds developed as primates to be ready to handle dangerous situations, such as when you sight a tiger in the forest.
Stress can be a positive thing. It keeps us alert, motivated and ready to fight, flight, or freeze. Even though it might not feel pleasant before a test to feel stressed, it can actually help you to perform better than usual!
However, from what is reflected from examples around me, stress seems nowhere beneficial. This is because stress can easily become an issue when it is continued for a long period of time without relaxation. Today, most of us are consistently stressed. Whether it’s schoolwork, the internet or relationships, the information we have to handle daily far exceeds what cavemen needed to worry about (simply survival and reproduction).
So, what can we do about stress? Here are a few tips that you might find helpful:
As I mentioned in the title - embrace stress! Since there are already so many things for us to stress about, stop stressing about stress. Treat it as something natural and believe in the fact that it can help you.
Relax. And I mean it. Not the “procrastinating by scrolling through social media” type of relaxation, you are simply feeding yourself more stress. Whether it’s yoga, tai chi or the silva centering exercise, find yourself a way that you can stop thinking about all the things which bother you.
Express yourself to relieve your stress. Write a diary that you make sure to burn, or be as abstract as you want with a piece of painting. The freedom is all yours.
Last but not least, never hesitate to reach out for help. We have counselors at school who are obligated to keep what you tell them a secret. Talking about it with someone close to you is also always an option.