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I’m stressed. You’re stressed. I hope none of us have overwhelming stress, but April is Stress Awareness Month, so it’s a great time to take an honest assessment of our stress and learn about ways to manage it effectively. 

Stress is a natural part of life, and it can serve an important purpose. For instance, feeling a sense of stress about an upcoming exam can help motivate us to study the material and get prepared. Having a sense of stress about our health and wellness can encourage us to make time for exercise and look for ways to improve our diet. 

However, when our stress goes unchecked or becomes unmanageable, it can lead to negative outcomes like depression or anxiety. In fact, when we become very stressed, it can even impact our academic performance. 

Let’s start by assessing our current stress. What are the things causing stress for you today? For students, some common stressors might include grades, GPA, or academic performance. They might include that upcoming exam, quiz, or research paper, and they might also include stress about what we are going to do after graduation, making connections with our peers and professors, or juggling all of these academic demands with everything else we have going on in our lives. 

Once we have taken an honest look at the causes of stress in our lives, we can start thinking about ways to manage that stress more effectively. 

Make a Change

Sometimes, after we have identified what is making us feel stressed, we can change our mindset, circumstances, or environment. Are we feeling stressed about things we have no control over? Changing our mindset to accept the uncontrollable and being more flexible can help us better manage that stressor. Maybe we feel overwhelmed by the stress in our environment. For example, I struggle to read and concentrate when there is a TV or loud conversation near me. When I’m surrounded by a lot of various noises, I’m better able to tune it out as white noise, but the specific sound of a television show or a conversation nearby makes it feel impossible to understand and remember what I’ve read. That’s a stressor that I can identify and change! I can turn off the TV, move to a different room, or adapt my schedule to avoid studying in these kinds of environments. Be prepared to be flexible. I might plan to spend the afternoon studying at my local coffee shop, but when someone sits at the table behind me having a loud conversation on their phone, it disrupts my ability to read. That’s the perfect time to work on something that doesn’t require such intense focus and concentration! Pull out the supplies to make flashcards, use a few minutes to organize your notes, or do another task that doesn’t come with the high-focus demands of reading or studying an academic text. 

Feed the Good

In some cases, we may be feeling stressed about things that simply are. We can’t skip over that exam next week or fast-forward through the challenges of the learning process, but we can focus on taking care of ourselves in the meantime. Get plenty of sleep, take time to relax, eat nutritious food, drink water, and avoid alcohol and drugs. Is caffeine a drug? You bet it is! A daily cup of coffee can be part of a healthy routine, but excess caffeine can increase our feelings of stress and anxiety. Instead of reaching for another energy drink, boost your energy naturally by taking a brisk walk, sharing a laugh with a friend, or doing any activity that gets your heart rate up. You can also feed your mental well-being with mindful breathing and relaxation. Try taking a slow walk around the neighborhood and noting the plants, birds, and people around you. Do some yoga or stretches, write a list of things you feel grateful for, or spend time cuddling with your favorite children or pets. 

Who’s With Us, Not Against Us

Talking about our stress with a trusted friend or an academic tutor can help reduce our feelings of stress and reconnect us with our support communities. On the flip side, comparing ourselves to others can lead to increased stress. We each have our own path to walk. Notice a former classmate making strides in their career? Good for them! They are on their own path. See other students earning higher grades than you? Congratulations to them. You are doing your best! Stand tall and keep your head up as you walk proudly down your own path. Celebrate your victories and your gains without concerning yourself with what anyone else is doing. Take time to acknowledge and appreciate how far you have come. Learning something new is challenging. Earning a degree is challenging. Make time to talk about the challenges and the wins with someone who supports you and lifts you up. 

Focus on the Now

So many of our student stressors come from deadlines, due dates, and focusing on the future. Be in the now and create a schedule that works for you and your current responsibilities. Plan your time, mark coursework in your calendar, and use your time efficiently. When facing a large project or paper, break the work into manageable chunks and focus on just one chunk at a time. Don’t worry about writing the full 10 pages of a research paper, focus now on crafting a thesis statement to lead you and your readers through your ideas. Facing a big exam? Make a plan to study the material, like creating flashcards and marking time on your calendar to review the flashcards every day. You’ll soon feel more confident about the course content, reducing your feelings of stress leading up to the test. 

Stress is part of life, and it serves a valuable purpose. This month, strive to identify your stressors and use these strategies to help you make necessary changes, feed your well-being, focus on positive relationships instead of self-comparisons, and manage your time. Keep your stressors manageable, and always take time to relax and unwind. 

Until next time, this is Dr. Linscott with another Learning for Success podcast. Happy Learning!