My Monday Morning Stress Routine: It Works
By Jennifer Rozansky

It’s a Monday morning; I get up for a morning exercise at 6 a.m. and then make my way to my full day of classes on and off from 8:30 a.m. till 10:00 at night. Although, it is a tough routine every week, I’m able to balance everything and have it all organized in a way with the purpose of everything being done at the same time (including meals and my therapy appointment) so that I do not stress myself out with time management. College students have an enormous amount of stress do deal with and everyone knows that college life is stressful and maybe even more prominent than afterwards and being in the work force.

According to the University of Florida’s counseling center, they provide information on the symptoms of stress to the management of stress. Some examples of the symptoms of stress come from different areas such as physically, emotionally, and cognitive symptoms. So, a key to remember when looking at symptoms is the fact that there are so many different people could show a range of symptoms from ulcers to forgetfulness. Although they mention symptoms such as depression and anxiety, it has been in my experience and from counseling that I know for a fact that my symptoms of depression and anxiety do not come from stress but other areas of my life.

Stress is a big problem and can affect many students with their work. The counseling center also mentioned ways to manage your stress with a few guidelines, “Understand your role in stress reactions, develop a balanced life-style and effective personal organization, learn specific relaxation techniques, gain perspective on problems by discussing them, and clarify your values and develop a sense of spirituality.” Not only do the symptoms range from person to person, but the ways of dealing with it vary from person to person as they also point out ways to deal with it, such as, developing a balanced life style, gaining a perspective by discussing problems you may have, specific relaxation techniques, and being able to clarify your values and develop a sense of life meaning. The first thing to remember is finding out where it is coming from and then finding your own way that will help you deal with it.

All in all, my biggest advice from my knowledge if you think you are someone dealing with a great deal of stress is to go to therapy. Almost all the ideas the university discussed with ways of dealing with stress can be done with a therapist. Among the help of a therapist they can help you break down everything to find out what exactly your stress may be coming from and help you deal with it. Discussing your problems and finding a way to “vent” to someone is the best self-help there is. The last advice is time management. Like my Monday schedule, and putting everything in order, makes one less thing that you have to worry about or deal with.