College Stress

Stress As The Great Stimulator
By Kasey Ryan

Will I ever finish school? Will someone ever hire me? How can I have time to gain experience for a future job through an internship that doesn’t pay? How do I go about auditioning and setting out to accomplish my dream of being an actress when school and work leave me exhausted to tears and take up the majority of my days? What if I’m alone for the rest of my life because I never have time to go out and meet new people? Will I end up like those old ladies who live alone with no husband or family and friends, and all they have is their cat?

These are just a few of the current stress-related thoughts whirling around in that complicated head of mine. The stress and anxiety these questions bring me is unbearable. And while they may seem simple to others, the constant need to analyze every little detail about my future and how I can accomplish everything I want, and to and look good while doing it leaves me more exhausted than school and work combined.

Is all this stress really beneficial in any way? I would normally say no. I mean, how can these thoughts racing around in your head that often keep you up until 5 am be anything but harmful? Well, apparently, stress can be beneficial. According to the counseling center at the University of Florida, to have some form of stress is healthy and can even be good for you. It can leave you stimulated and save you from the everyday mundane, boring life that we would otherwise have. Well then, I must be the most stimulated person on the planet because the amount of stress I experience is massive!

Although I experience a lot of stress and anxiety, my biggest issue is learning how to deal with it. The counseling center also gave some tips on this and I was happy to see that discussing your problems and worries can help minimize the stress they bring you, because that is what I often do. Venting is a great way to voice what is causing you so much stress, because sometimes, even I don’t know what I am so stressed about until I try to put it into words for someone else. This usually gives me a greater and deeper understanding of what is bothering me.

Also, if you have great friends like me that listen to you vent, they can usually help give you solutions or advice on how to fix the problem that keeps you so “stimulated!”