We see a lot of stressed students this time of year.
Many are questioning their life choices, feeling overwhelmed with their studies, or confronting difficult realities about how to balance study and life in general.
Not surprisingly, most of those students want us to help take away that stress.
Stress is uncomfortable, unpleasant. Through many years of programming, we’ve come to think of stress as predominantly negative, something which will make us ill, or impact on our quality of life.
But stress isn’t that one-dimensional.
There are definitely some stressful events/conditions that can’t be talked away – abuse, neglect, poverty. These things need to be addressed directly.
But a lot of sources of stress are actually opportunities for growth, learning, and important life changes. And in fact, if it wasn’t for stress, we’d not be prompted for change.
Assignments, exams, public speaking, trying new things. All events that cause stress, but all with the potential to make us better people.
With that in mind, lets take a moment to rethink stress.
If this concept of rethinking stress appeals to you, you might find these articles helpful as well:
A simple mental exercise for students to manage stress