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By Heidi Dye
Being a college student in this day and age embeds stress into our DNA.
Whether you’re a full-time student with a part-time job or you’re just taking a three unit class, there is always something to be stressed about.
Usually the stereotypical method of stress prevention is to get enough sleep, eat healthy, exercise and manage your time. Who honestly has the will to do all of that?
Fortunately there is a way to incorporate these organizational steps into your daily schedule.
Time is usually the biggest factor when it comes to stress prevention. The key is to organize your time to reduce the amount of stress from any given activity.
Prepare your home cooked meals for the week on Sunday, before the busy week starts.
Either make food that night or write out a meal plan. This will prevent you from eating out and stressing about what to eat.
Walking is a great way to get in your daily workout without tiring yourself out too much.
I personally enjoy jogging when my week is stressful, it helps diminish some of my aggression.
If you have time in between classes, take a walk around the campus or on the track.
Another great thing to do is make a to-do list. Write down anything that pops up in your schedule or put important dates like assignment due dates in your phone’s calendar so you’ll get notified when an important event or task comes up.
Pace out your time, work on multiple assignments in a single day. Take a break from a paper you are writing to read through some chapters for another class.
Encourage yourself to finish those stressful assignments. Work on your homework for a couple of hours and then reward yourself with an episode of your favorite television show. This way you’ll be encouraged to actually do your homework instead of dreading it.
Balance out your schedule to include some “me time.” It is important to your mental health to give yourself some moments to wind down.
Take this opportunity to drink some tea, work on some of your hobbies or just relax and let the stress disappear.
Don’t be an overachiever when it is not needed. Just complete what is required of the project and turn it in, only do extra if your grade needs it.
This way you won’t be stressing out about the time wasted on unnecessary parts of an assignment.
Finally, be happy with what you’ve achieved. There’s no need to stress out about that paper you could had put more pizzazz into. As long as you put effort into something, feel proud about it.
Hopefully these tips help out during these stressful months up ahead, and that stress doesn’t overcome you this holiday season.
