College freshman Hannah Holmes discusses the new stresses of college life and offers advice on how to handle pressure:
Anybody who’s in school now will have to agree with me; pressures abounds.
There’s pressure from professors. Do these fifty questions, read this thirty page chapter, and pass this exam, all this week, all in one class. There’s pressure from friends; as a freshman, my first important task was to make friends. Once I had accomplished that, the next task was to keep the friends. Help them out when they need it, because I might need the same, spend time with them, be the kind of person they want to hang out with. There’s pressure from the family; whether they’re tough on you or (like my extremely wonderful parents) supportive, they still want you to succeed at this university that they’re, in all likelihood, at least helping to pay for. And a phone call every night wouldn’t hurt either. There’s the pressure to get involved on campus, to be doing something, separating yourself from the pack; in all your “spare time.” For me and some others, there’s also the pressures of a job; my employers ask occasionally how classes are going, but I’m not sure how fully they recognize that the job is, by far, not the only thing I do… and that I don’t get a day off.
Whether you have more or less than I do going on in your college life, chances are pretty good you’ve felt stressed at one time or another. You’ve probably had a day where you needed to be five different places at once. Or spent three hours on chemistry homework and still didn’t understand a word of it. The question is, how does one stay sane? Here are some things I’ve been doing. They may help you, they may not, but they’ve helped me.
Even though I don’t get a day off, I always make an effort to schedule down time into my day. Even on my craziest days, I have to have some time that’s sacred for relaxation. For example, I don’t think I’ve yet studied through a meal. It may only be fifteen minutes of wolfing down a sandwich, but I always read for fun or hang out with friends while I eat, even when I don’t really have time to. I’m not going to be able to get very far without eating, and the same goes for relaxing. I have to have pressure free times, when I forget about the things I have to do, and all the people I have to please, even myself. For me, taking a walk makes a great study break. The exercise, of course, is good for you, and it’s a time to kind of escape, to spend some alone time (or catch up with a friend) and catch up with you (or someone else). Part of successful studying is knowing when to stop, to walk, watch a T.V. show, or SLEEP! That’s another thing I’ve refused to sacrifice. I know some people who don’t seem to need sleep, but I find I’m at optimal functioning capability if I get a square eight hours. And when I’m awake, I almost always have my iPod in my ears. It helps keep me sane; when life is getting to be a little too much, I jam my headphones into my ears, put on a happy song and blast the volume. Suddenly, it’s a lot easier to have a positive perspective. And a positive perspective makes everyday, no matter how crazy, livable. When you find yourself in a place where you feel like you need to laugh or cry, always choose to laugh. It’s definitely the best alternative.
Well, I’m off to chemistry and biology, where new pressures await me… but then I’m coming back to my room to watch my favorite show for a blissful pressure free hour!
For more stories from students themselves, check out the archives for previous columns in The Freshman Experience.