Month: June 2018

Nothing says “anxiety” better than a college campus. It’s such a common part of college that every campus has a counselor on the premises, for students who reached the end of their rope.

While the worst cases might require specialized medical care, you can deal with the light symptoms by following certain tips. Everyone gets stressed by exams, deadlines, and being so far away from home – which is why you need to learn how to find a balance.

Here are some tips for you to deal with that state of anxiety that prevents you from enjoying college life as you should.

Find a Hobby

The best way to ensure your college life does not stress you out to the max is to keep yourself busy. Sure, while being too busy might cause you to even more stressed, being completely free will make you think even more about what’s to come – such as exams, rent, and responsibilities.

Join a club or volunteer as a student mentor. Do something that you really love to do – and do it on a daily basis. If you love to write, you may just turn it into a personal hobby. Occupying your mind with a hobby will keep your demons at bay and you’ll be able to enjoy college life much better.

Meditate

Simply 10 minutes of meditation every day can greatly decrease your anxiety levels. You may go for YouTube videos, phone apps, or you may learn how to create the perfect session for yourself.

Through meditation, you can learn how to breathe right, think right – and most of all, it will clear your brain of the negative thoughts. Plus, meditation will also improve your concentration, therefore making you feel more confident in your own skills.

Don’t Judge Yourself

Students have this tendency of holding themselves to a very high standard – and once they feel unable to reach it, they start being overly self-critical of their own results.

Instead of focusing on your failures and mistakes, focus on your successes and on your determination to not give up. Encourage yourself to keep going. Think of it this way: if this were your friend, would you believe they are not trying enough? Understand yourself just like you would understand a friend.

Find a Place of Comfort

A lot of students have anxiety from meeting too many people in crowded, less familiar environments. This can be very scary, particularly if you don’t like large groups of people. The wrong environment for a person with anxiety might lead to panic attacks.

Instead, try finding a place that makes you feel comfortable. This can be a coffee shop, or it can be the library – whatever relaxes you more. Take the one-on-one conversation there, and you’ll see how the anxiety will slowly start to die down.

Seek Help

Using a professional student counselor is nothing to be ashamed of. If the university does not have a counselor on campus, then it certainly has contracts with them for referrals – that’s how common these situations too.

Talking about the problem will most likely make you feel much better. If you have not yet made any friends that you can trust, simply look for professional help. They’ll help you find the root of the problem – and will allow you to release the anxiety instead of letting it bubble up.

It’s normal to be stressed during university; you wouldn’t call yourself a student if you weren’t at least a teensy bit anxious about your exams. However, by balancing the stress with some healthy activities, you will be able to enjoy life as a high-functioning student – all while forgetting about the anxiety.

To go or not to go – that is the question. When heading out to university, there are two ways you can go around it: you either move out to another city or country where you can be on your own, or you go to a university at home, while still living with your parents. Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages – which you’ll learn about now.

The Pros of Not Leaving the Nest

Living with your parents while going to college comes with a few perks, some of them including the following:

• You won’t have to pay for rent

Perhaps the most unnerving thing about going away for the university is having to pay for accommodation every month. Even if you live on campus, you’ll still have to pay a small fee – but if you choose to live by yourself in a flat, then a lot of money that you could have otherwise saved will go to your landlord. This way, you can use that money for something that you actually enjoy doing.

• Home-cooked meals

The typical weekly scenario of a student that goes away for college is this: Monday and Thursday, proper meals throughout the day; Wednesday, Thursday, average meals, and for the rest of the week, you only have scrapped all the way. That is because a student has to manage their money in a way that it doesn’t all go on cafeteria food. But if you stay home, you’ll have home cooked meals – meals that you won’t be charged for.

• You’ll have more time for yourself

When you start living by yourself, you’ll have to start doing everything by yourself as well. This includes cleaning the house, cooking, and other chores. However, if you live with your parents, you can split these chores with your parents. Plus, since you won’t have flatmates distracting you with parties or other temptations, you’ll have more time to focus on your studies.

The Cons of Staying Home

Obviously, there are also some drawbacks to staying at home, some of them including:

• Not as much freedom

Parents will be parents, so if you choose to stay home, chances are that they will also try to influence your every move. If you were living by yourself in college, you could get out at 11 PM from the house and no one could stop you. However, if you wanted to do the same thing at home with strict parents, you may still end up grounded for the rest of the week or threatened with sleeping on the doormat.

• You may fall in the comfort zone trap

Being too comfortable is sometimes also a blessing and a curse. Since you know your parents generally do some of the cores, you’ll keep saying things such as “I don’t need to do that now, mom will.” This is how you get lazy – and how you begin life as someone who procrastinates. Being too comfortable will make you a laidback person – preventing you from reaching the potential that you are actually capable of.

• You may be missing out

Each city or country has its own culture and people that deserve to be discovered – yet if you remain home, you’ll remain with the same culture, same people. Plus, since you’ll be living at home, you likely won’t be participating in events that take place on-campus, for people that live in the dorm.

In the end, it all depends on the type of person that you are – and how desperate you are to get away. If you want freedom and independence, then you should go away to college. If you have enough freedom and want to save money, then living with your parents might be the better option for you.

There are two types of students during the final year: those that start to relax, since the worst of college has passed – or those that are freaking out because it’s all about to end.

Granted, the final year has all the exams that will pretty much decide the rest of your year. You’ll have to get the perfect GPA, you’ll need to write your dissertation, practice your speech if you end up valedictorian – and it’s one big rollercoaster that sets your heart into panic mode.

Still, there are some ways for you to manage that stress. This way, you won’t end up losing it right before you cross the finish line.

Plan Ahead

“I don’t have to do this today. The project is only due in May.” Well, news flash: it’s already May, and you’ve been freaking out for three weeks now. But like the true student that you are, instead of getting on the task, you started stressing about all the stress that you are going through.

To avoid this awkward scenario, you might want to keep a calendar of your progress. Start as early as possible – and stick to it. Say that you have a 30-page paper due in two months; if you write a page every day starting now, not only will you finish early, but you’ll also be able to enjoy the silent screams of your classmates as you are relaxing.

It’s evil, indeed – but boy, does it feel good.

Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is crucial, as lack of sleep has a serious impact on the mental health. If you don’t sleep enough, your body will start releasing cortisol, which is the stress hormone. This hormone will make you feel more tired, anxious – and otherwise feel like you were just hit by a train.

Make sure that you get at least 7 hours of sleep per day. The average body of a young adult needs between 7 and 9 hours of sleep – so make sure not to pull too many all-nighters in a row. This lack of sleep may also cause your cognitive process to dumb down.

Take Breaks

Even if you are in your final year, this does not mean that you should cram everything without leaving time for yourself. This is, in fact, the perfect recipe for a mental breakdown. In order for your mental health to stay, well, healthy, then you need to take a “brain break” every now and again.

For example, make Saturday evening a day where you go out for a drink with your friends. Or go to the movies every other day, to take the edge off. By the time you get back to work, you’ll feel much more motivated to get things done.

Exercise

People always underestimate the positive effects of exercise, but it’s actually a golden well for your final year stress. Not only does exercising improve blood flow to the brain (improving your cognitive functions), but it also releases endorphins – which is pretty much known as the “feel good” hormone.

You may say that you don’t have time, but believe it or not, you only need around 20 minutes of exercising in order to reap the benefits. By the time you return to your studies, you’ll notice that your ability to study is much sharper.

If you are feeling very stressed, there’s no shame in talking with a counselor. Every university should have one on the premises – or should at least be able to recommend you one. Just talking to someone about your problems will be more than enough to make you feel better – and less stressed.