Stressed Out
I used to deal with stress all the time. I was a competitive gymnast for over eight years. I was constantly under stress from competitions as well as the school work that I had to do in unison. Once I quit gymnastics I realized that I got less stressed, kind of. I feel as if I now don't acknowledge the stress that I am under and instead go to unhealthy comping mechanisms. Say I have a test tomorrow and I have that gut wrenching feeling because I know nothing, haven't studied, and don't have enough time to study (we've all been here don't lie). I'll stop what I am doing and just watch YouTube or Netflix to calm down. Not saying that I do this all the time but I notice that I do it more often than not.
I naturally push towards videos because it gets me out of my head. When I am watching other people they are bringing me into their lives, therefore I don't have to worry about mine. This mechanism cause more stress in the long run. After I have calmed down I realize that I didn't accomplish anything and wasted a shit ton of time. When I get to this stage of panic I will most likely finish my work with a pit in my stomach, but sometimes I will go back to videos and restart the vicious cycle.
There are better ways to handle this situation. For example, simply asking your teacher for an extension. Uni teachers are very lenient with extensions because they understand how many things Uni students take on. Extensions have saved me so many times before and I don't know what I would do without them. As well as taking short breaks from work for a set amount of time, and once the break is over you continue to work.
Throughout my years at Uni my stress has shifted from healthy stress into unhealthy stress, and it is very easy to ignore the shift. Uni students are constantly under stress, from grades, parents, sports, testing, work, and the list goes on and on. In order to notice the shift you have to recognize the difference. My healthy stress helped to preform to my best ability in competitions, having the the drive to finish work, etc. On the other hand, unhealthy stressed caused me to feel sick to my stomach, lose sleep, lack drive, etc. Finally distinguishing the two I am now trying to figure out coping mechanisms that work best for me. So far nothing is successful, but I am going to continue to work on my stress management, especially going into college.
The first step to solving any problem is to actually identify the problem and I think your blog post really showed that you have done that. I wish there was one easy thing we could all do to help us with stress but there isn't it varies from person to person, however, I do believe we will find our own sooner or later. It probably won't ever be perfect but I am sure it will get better. <3
ReplyDeleteI really relate to this-- stress has always been a major part of my life. I often do the same thing, occupy myself with other things just to avoid all of the stress and work I have to do. It's super hard to find good coping mechanisms but with time it'll get easier. you got this!!
ReplyDeleteYeah. I have a very similar post to this, and from the comments it seems that many people just push aside their work to indulge themselves in activities that take their mind off the stress they currently have. I guess you could call this procrastination, and it seems that everyone I know has this problem. In my opinion this act also makes you seem more human, instead of just a workaholic (not saying anything against people like that).
ReplyDeleteI need to be more stressed sometimes just so I have motivation to get my work done. I don't feel like I need to get the work done now so I just put it off until I don't have time to get it done and then I have what I feel is a legitimate reason to not do it right now, it's already late what's one more day.
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