With finals time around the corner, now is a good time to talk about stress. You know stress.
The feeling you get in your stomach when you think your whole life is going to crumble down around you.
Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
Not all stress is bad.
Without stress, people would be hard pressed to accomplish anything. There are many helpful tips out
there for dealing with stress, so I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring and give you mine.
Here’s five helpful tips to help you manage your stress for finals week.
EAT HEALTHY
I learned from a very early age that I’m a stress eater. As soon as I felt the overwhelming sense of anxiety I would practically run to the refrigerator.
But I learned something to help me cope. At least if I was eating healthy, I could binge.
Now I swap up Cheetos for celery when I’m feeling stressed.
GET A STRESS BALL
Those magical little foam rubber filled things. Mine has a smiley face on it. When I feel stressed, I mercilessly pound it into a pulp.
STEP AWAY FROM IT
Sometimes stress can be too much to handle.
When I study, I like to keep distractions at bay, but during those long study sessions, it’s sometimes good to step away from the act for a minute.
I keep a loaded Nintendo 64 near my desk for these circumstances.
I take time away from studying to play a little Mario Kart 64.
There nothing like smashing your sister with the blue shell when you’re stressed.
GET GOOD SLEEP
It can be difficult to sleep when you’re stressed out.
Your mind is going a mile a min- ute, trying to remember facts or dates, whatever the hell a hyperbole is or how to solve an antiderivative of a function.
My way of dealing with this is simple.
Find the most boring audio you could think of, and listen to it until you fall asleep.
For me it’s C-Span.
I’ll never understand how people could make some of the most im- portant conversations in our country more boring than watching paint dry.
STAY AWAY FROM MORE STRESS
Don’t call your boyfriend or girl friend.
Tell them to leave you alone for a few hours. It’s not going to kill you. I promise. Turn your phone off and go to your happy place.
If all of that fails you, just remember the words of David Mamet: “We must have pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of pie.
