Overwhelmed overload

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By Jessica Skaggs

Tips to better cope with stress

Exams, financial woes, familial obligations, cultural expectations, job demands, school requirements. These are just some examples of day to day events that can create feelings of stress for college students. However sometimes the ways in which individuals cope with these day to day stressors, can cause more stress, rather than to relieve it.

Running on highly caffeinated beverages and little to no sleep is often how students deal with stressful situations, however there are other options. The counseling center is one place students can go to learn how to better cope with academic and personal stress.

“From about midterm on, we certainly in the counseling center start to see a lot of students coming in with the question of, ‘I want to drop a class,’” said Alicia Bredehoeft, faculty chair of Counseling.

Counselors are willing to sit and help those students who are feeling overwhelmed, by equipping them with what Bredehoeft called “tools” or skills to cope with life’s stresses.

“Some of the things we encourage them to do is, we sit down and help them with some time management, because if you haven’t done that from the beginning of the semester its really okay just to stop and do it now,” she said.

Bredehoeft said stress for students can become a “downward spiral” of being overwhelmed. Sleep is a way students can dial back their anxiety.

Even if a student isn’t able to get the recommended eight hours of sleep a night, she said students should establish a basic concept of rest in order to feel more rejuvenated to complete the tasks that need to be done.

“At this time of the year we deal with a lot of student depression, even if a student has never experienced it before, or they don’t know what it is sometimes, why they’re feeling that way,” she said. “So some of the tips that we work […] and we talk about [is] scheduling in sleep, because some people think they just don’t need to rest, and so really rest is the number one thing.”

In addition to managing time and scheduling sleep, she also recommended students stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

“We talk to students about drinking lots of water,” she said. “It’s so easy to go to Starbucks or grab that fancy cup of coffee that costs too much anyway, drinking a lot of water and those wonderful hydration stations around the college can really encourage students to do that.”

While managing time efficiently, resting and drinking water are all great methods to curb stress levels, she additionally recommended students seek out support systems and create gratitude journals. Students can get additional support by scheduling an appointment with any of the counselors on campus.

“I think the other thing too is knowing where your support systems are, who you can talk to, who can help you through some of this, whether it’s a peer group where you all can complain together about how crazy life is,” she said. “What I tell students to do is to create a gratitude journal, […] I think empowering students with hope of what is good in their life and what is going well can help put in perspective the things that may seem overwhelming.”

Student Makalya Lewis said listening to music and taking time for herself is one way she handles stress.

“Usually when I feel stressed out or I have like a lot of homework or if I have [to] work a lot, I usually try to go somewhere else,” she said. “Sometimes I drive to Lawrence and listen to music like indie or things like that, that help me stress less, and usually when I get there I get some ice cream or something, but I think it’s just being away and having that chance to think by yourself. “

Student Francisco Mora understands feeling overwhelmed, as he is juggling school and two jobs. His advice to fellow stressed students is to keep on pushing through.

“Stay positive. Try not to think about the difficulty of it, and do your best and manage your time. I’m struggling right now with work, I work two jobs, and school. So I’ll go to school in the morning, then go to work […] and I’ll work from three to one, two a.m. So time management is key.”

Bredehoeft said the best thing for students to remember when they feel overwhelmed, is to take college one day at a time.

“I think the best philosophy for a college student is to look at things one semester at a time,” she said. “Once you get through this in December, you get a fresh start again in the next semester so you do have to be aware of what’s going on and stay as focused as you can, but there is a beginning and end in college. I think that empowers students to know that okay, there is an end in sight, and then there is a new beginning.”

Contact Jessica Skaggs, managing editor, at jskaggs4@jccc.edu.

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