The only appropriate way for me to begin this post is by saying THANK YOU!
(cue the confetti)
At the end of September, StudCo President Dan Mo(rrison) sent out an email to the entire student body, imploring you all to make your voices heard, and to put it lightly, Student Council has been blown away by the response. Not only was the “Penny for Your Thoughts” survey super successful, with thousands of students participating, giving Student Council invaluable data to work with and present to administration, but SpeakUpUVa has also been blowing up! (Almost as much as Ke$ha’s phone). By taking just a few minutes to voice your opinions, you all have made our job of serving you so much more effective, and I am so grateful to you all. We’ve increased practice modules hours in Old Cabell, purchased power strips for libraries, and even provided the SAC with a new paper cutter. If I could, I would buy everyone some Arch’s FroYo; not having a job makes that pretty difficult, BUT it does provide a great transition into this month’s blog topic: stress! (and how to deal with it).
As students all across Grounds are in the thick of meeting with advisors and signing up for next semester’s classes, most of them are asking themselves the same question: how will I have time to do everything?? Between classes, extracurriculars, internship/job hunting, and hanging out with friends, sleep and other forms of stress relief don’t seem as important.
NEWSFLASH: they’re super important.
Whether academically- or socially-based, stress is bad. Period. Sometimes stress is the motivation that students need to get work done, but in high levels, it can have some seriously serious consequences: a lower GPA, unhealthy weight loss or weight gain, changes in behavior (i.e. – irritability, depression), and a weakened immune system. It can affect you emotionally and physically, and it can even affect your relationships with your friends and family. So the moral of the story is, make time to de-stress. Find what works for you, and actually set aside the time to unwind from the hustle and bustle of everyday. After some extensive research (i.e. – a few minutes of googling and just taking from my own expansive knowledge), I found some incredibly common and effective ways to deal with stress, which I’ve listed below:
*SLEEP! Just because Clemons is open for 24 hours doesn’t mean you should spend your nights there. Maybe once or twice a semester, all-nighters may seem like the only way to get all of your work done, but habitually not getting enough sleep at night is the quickest way to fall behind in health and academics.*
*Manage your time. Buy a planner or calendar and schedule your life. By keeping track of all your work and obligations in one place, you’ll know exactly what you have to accomplish and when you have time to take a break.*
*Set realistic goals. In high school, many of us were all-stars: athletes, straight-A students, involved in extracurriculars and in the community while still finding time to hang out with friends, but one thing you’ll learn in college is that you can’t do everything. Don’t stretch yourself too thin, and only dedicate your time to one or two things, outside of academics, that you really enjoy.*
*Plan some down time with friends (partying on the weekends doesn’t count). Watch a movie, cook dinner, go pick apples on Carter’s Mountain, go ice-skating downtown, have a picnic on the Lawn, go to a concert at Old Cabell (quite honestly, the possibilities are endless). Parties (and all of the things that come along with them) may be fun, but they’re incredibly ineffective in actually relieving stress. Just get your mind off of work and other pressures for a few hours, and just…relax.*
*Recognize that it’s okay to be overwhelmed. I’m sure everyone has seen the Stall Seat Journal statistics, but you are far from being the only person who has ever felt stress or anxious about work, family, friends, etc. Call CAPS and make an appointment; all of the employees there will really take the time to get to know you and help you cope with your stress.*
On a completely unrelated note, has anyone else noticed the trend of my blog posts all having something to do with food? (Guess I couldn’t hide the fact that I’m a foodie. Oops?) As always, please feel free to email me with topic suggestions, and as always, I’ll do my best to relate it to food.
Have a great Thanksgiving Break everyone!
