April 9–15, 2008, Number 488
Stress is Building
The student body of Michigan Tech has reached the 12th week of the Spring Semester and the pressure is getting to be hard. Deadlines are fast approaching and with the end of the school year almost in sight and thoughts of spring in the air, it's getting hard to stay focused. This week's article is about the stress that comes along with the final weeks of classes and ways to relax so as to avoid overwhelming oneself.
As a student who is a big worrier, I can say from personal experience that I stress out a lot in the last few weeks of the semester. Lately I find that I'm struggling to keep all of my projects, deadlines, exams, etc. at the forefront of my mind. With so much to do and so little time left, it can be very difficult emotionally to keep from stressing about everything. However, that doesn't help in any way. So how do I keep from losing my mind? I try to find ways of calming myself or by distracting myself for a little while and then going back to whatever I was working on after a brief absence.
When your student becomes stressed out and starts to become frustrated with the things around them, the best way to calm down is to just walk away. Once they step away from the problems they are experiencing it allows them to relax and then come back to the work in a better state of mind. Now I'm not encouraging that students completely give up on their work, but simply take short breaks where you do something you know is calming to their nerves. For example, play video games, read, hang with a friend, watch a little TV, work-out/exercise, whatever suits them best personally.
There are other things that your student can do if they become completely stressed out and are struggling way too much. On campus, located in the white house, is Counseling Services. The online website for Counseling Services has links that talk about the services they provide, the staff, and the fact that the service is free and confidential to anybody associated to the University. It can be hard on students when they aren't use to the amount of pressure and stress that comes with the end of the semester, and so Counseling Services is available to provide any assistance they may need.
There are several other events that will be taking place over the course of the next couple of weeks to allow for a little distraction during this busy time of the semester. This week is Pride Week, different events put on by Keweenaw Pride, FilmBoard will be showing several movies (ex: National Treasure 2 this upcoming weekend, followed by Cloverfield and Rambo) which allows for students to go so a good movie at a reasonable price, Spring Fling will be a week from this Friday, which, pending the weather, is a great time on campus to just enjoy the different events that take place. So there are plenty of opportunities to take a break from the day-to-day stresses to relax and enjoy the events that take place on campus.
If there are any questions or comments about this article or any of the events listed, feel free to contact me at my personal email address. As always, suggestions for future articles are welcome.
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885