Earth Spirit

For me and Crim, using the term ‘de-stress’ means ‘do things that will help you procrastinate so you can stress more later.’ Please, please folks, do NOT follow our example. We’ll look at our workload and put it away to play games or slack off in any other numbers of ways…this is not the appropriate way to handle stress!

Note: As an aside, I feel the need to point out why I’m not putting this on my regular blog. Why the Pagan/religious blog? Mainly, it’s because stress is a big part of life, not just for us college kids but for anyone. It’s very prominent in religion, too. Stressors can come from religion, but religion can also help break them. And…this blog actually has views. 😀

1. Get enough sleep and eat a balanced diet.

Got a headache? Do this. Sad? Do this. Stressed? Do this. You’ll see this all the time, and this is key to getting a better life. Cut back on the stuff that’s bad for you, have a piece of fruit once in a while, and make sure to get more than eight hours of sleep as often as possible. The less sleep you get, the more you start stressing. Among other things. So this is key number one!

(And to anyone in college, I understand. This is not feasible! Just try your hardest.)

2. Don’t you dare procrastinate!

At least, not with everything. Work on it little by little, break it into more manageable chunks. Paper to write? Figure out how many days you have left, divide the number of words you have by that number, and there is how many words you need to write each day. Granted, make sure to give yourself at least one whole day for editing. Also, try to pass up that number if you can so you get done sooner. The sooner you get done, the less stress you have on your shoulders.

Also, make sure you know when all of your deadlines are. Walking into class and being told ‘hey that paper is due today!’ is never a good thing to hear when you thought it was due next week.

3. Socialize.

Don’t hole yourself up somewhere until you crack. I’ve done this. It’s not pretty. Go out and get dinner, talk to your roommate for a little while, maybe set up counseling appointments so that you have a planned hour each week to talk to someone. Don’t trade all socialization for your work. Even after the work is done you’ll still be in a bad place, and you don’t want to be there.

4. Meditation

I love meditation. Find someplace comfy, cross your legs (make sure to be sitting up so you don’t fall asleep, since you’re already so stressed out all you want to do is sleep all day), close your eyes, and meditate however it is that you do that. Deep breathing, empty minds, pretty music…

Make sure to set yourself an alarm for less than half an hour, or pick a few songs that add up to less than half an hour (and when the playlist is done, you finish your meditation).

5. Take a nap.

I know I just said don’t sleep, but do! Just not…not for twelve or more hours as I tend to do sometimes. No, just a power nap. Set an alarm for thirty minutes and curl up in bed. It’s ok if you don’t actually sleep, just make sure to close your eyes and clear that mind of yours! Actually, this could be seen as another form of meditation, just with the illusions of sleeping…

6. A little organization doesn’t hurt.

Some people really get an urge to clean sometimes, and that could be because the space they’re in isn’t productive towards what they should be doing. It’s ok, take some time out and organize your desk, put away your clothes, sweep the floor. Your mind will be more at ease.

This one also goes towards getting your schedule organized. For me, I take all of my syllabi and write all the important dates (paper due dates and exams, for example) into my schedule book early on in the year. If you haven’t done that, or if you don’t have a planner, you should try it. That way everything is in one place and you can just flip to it if you need to know “should I work on my Confucius paper first, or should I write those sonnets for The Renaissance Author first?”

All-in-all, I hope everyone, even with all of the stress, has a great week before the American tradition of Thanksgiving. One last bit of advice…if you hate stress, stay indoors next Friday. Those shoppers are MEAN….

-Cami