“You can never have a happy ending at the end of an unhappy journey; it just doesn't work out that way.”
--Abraham Hicks
This past school week, I spent over 20 hours at work, five hours at the gym, an hour walking to class, 15 hours in class, 15 hours in the library, two hours getting ready for class, two hours eating, six hours a night sleeping, and zero hours relaxing or doing something that I enjoy.
One night this past week, I sat at a cubicle at the library blankly staring at my philosophy book. Although I kept studying the same concepts, they still weren’t making sense. I felt myself getting more and more upset the later it got. I knew that I would soon be cutting into the little sleep that I do manage to get each night. As I stared at the words, it occurred to me that I would never get anything done if I didn’t deal with what was really going on.
I realized that I was so stressed to the point that I was unable to focus on what I was doing. During only the second week of school, I questioned whether I could keep up with all of the commitments I had made. I realized I was simply moving through the motions of life and not stopping, even for a second, to relax. I was not allowing myself to take a break that my body and mind so clearly needed.
Stress, and our ability to cope with it, is the single most important influence on our overall health and happiness. Yet, I am willing to bet that most of us feel stressed out all of the time. In fact, stress has been called the “health epidemic of the 21st century.”
Unfortunately, there is no escaping stress. Stress is going to be present at all points in our lives, and it will stay with us long after our college days are over. Starting a new job, buying a house or apartment, paying bills, and even getting married can all lead to a substantial amount of stress.
So, if there is no escaping stress what should we do about it?
1. Include social time in your schedule | According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, finding support and connecting socially can help improve a person’s stress level. This is such a simple thing to do, and it can actually help us be more productive when we return to work. So next time you have a busy day, make time for that cup of coffee with a friend or work in an extra 30 minutes in your schedule to call your mom.
2. Go for a walk or run | Exercise helps boost the production of stress-fighting endorphins, ultimately reducing stress to a more manageable level.
3. Listen to music | Research recommends listening to music because it triggers biochemical stress reducers.
4. Take a nap | Napping reduces cortisol levels, which helps reduce stress.
5. Spend time around animals | People who own dogs or who spend time around other animals are proven to be less stressed.
6. Do something for fun | This could be going to get ice cream, going out on a weekend, or any other activity you find enjoyable. Sometimes it’s good to step away from our busy schedules to enjoy ourselves.
7. Focus on the present | A lot of times we are stressing about something that happened in the past or that will happen in the future. Instead, we should focus our energy on the present and what is currently happening in our lives.
8. Accept what you can’t change | So we had a fight with a friend and are regretting some things we said. It is a waste of time stressing about what can’t be changed. The only thing we can gain are the lessons it taught us. Make peace with them and move on.
9. Reevaluate what’s on your plate | With every new responsibility that we take on, we should reevaluate our commitments. Having too many commitments will just add more stress and we will end up spreading ourselves too thin.
10. Make changes when necessary | Maybe we hate our jobs or maybe we hate the city that we live in. If something in your life is causing us to be stressed out, we should make the change. Change is hard, but it's usually worth it.
Whenever I am feeling stressed, I try to focus on the quote I opened with by Abraham Hicks. Happiness is a state of mind that we all hope to achieve. However, living each day overly stressed and exhausted from our commitments leaves us unhappy and not enjoying the ride. We will only achieve our happy ending by finding ways to deal with the stress and pressures of our life day by day.
