There is a lot of stress in college. Between papers, exams, homework, reading assignments, cocurriculars, extracurriculars, and everything else, there is a lot to do. Sometimes you just need a break. Something to take your mind off of everything that you need to do.

One thing I've always loved is to do crafts. As a kid, I loved to do things like scrapbooking and beading. Later, my mom taught me how to cross stitch. I gave up crafting for most of high school. I kept making excuses about how I was too busy. As a result, the stress just piled up more and more. Finally, I started cross stitching again. Originally, it was to make a birthday present for one of my friends. Then, once I started, it seemed to finally relax me.

I started off college bringing my cross stitch with me to work on. Since then, I have purchased more cross stitch and taken up some new hobbies. Over fall break, I bought a few skeins of yarn. I then learned to knit. Since then, my friends will tell you I have bought and used a lot of yarn. I also recently pulled out some of my old scrapbooking stuff, so I could begin putting together a scrapbook from this first year of college. Finally, the most recent thing I bought was a pack of pastels to try. I also have drawing supplies in my stuff from previous times I have tried drawing and have used that with the pastels.

I really like to do crafts in college, everything from knitting to cross stitch to coloring. It has been a great method to help me relax at college. It helps to stop some of the worst of the stress and take my mind off of it all for a few minutes. I don't have to do it for an extended period of time. Even just five minutes can help me to destress and relax. I'm very thankfully I found a way to destress some in college.