Stress can come from the simplest things or the most complicated and intense things. Anything can cause stress and once you are stressed out it seems as though everything around you gets worse. Slight annoyances become major problems and unfortunately you blow up on random strangers and friends. Stress is a delicate problem that turns the gentlest people into terrifying monsters.

At this point in the semester, or at any point really, stress is accumulating due to increasingly heavy loads of homework and social functions and, ultimately, life in general. Schedules become packed and the papers become longer. As much as I want to tell you that one day it’ll all end, I can’t because I’d be lying to you. It doesn’t end and it probably won’t go away. It’ll only shift and change and either increase or decrease with importance.

I like to think that I handle stress well, but I think that, in reality, I don’t handle it that well. I have moments where everything is fine and I don’t have anything to worry about but then I have moments where it seems like the weight of the world is holding on by a breaking thread. Those moments are when I break down and get to the verge of tears. Those moments don’t occur all the time but they creep up and surprise me out of nowhere and, suddenly, I’m 20 feet deep in schoolwork and trying to keep myself healthy.

I struggle with balancing stress. Some may say that you won’t be stressed if you just plan things out and give yourself enough time to do whatever it is that you need to do, but I do that and I still find myself stressing heavily. Stress finds a way to take hold, but it doesn’t control your life. I have to remind myself of this on a daily just to keep myself from going insane.

One thing that I always think about that helps me manage my stress is that I think about the big picture. I think about whether or not what I am stressing about will be worth it in a week’s time, a month’s time or a year’s time. Thinking about stress as a temporary thing helps me put my thoughts and priorities into perspective of importance. Using this mode of thought, I can relax and let myself function normally.

Stress is frustrating and complicated and sometimes consuming, but working through stress and letting yourself have moments of peace will help you get through it. I take so many breaks when I am doing any type of work but it helps me focus. If I don’t take those breaks, then my mind would get so distracted so easily. Stress doesn’t go away, but as my favorite quote goes, “You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it.”