Is that sad? That when I finally feel adjusted to a new situation, I'm waiting for the stress to hit harder than baseball to the face. Been there, done that.

Is it just me? Or is it something our generation is so used to that we are just waiting for the next bout to come along and send us into coffee-fueled late nights of anxiety?

Quite possibly.

Maybe, recently, my stresses have lessened due to the number of tasks on my To Do List. Yes, I actually have one that I regularly update. Don't judge me.

With fewer work hours and one less publication I am in charge of, I have found my new school year to be surprisingly less stressful. Even though I'm still doing 70% of what I did the year before, I suppose it is more manageable now? Or maybe it is too early on in the semester and I'm getting a little bit too comfortable.

But, it is still strange that many people around me are particularly stressed, especially freshmen. They need all the prayer and encouragement. Most of my roommates are up until midnight or later working on homework. Is their workload simply heavier than mine? Most likely. They may also put more effort in; hard to say.

What I do see though is just the surmounting stress of this upcoming generation. A few of the girls I mentor are consistently worried about making wrong choices or worse: mistakes. Failures.

Our society teaches that failure is unacceptable, intolerable. So much to the point that people have anxiety grow on them like a boa constrictor, squeezing tighter as the expectations are piled on.

We really shouldn't be stressing over mistakes we haven't even made yet. More than likely, we'll make other, bigger mistakes trying to avoid the possible first ones.

Or maybe we're taught that we have to absolutely succeed. But at what?

Academics? Not all of us are built for that.

Making money? Will that truly make us happy or content.

Being liked by everyone? From personal experience, not even remotely possible.

So what is it we are stressing so hard and so often to accomplish.

God hasn't called us to have a perfect GPA. He hasn't called us to make 70k a year. He hasn't called us to by the perfect house in the suburban neighborhood with the white picket fence and golden retriever.

He has called us to make disciples of all nations. To love Him and love others to the best of our ability, using the talents and gifts He has given us.

That should be an honor, not a stress inducer.