Article after article will tell you to avoid stress as much as possible, but the thing is that most stress can't be avoided. What's more important than how to avoid this inevitable stress is how to deal with it. Let's take a look at what several students on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus have to say about managing the stress in their lives.
Mackenzie Harty
First-year student
Prospective Business major
As a business major, Mackenzie Harty constantly worries about doing well in the prerequisite classes she must take before she applied. Her fears incite worries, and her worries drive more stress. She's concerned that she might have to explore a new major if she doesn't get in, which would only require more planning and more work. Harty recalls being told that between school, a social life and sleep, "You can only pick two out of the three, so [she] has been losing a lot of sleep since being in college."
So, how does she deal with it? She tries to "take it one day a a time and know that everything will work out eventually." Harty relies on both friends from high school and new college friends alike to talk things through with her when she needs. And when it gets really tough, she enjoys going on runs to take her mind away from all of the work, doing "something that really makes her happy."
Lorenzo Hopper
Third Year PhD Student
Maternal and Child Health Department, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
To Lorenzo Hopper, "Money probably stressed [him] out the most." He reflects on how growing up with a single parent always made him pay careful attention to finances. He helps his mom out with bills, and now that he's a graduate student, he "sacrificed making money to pursue [his PhD]." Being a doctoral student can't be easy; like Mackenzie, he struggles with simply finding the time to get what he needs to get done done each day and still maintain a social life.
Hopper's approach to dealing with stress in his life includes meditation and lifting weights. Since "most of [his] stressors are completely out of [his] control," putting things into perspective and staying happy and healthy are his ideal "therapies." As a public health student, he's constantly learning how important it is to manage the stress of his life and he realizes how "it can be really detrimental to your health, both mentally and physically."
Cameran Bellamy
Second Year
Dramatic Arts and English double major
When it comes to school, if Cameran Bellamy isn't interested in any topic in particular and she can't connect to it, she'll "probably freak out." As a more art-minded person, "science and history courses are the worst" for her and the closer these dreary topic deadlines are, the more she procrastinates and the more stress infiltrates her life. Like Hopper, Bellamy also "stresses about situations that are out of her control," because "college doesn't just include school."
Bellamy has a pretty good grasp on handling her stress:
"To deal with anything, [she] just sits down and takes a break. Meditating sounds silly, but being mindful and focussing on the moment is so calming." Bellamy also enjoys yoga as a physical release and vents to friends. But her most valuable stress-reliever is her cat.
