Take a deep breath. You’re alright. This is just a piece of the puzzle of life. You’re moving through it. You feel like this is not a wall you can climb over, or walk around, or crawl under, this is a mountain you have to plow through. You have to do it alone. I understand, except you’re wrong about a couple of things. Yes, it is a gigantic wall that you have to go through, and you may not be able to go over, or under, or around it, and there is no way to magically transport yourself through the other side, but that doesn’t mean that plowing through it has to be so difficult for you. You can make it fun. Get creative, maybe dance your way through it, or find a window, and sing so loud you break the glass. Another thing you’re wrong about is that you have to do it alone. You do not have to do it alone. You have a support system for a reason. Friends, family, teachers, fellow church-goers. You have people. If you don’t have people, find people. Walls are hard to get through, and many hands make light work. You’re stressed out right now, and that’s okay. I’m here to give you a list of things you can do to help alleviate that stress.

1. Sweat. Yoga is a way of finding balance in the body, soul, and mind. Running is a way of clearing the mind and “recalibrating” your breathing. Weightlifting is picking heavy things up and putting them down, making you feel accomplished and helping you think while you do it. Exercise releases endorphins in your bloodstream and causes what people call a “runner’s high.” The good part is that you don’t even have to run to get the runner’s high, you just have to engage your muscles and sweat.
2. Sleep. Sleep is the number one best medicine in all of history. It’s a reboot for your body. The deeper you get into sleep, the better your mind will feel when you wake up. REM sleep has been proven to reprocess things in your brain so that way things that build up over one day aren’t building up every day over and over. It’s like when you pour a soda and you let it fizz out before you pour more in there, because if you just let it keep going, everything would overflow.
3. Speak. Talking about your stress can help you figure things out in your own mind. Even if you just go talk to yourself. Just speak, and find a way to verbalize everything. Verbalizing your issues makes them more tangible, and if they are tangible, you can find a way through it. Just speak.
4. Stop. Just slow down. You don’t have to do everything. You don’t have to be everyone’s hero. You don’t have to go to every event, you don’t have to talk to every person, you don’t have to do everything. Just stop. Give yourself a break. Block off a certain time where you don’t talk to anyone. Turn off your phone, lock your doors (but tell your roommate first), and just sit down, or lay in the floor. Do not say anything. Don’t do anything. Just 15 minutes of being by yourself, just breathing. This life goes by so quickly, and sometimes, you need to just stop the roller coaster, sit for a minute, and wait until you’re ready for the next hill, or the next loop. You can do it. Just stop.
5. Scream. Just let it all out and scream. As loud as you can, as long as you want, just scream. If you’re near people, or in a dorm, put your face in a pillow. Just scream.
6. Schedule. Block off some time for homework, and set a timer. Block off some time to eat and during that time, don’t think about your homework, that’s for the blocked off homework time. Block off time to be social. During that time, don’t worry about anything except being social. Schedule times for everything, and don’t let them overlap. When they overlap, things can get a little messy.
7. Sing. Raise your voice, dance, use your brush as a microphone. Just sing. There is no shame in hitting some of those notes and just singing along with your favorite tunes. Sing a ballad to your lover (or your teddy bear if you please). Sing a fight song to your homework, without thinking about it. Sing a funny song to your mirror. Just sing.
8. Swing. Pretend you’re a kid again, go to the park and just swing, or go down the slide, or hang from the monkey bars. 2 things about this: don’t get hurt, and don’t be arrested for being a creep adult playing on the swing set. (It could happen.)
9. Squeeze. Get a stress ball and see how tight you can squeeze it. Get some silly putty and see what kind of shapes you can make by squeezing it. Squeeze the ball, squeeze the putty, squeeze the paper you messed up on and you’re about to throw away. Squeeze something. (Don’t hurt anyone.)
10. Smile. Even if you feel like you have nothing to smile about, smile. The world is cold without the warmth of your smile. Show the pearly whites, and fake it til you make it. According to science, smiling for a couple of minutes (even if you’re crying and sad), can increase mood levels.¹ So take a minute and smile, and make the world a brighter place.

Your stress is temporary. I hope that these 10 things can help you out and I really do hope that your stress goes away. You can do it!! I believe in you!!! You got this!!!

1. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/...