This is a day where college students think three shots of espresso are the norm and feel accomplished with only six hours of sleep. Instead of addressing the root of the problem, they just treat the outcome. It is a never-ending cycle of sleepless nights and drinking coffee during the day to remediate the problem. It is not that college students do not realize what they are doing, so why do they not try to get more sleep?
Many of my friends, including my self, have felt the stress that college brings. College students think that it is OK to continue to let their stress and anxiety, brought on by things like lack of sleep, take over their lives. They believe that it happens to everyone, and it has become a social norm. During finals week, I see people post on Instagram and Facebook about the "all-nighter" they pulled the night before, complete with a smile and a coffee. It almost seems as if they are happy about it. So it must be a normal thing that they have to deal with… right?
Mental health is something that is only recently getting the attention it deserves. People are commonly ashamed and feel that if they suffer from anxiety or depression, there is something wrong with them. One of my friends told me that when she thought she had a mental health problem, many people told her that she did not because she had a great life. She had friends and family, did not have money issues and was doing OK in school. So they discredited her problem. Little did they know that they were only making her problem worse. She felt alone when she needed support.
More people need to address the fact that mental health is a real issue and you never know who might be suffering from mental health issues. If more people validate mental health as a problem, then students who are suffering from the problem might seek the help they need. As college students under pressure to do well and succeed, we should understand how mental health can affect someone's life negatively and force him or her to be unhappy. Everyone has felt stressed over college at some point and should be able to understand that it is not a desirable feeling.
When push comes to shove, you should put yourself first. I am not saying that you should not make time to study for that exam or write that paper. However, I am saying that you should make time for the things that make you happy as well. In the end, anxiety can force you to do poorly on a test just as much as not studying. College students need to realize that these issues are a problem, and there is a solution. Maybe you do not know how to solve that problem right now, but that is OK. Just choose to seek the solution and be happy because you deserve it.
