At the moment, I am cornered. I am in this puny box shoved under all these other boxes, and I am feeling the pressure of the situation. It’s clammy, cool, and charcoal grey, with a sense of eternal darkness. It is me and my thoughts, alone together. It is said that the thoughts with context can lead to a revelation, yet thoughts without context can drive one insane.

This is stress.

A ball of string 1,000 feet long and littered with knots.

Knowing that the phone bill is due tomorrow, but not being able to pay it.

A time limit to complete a task you don’t know how to complete.

Three tests in one day.

These, too, are stress.

But as students, we often hide these signs and feelings of our stress. We absorb them in an attempt to withstand the pressure. We disengage ourselves,and we are so wrapped up in our own stress that we don’t fully understand what’s going on around us. We pretend that stress isn’t a big deal, that it doesn’t cause even bigger issues.

Well, I’m here to tell you that stress is so much more than a "feeling." Stress is not just running your fingers through your hair and groaning over the fact that you don’t understand what you're trying to study. Stress is screaming and crying until your voice is gone, but with no relief. Stress is rubbing your arm red, so caught up in the intenseness of the situation that you can’t even feel what you’re doing to yourself. Stress is either not eating or overeating to compensate for the emotional outrage happening inside. Stress is explaining how you’re feeling, and having people empathize but not fully understanding what you’re feeling.

Stress is us. We are stress.

People don’t realize that stress comes in all forms, not just as a one-sided feeling. Stress can shape one’s mind. Stress can destroy hopes and dreams and ambitions of all kinds. Some people even perform better under stress, since they believe that without that drive of tension, nothing will ever get done.

How did we even get to this point in time, when we cannot even show up to class because we are so stressed? How did we get so stressed that we snapped? Where did this pressure come from? You? Me? Life?

No matter who or what caused it, stress will not be going away anytime soon. It’s here to stay. It’s part of growing up, part of understanding the importance of responsibility and becoming part of the world.

Promise me that the next time you see a knotted ball of string or a math problem you cannot figure out for the life of you, just take a step back and try again with a clearer head. I ask you to not be afraid of asking for help; it shows that you’re willing to learn, not cowardice or anything like it.

Stress is part of being human. We’re going to feel cornered and shoved in a charcoal box with lighting so dim you might as well be in the dark. It’s about how we feel it, accept it, and move past it.

For more about stress and mental health, visit themighty.com