The end of every college semester gets very rough. Whether it's the first one, or the last, by the time the last week hits, it's time to be done. Before we can be done, however, we have to get tons of work done, and It has to be good. Papers pile up and group projects come together, and we have to keep a level head so that we can remain sane. We have to alleviate stress.
To reduce stress, I used to play a lot of video games. I lost time, however, and my stress levels started building. I was always tired and never happy and I needed to escape from my responsibilities. Gaming sometimes gets a bad rep, but it is worth a try for everyone. Whether it be a simple phone game like Angry Birds or a shooting game like Call of Duty, games can take us into different worlds, and I believe that is the beauty in them.
Unlike movies, Interactive Narrative is just that, a story we can interact with. Games with riveting stories pull us in because we are stuck thinking, "What can I do to advance this story?" It is on us as the gamer to press the story onward. If we die or cannot solve the puzzle, the characters cannot tell us their tales. I find myself blocking out half an hour for games here and there and the story can rope me in for hours. It's a brilliant technique for reducing stress.
Another great way to reduce stress is working out. Not only will It make us feel good because of the stress it handles, but working out will make us feel more awake, especially if we work out in the morning. A morning workout can give us the energy needed to motivate us through the day's worth of research without the coffee breath. It can be hard sometimes to find the motivation to workout, but once started, It's hard to want to quit.
If, though, you want to relax, why not put on some music? Music, as well, can be a great way to relieve some stress. Music of any genre can help our minds wander and can help us feel at peace with ourselves, and with our environments. Close your eyes, put in the earbuds and let music take you to another reality.
Altogether, however, none of these methods work if we cannot allow ourselves to break free of the tasks at hand. Sure, we might have papers to write, but we have to schedule time to work on them, and time to work on other things. If we just say we will, "get to it later," we will absolutely be stressed. With the mindset of, "I have an hour to play games, then an hour to study," etc., we will find that we have plenty of time allotted to our work, and we have made time to live and do fun things as well. Finals can be rough, but they will be a lot easier if we give ourselves time to get away from them.
