Brandon Wu, Period 8, 1/19/2022

 Brandon Wu, Period 8, 1/19/2022

Stress. It’s inevitable, but we all have to face it. This school year has probably been one of the most stressful years of my life. The countless hours staring at a screen completing college applications. “Why us?”, “Why this specific major?”, “Tell us about an extracurricular activity.” On and on and on, question after question after question. And all of this compounded with covid concerns and schoolwork. To say this year has been tough so far would be an understatement, and I want to fix that. A goal that I have for myself this year is to better deal with my stress. It’s not healthy to be stressed all the time - this heavy weight on my shoulders is constantly holding me down. I can never seem to relax, with my mind always thinking about the next due date. My mental health has taken a plunge, and I find it hard to be happy. And my procrastination has gotten worse recently. To me, procrastination is a manifestation of stress - a symptom of a bigger problem. It’s a coping mechanism I use to delay the inevitable, but of course, it’s a double-edged sword. I may postpone stress in the short term, but it only builds up as the due date approaches. Hence, I can attribute a lot of my current problems to stress.

Despite facing seemingly insurmountable levels of stress, I have begun working towards my goal. One step that I have taken to tackle stress is to manage my time better. I have started to more meticulously mark due dates on my calendar and times I have to get work done. This way, I no longer have to worry about due dates as much and hopefully have more time to relax. For example, I completed most of my college applications over the winter break because I planned out the days I had to spend time finishing my essays. Another method I have adopted is mediation. Every morning, I take a few minutes to sit down, relax, and ignore any problems that have come up in the past few days or are coming up in the next few. It helps me clear my head, mentally refresh and prepare myself for my day. Even though these methods are helping me deal with my stress, I can’t help but think that I’m not fixing the root of the problem. This is because I have realized that it is impossible to rid ourselves entirely of stress - our everyday lives revolve around it - so the best we can do is deal with it the healthiest way possible. That way, we can all hopefully find happiness in our lives. I may not have found my happiness yet, but there is one thing good about hitting rock bottom: the only way left to go is up.