Essay Sample on Dealing With Stress in College: Spring Semester Edition

Are you a college student who is overwhelmed and is feeling like you just need a mini trip to the mountains to get away or ready to be spending an hour at a rage room to release some frustration? If you responded yes, I assume it is finals week and you are super close to Christmas break & the end of the semester. Moreover, you are not alone because many college students are experiencing a great amount of stress and maybe even anxiety at this point in the semester and even during the whole semester. In the article, The Student’s guide to managing stress, by Thomas Broderick, is a very credible source that was reviewed by two professionals as well, such as Rayelle Davis M.Ed. & Karen Luu MSN. They found out by the American Institute of Stress that,” 4 in 5 college students experience frequent stress while they are in college” (Brederick,2021). In a personal standpoint, I have learned to manage stress in my life because I frequently have a lot on my plate and run by an extraordinary tight schedule. It often feels like I’m constantly on the way to the next thing on the agenda because I balance a full-time job on top of college, but also striving for a social life and time for working out. I have always been overwhelmed with stress in my life, but this semester has been very hard with the adjustment of college, however, it has taught me some lessons and things I can do to ensure a better semester in the spring. 

What exactly is stress? Well, Stress comes in many forms and can affect every individual different because some humans strive with stress while some are adjusted to having stress on top of the daily routine. According to the first source, there is a type of stress that I could really relate to called acute chronic stress. Chronic acute stress happens when someone can't avoid a long-term stressful situation. For example, students struggling academically in a major course may develop chronic acute stress, which can lead to weight gain, sleep deprivation, and anxiety (Brederick, 2021). In a personal standpoint, I am always facing stress because I try to be everywhere every day. I also have a full-time job being a security officer at the airport, not TSA, so sometimes I can do homework if it is not busy but sometimes, I’m constantly getting called to check things out or complete a task. This often leads me to stay longer at work or even must stay overnight and go to class right after the shift, therefore, I sometimes fall a bit behind completing homework or tend to skip class. 

Furthermore, to get into depth about what exactly caused me to stress in the semester was introduced by one of the academic sources, “Generation Stress: The mental health crisis on campus”, by Sylvia Matthews Burwell, who explained two types of students and the real reason behind all the stress and anxiety that individual goes through. For example, it talks about this concept, called the overcommitted student, “She comes to college with a strong sense of what she wants to do afterward- say, work on a political campaign- and loads up on extracurricular activities in pursuit of that goal” (Burwell 562). I know I want to be a police officer, so I do everything in my best potential to create the best resume to prepare me for the career choice. Not only do I work a full time, I also am in the process of joining the Air Force National guard to become military police for more experience. This commits me to a lot of hours of working out and constantly studying for my exam on the twentieth. I am constantly trying to figure out how to find time for my friends to maintain a social life during my free time as well. 

In comparison, there a couple other factors of stress that came into play that I had to deal with this semester. In article, The Student’s guide to managing stress, it talked about many stressors that an individual may face here and there in the semester. First, it talks about “the new level of independence, aka growing up” (Broderick 2021), which I also had to adjust to because my parents started trusting me and allowing me to make decisions even though they didn’t support the decision of a full-time job compared to a part time job. I also babysat and had responsibility to show up on time even if I was tired or burnt out. In addition, it also talks about romantic relationships being a stressor (Broderick 2021) which also set me back in the middle of the semester. I ended a toxic relationship a couple months into the semester, but it was a real bad breakup, and it caused a lot of emotional stress to keep up with assignments. It was very hard for me to keep motivation to go to class: eventually going to school and work just felt like déjà vu.

On another note, In the article I found from JWU Link, how to have yourself a merry little Christmas, by Sara Shine, I learned some tips I can use to navigate my journey in the spring semester. I liked how the author of the article set a tone that Christmas is the season of stress for many young adults that come across the semester ending but also the holidays approaching. She also brought up the prospective that even older adults seem to always have a lot on their plate for the holidays. I think the most valuable tip I picked up on was to never skip self-care and always have an organized schedule (Shine 2017). I think the best thing I learned was planning out my schedule before the week started to make sure every assignment was completed, and I could balance work and friends. I also need to remind myself next semester to take an hour or two and just work on myself, which I sometimes forget to do. Lastly, the way that I handle my stress is using my car rides listening to worship music and just taking the time to pause from my busy day. 

I have encountered stress this semester with the adjustment of college, however, the stress has taught me some lessons and I have found ways that will benefit me next semester. With research and the semester, I learned ways to handle stress and techniques to combat every stressor I face for the upcoming semester. In the spring semester, I will manage my time in an efficient way and be more productive with scheduling my time properly with school, work, and my social life. For example, next semester I going to move around my work schedule, so I have a set 3 days off (instead of 2) and make the days I have off implement me more time to do homework and study. In conclusion, if you are reading this and you’re wrapped up in finals- just take a deep breath and remember that each day is valuable day for a beneficial lesson when the second time comes around.