College certainly isn’t a walk in the park. It consists of tests, paper work, deadlines, reports, and whatever else you can think of. It’s pretty much an introduction to real life. For some, it’s easy to get caught up in the workload as you’re taking 15+ credit hours every semester (I seriously don’t recommend taking that many). It becomes stressful, and sometimes, just downright depressing as there seems to be no end in sight.
When you find yourself on the brink of depression, it’s difficult to find motivation to do much of anything. You stop exercising, you stop eating, and you stop doing much of what you enjoy doing. As a college student, it’s important that you stay healthy, as that’s something that’s easy to overlook when you’re overburdened with coursework. You also need to give yourself some time to unwind too. The best remedy is to find a relaxing environment and do something. But do what exactly?
Well, first off, exercising and eating healthy. They’re two things that are easy to pass up as for one, there’s the issue of time and money, and secondly, it’s not very fun. I never actually enjoyed doing it myself when I went through college, but as I found my health beginning to deteriorate, I figured it was time to hit the gym and start eating more of my fruits and veggies.
Now of course, eating healthy traditionally costs money and many college students have to eat less than what they should be taking in in order make ends meet. This doesn’t always have to be the case though and in fact, it’s possible to both work out and eat right without breaking your college budget. And also, you’ll find yourself with a lot more energy in the long run, which is a huge plus.
A major problem that college student encounter though is time. Time to not only exercise, but to also do many of the other things that matter, such as spending time with friends or working on your hobbies.
If your course load is too heavy, it may be best to drop one of the harder ones and save it for another semester so that it’s not taking up so much of your time. You need to work and make some extra money anyway, so dropping a class to free up your schedule shouldn’t make you feel that guilty. Learning to manage your time efficiently wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing either. This way, you can set aside time to read a book or have lunch and study with your friends.
For many college students, unfortunately, the common approach to combating the stressful college environment is through drugs, sex, loud music, and a lot of drunken wild parties. Not only does this do your brain a major disservice, but the aftereffects end up leaving you more depressed than you were originally. I mean, you’re essentially bashing your brain in with a brick. How else should it feel?
Another thing that students typically run for too are artificial inhibitors, or in other words, antidepressants. While this is a quick, simple fix, it only cures the symptoms, not the cause of the problem. Stress is a part of life. There’s no way to avoid it and you’re bound to encounter it almost on a daily basis. So what are your options? There are two things you could do: either you run and hide from it or you learn to cope and adapt. Which would you prefer?
Recent Comments