Balancing life to cope with stress

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By Kaden Reichel

In the library, Ruby Cooper, 9, works productively on an essay during second lunch to get ahead on homework. Photo by Kaden Reichel

Students can have a hard time coping with many different things: work, school, family, and friends. Stress becomes a major issue for students who don’t know how to balance these elements. To deal with stress, students may find multiple ways to cope. Setting specific times to do different aspects will help like setting 20 minutes to study or 30 minutes to relax.

“Usually to balance my life, I make a schedule and follow the best I can,” Timothy Kelleher, senior, said. “I cut out pointless activities unless I have enough time. I forced myself to focus by setting and achieving goals. I try my best to keep at least one day out of the week open or free, so I can spend time doing things which make me happy.”

Sometimes individuals must place aside devices like phones to focus on studying or finishing their work to allow for more time slots. Working on school work rather than “hanging out” with friends will help productivity, but if a friend, colleague, or family member is dealing with stress it may be best to help support them instead – it matters on the severity. The ability to be able to say “No,” to working during the day before a major test can reduce stress and increase productivity. Not saying “no” and instead accepting fate reduces the availability of time slots for different activities and events and greatly increases stress.

“If my friend was dealing with stress and was having hard times coping, I’d invite them to hang out, and probably hang out with them for a little, or help them out for whatever they need,” Nicolas Bauder, sophomore, said.

To multitask, set reasonable and accomplishable goals. If a goal is set too high, it is hard to accomplish. This can waste time and resources easily, leading for everything to be thrown off balance.

“To multitask efficiently, I would set specific things for specific times so it all can get done in one day, setting small goals really helps,” Madisyn Selva, sophomore, said.

By taking time out for personal interests, for instance by listening to music, playing sports, and watching cartoons, working and studying becomes much more efficient. As such, if time is taken out from the other subjects, time can be placed more on one subject and the focus is solely on that.

“I coped with [my stress] it through music; I played my guitar and listened to music at home,” Parker Martin, freshman, said. “My favorite sport is volleyball. I went and I would play that, and then I would lose all track of my stress because I would focus in on the sport.”

Stress can be handled by using these solutions to be able to balance the different pieces of a person’s life. If an individual truly wants to be able to have a balanced life. Multiple changes and hard work must be a part of it.