Managing Stress, Anxiety And Worry

Stress 

Stress, stress and more stress. That’s what you might hear from your peers and what you likely feel most of the time. Did you know that stress is part of a healthy life? Stress, although usually deemed as bad, can be good too! Stress is good when it challenges and motivates you (Summa Health, 2021). Stress becomes bad when it takes a toll on your body. Bad stress can lead to “anxiety, confusion, poor concentration and decreased performance” (Summa Health, 2021), and we do not want those! 

So how can you differentiate good stress from bad stress? You can check the article by Summa Health on Stress Management: How to Tell the Difference Between Good and Bad Stress  

REMEMBER you don't have to handle stress alone, there are lots of people at the college there to help. Remember those resource people we talked about at the beginning? They have lots of ideas to help you manage stress while you are at College.

Here are other great resources to managing stress:  

Manage stress and regain control with 20 tips to better living  

Stress Management  

Here is an activity for you! Create a stress relief journal! Research shows that “journaling helps reduce stress” (Benton, 2022). Check out this link to guide you on your stress relief journaling: https://psychcentral.com/stress/how-to-begin-journaling-for-stress-relief#how-to-start-a-stress-relief-journal 

Anxiety and Worry 

Worry and anxiety are unpleasant feelings that you may experience as you go on your post-secondary journey. Although they may seem similar, worry and anxiety are two different feelings. According to Intermountain Healthcare (2020), worry is the “feeling uneasy or being overly concerned about a situation or problem” while anxiety is “reaction to situations perceived as stressful or dangerous”. 

Test Anxiety

Have you ever had an experience where you studied extensively for an exam only to forget everything you learned before taking it? I was so confused and frustrated when I experienced that. Later, I was introduced to a feeling called test anxiety.  

Test anxiety is a symptom of fear. The fear that you are not ready for the exam. The fear that you might fail the exam. The Fear that other people might not think of you as bright. The fear that you will not think of yourself as smart any longer. Whichever it is that is causing your fear, it is necessary to learn how to let go of perfectionism (Downs, n.d.).  

A great article from Brown University talks about Managing Test Anxiety. Check it out by clicking on this link: https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/support/counseling-and-psychological-services/managing-test-anxiety 

 This is an excellent booklet on test anxiety