Last Monday, I attended the Table Talk on stress. With such a relatable and ubiquitous topic for Cornell students, it was easy for us to begin the discussion and to share all sorts of anecdotes and experiences. GRF Seema started us off by sharing some of her stresses that come along with being a PhD student, and she encouraged us to share anything that might be on our minds. This Table Talk was probably the most casual I had ever been to; it felt more like a group of people commiserating and sharing advice than a guided discussion. The people who attended had a variety of different majors, so it was interesting for me to see what people outside of my classes found stressful.
We also discussed the benefits of stress; namely, how a certain optimal level of stress is necessary for maximizing your productivity. It seemed as though people had different optimal levels; personally, I find that I am more productive when I am less stressed, but some people shared that they needed a significant amount of stress in order to motivate themselves. It was interesting to see how such a simple and common feeling can manifest itself in so many different ways.
I agree. I was at this table talk as well and I found it helpful to think about stress as an optimal point. I find that I tend to get a lot of work done when my stress freaks me out enough. In addition, I think that this was the most casual table talk as well and think that it was a great way to talk about a subject such as stress that clearly affects all of our daily lives.
I wasn’t able to attend this table talk, but now I really wish I did! Stress is one of the defining characters of students and it is easy to relate with one another because of it. It seemed like a good opportunity to meet other rose scholars also! I definitely need a lot of stress in order to get motivated, but sometimes when I have too much I just break down. Any tips for relieving stress?