Stress is such a difficult feeling to describe. Although some of the physical symptoms are similar for most people, I feel like the mental state that it produces can be different for everyone. For me it makes me feel simultaneously antsy and worn out, and it’s a strange feeling. Stress is also like a bad cycle; I stress out about having so much stuff to do that it wears me out, which makes me fall behind on my work which stresses me out even more. Since stress affects everyone in different ways, it follows that people manage stress in different ways, and it’s often hard to find the best way that works for you. Last week I went to a talk by Rubenstein-Gillis and Gerding, two therapists in the CAPS department at Gannett, and I gained some really valuable insight into some ways to manage the huge amounts of stress that come with being a college student.

One piece of advice that Rubenstein-Gillis and Gerding suggested that really stood out to me was the idea of chunking your work, and doing only a few sentences at a time. It’s so hard for me to sit down and do all my work at once, and sometimes I do try to divide it up into chunks; however, I didn’t really realize until this talk that it’s perfectly okay to make your chunks really really small, as long as it motivates you to do the work. Plus, I find that oftentimes when I finish one chunk of work it makes it much easier to move on to the next. The whole concept of having very realistic, reachable goals is very helpful in finishing my work. Even if it’s only a couple sentences at a time!

I don’t think there’s anything more important than taking care of yourself, and oftentimes society emphasizes taking care of yourself physically (i.e. exercising and eating healthy), but we often neglect mental health. Although it has gotten better in recent years, mental illness has long had a negative stigma attached to it, and I find that we often try to hide our mental problems and put on a brave face. It’s easy and socially acceptable to tell someone you have the flu; however, it’s not really socially acceptable to tell someone you’re depressed. Why is this the case? Why is physical ailment more acceptable than mental ailment? I feel like some people think that your mental health is more within your control than your physical health is, and I think this is totally untrue. You can’t control your brain chemistry, just as you can’t control a virus invading your body. Sure you can take preventive measures such as thinking positively or washing your hands, but when it comes down to it a mental illness is just as real as a physical illness.