Stress is either the person who rides my shoulders right before an exam or a friend who stands by my side during a fencing match.  Since it is usually the former, stress and I must have a hate-love relationship.  I really enjoyed listening to last week’s Rose Café Series about managing stress and balancing a healthy life with academics.  Supposedly, an average student should get 9 hours of sleep and that shocked me.  I get at most 7 hours on a good night.  That is probably one of the major causes of stress for me then!  Fortunately, the speakers, Rubenstein-Gillis and Gerding, were kind enough to give the group useful strategies to manage bad stress.

One of the suggestions was a pre-routine workout, which surprised me because I typically do that before I start working.  I would open my laptop and check my email and texts to make sure I don’t ignore my friends or family and then start the assignments.  Another suggestion was to set small goals that can easily be completed during the day to make you feel accomplished by the end of the day.  I started over the weekend and it made me feel a lot happier about my progress in terms of finishing assignments and studying for prelims.  But the most useful tip was their instruction on how to meditate.  The group did a 5-minute meditation session to learn how meditation is helpful to refocus the mind and relax the body.  After the talk, I have been practicing meditation whenever I feel over-stressed, and I have to admit, these tips are very helpful!  I hope Rubenstein-Gillis and Gerding plan to do more sessions like this on campus.  I am sure other students would find these tips helpful and can be easily incorporated into their routine.