Personal Tips on Stress

Trying to balance all of your commitments, such as school, work, volunteering, sports,
hobbies, and social life, can sometimes be overwhelming and very stressful. Time management
is one of the most valuable skills you can learn in university, and is an important component to
being successful. Time management is the skill of making smart decisions about how to
prioritize and allocate your time in order to accomplish set goals. It is working smarter, not
necessarily harder.

Stress is a very common problem being faced today. Every individual will experience
stress in one or the other time.The term stress has many definitions, Lazarus and Folkman (1984)
have defined stress as “an internal state which can be caused by physical demands of body or by
environmental and social situations, which are evaluated as potentially harmful, uncontrollable,
or exceeding our resources for coping”.

According to David Fontana “stress is a demand made upon the adaptive capacities of the
mind and body”. These definitions indicate that stress represents those conditions under which
individuals have demand made upon them, that they cannot physically or psychologically meet,
leading to breakdown at one or other of these levels. Stress is usually thought of in negative
terms. But it can manifest itself in both positive and negative way. It is said to be positive when
the situation offers an opportunity for one, to gain something.

It is also important to prioritize your assignments and deadlines. For example, if

something is worth more, or it’s an upper level class, or the prof/TA is a more demanding grader,
you should start those assignments first. It is also a good idea to begin with what you think is the
hardest, since you will be fresh and will have more energy.

When it comes to little assignments, such as online participation or anything worth a

small percentage of your grade, do them as early in the semester as possible. This way you won’t
be overwhelmed later on in the semester when essays and assignments are due, or choose not to
do them at all, or do a poor and rushed job on them. Even small percentages add up and can
significantly affect your grade. Doing them early also shows your teacher that you can manage
your time and you are excited about the material.

As a student, I know that school is the number 1 stressor of students. Considering the tons
of assignments, projects, gardening as a school project, reporting, and so much more but, as
students, we should beat these things that stress us because if we don’t, we will be one of the
losers.