Making College Years Stress-Free: 7 Working Tips For Today’s Students

Life today is awfully stressful. Everyone gets their share of pressure, starting as early as primary school years, or maybe even before that. College and university students are no exception – stress goes hand in hand with getting a higher education.

What makes things worse is that most students on a tertiary level have much more to deal with than regular academic duties. Many of them move to live on campus where they are away from family and friends and face the necessity to pay their own bills for the first.

In academia, stakes also get higher – to fail an exam in high school is nothing compared to doing so in college or university, where you have to pay tuition fees and can be expelled if you fail to meet the requirements. On top of that, young people need to find their place under the sun and find new friends while often struggling with self-esteem issues.

All this seems overwhelming, does it? However, it won’t be so if you know how to cope. Every student can make the road to graduation smoother – and we’ll tell you how. Follow our tips and make your college years stress-free!

1. Set Goals

Everything starts with setting goals. If you know what exactly you want to achieve, it becomes much easier. So, take your time to think about it early on. Ask yourself some questions, like:

• Why did I decide to go to college?
• What do I want to do when I graduate?
• Do I really need excellent grades?

Remember that apart from setting big goals, you also need to think about smaller ones. Otherwise, you will most likely be overwhelmed with the grandeur of the final goal and simply won’t know how to approach it.

2. Be Organized

Students have so much to do that it’s hard to remember everything. So, if you’re used to spending hours dreaming away, do things slowly, and tend to forget about deadlines, you definitely need to do something about it.

However, even with careful planning, it’s not always possible to complete everything on time. For example, academic papers take up hours, if not days, and are rather difficult to write. If you feel like you’re stuck in your writing or research process, then maybe you need some guidance. By the way, don’t be scared to delegate any research or task to essay writing services.

You can easily find a guide on the internet. For example, essaywriterservice.com offers a lot of information on how to write various kinds of essays. If you still can’t cope, there are excellent professional writers ready to help you.

3. Embrace Imperfection

Nobody’s perfect – so what? There’s no need to worry about something no one can achieve, so you can simply stop stressing out about having some flaws. Maybe you did get a B instead of an A+, so what’s the big deal? It’s just a mark that’s a little less than perfect.

Of course, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try better next time, but the fact that you got a B instead of an A doesn’t make you a less worthy student. Same as having imperfect looks, flawed character, or a particular problem with some concrete subject. What’s more, being constantly stressed will not make you closer to perfection.

4. Focus on the Positive Aspects

Got a B for the test, but your professor thinks you’re smart and can do better? That’s great! You’re talented! Slept through a lecture but finally got some good rest? Lucky you! A difficult exam is coming soon, but so are the holidays? Wow, awesome!

If you always focus on the positive side, your everyday life gets so much less stressed because there’s always something good that you can hold on to. Otherwise, if you focus on the negative, your life may one day start to seem totally miserable, and such an attitude can lead to depression and other mental health disorders.

5. Do Sports

Being physically active is a sure way to ease the stress on a chemical level. When you do sports, special hormones called endorphins are released, and you instantly feel more uplifted. So, don’t neglect your morning exercises and go to the gym whenever you have the time.

If you don’t like the gym, find any other physical activity to your taste, like:

• Hiking;
• Dancing;
• Aerobics;
• Swimming;
• Pilates;
• Yoga… the choice is endless!

Also, don’t forget about spending enough time being active outdoors breathing fresh air. Take the long walk to campus when you have the time, ride a bike on a weekend, play volleyball in the park.

6. Take Care of Yourself

However hard you try to succeed academically, don’t forget to maintain a healthy study-life balance. If you have to work day and night without rest at an elite university, if you don’t have enough time to sleep, eat, and socialize, then there’s a lot you need to reconsider.

First of all, find the roots of your issues. Are you overloaded with work, or do you simply procrastinate too much? Maybe, you’re learning the wrong way or spend too much time socializing? After you find that out, make the necessary changes.

7. Stay Connected

When preparing schedules, many people tend to forget that they need to include such important things as spending time with friends and family. That, again, leads to tension and stress when they realize that they got disconnected from their loved ones.

Don’t make this mistake. However busy you are, don’t forget that you’re not alone – you have your relatives, your old friends, your whole life outside of college. This is the safe haven that you can turn to when you need to feel comfortable and pressure-free. Don’t underestimate the meaning of close relationships – stay connected.

Final Thoughts

College years are stressful, that’s true. And, to be honest, it’s hardly possible to make them completely stress-free. However, every student can make them much easier by following the simple tips listed above.

Of course, this list is by no means exhaustible. But it’s enough for a start – and if you want to go further, you can always use the analytical skills they teach you in college to come up with more!