hi beautiful person —
i hope you’re doing so super well right now, and if you aren’t, i hope everything gets better for you soon. remember that you matter and that i am so happy you are here :)
as we get closer to the last stretch of school, stress levels skyrocket, sleep goes to a zero, and our social life becomes nonexistent. maybe your stress has absolutely nothing to do with academics and maybe it involves a relationship or a work presentation or a life changing decision. whatever it may be, i’m sure you can relate with something that has happened or upcoming.
stress stresses us out. read that again. this is the idea that having stress or being stressed makes us act in ways that are likely contributing to our stress levels.
here’s what i mean:
well, no sleep? now you’re barely able to stay awake and are stressing about accidentally dozing off and not completing something important. not eating right or drinking enough water? now you’re damaging your health and it’ll start to show when your energy levels decrease significantly. not balancing your work with social life? now you’re reaching the point of burnout. soon enough everything you’ve worked so hard for will seem completely useless because you’re so burdened by everything you have had to do and still have to do. what was once something you loved soon turns into a chore, obligation, and responsibility.
to cope with all of this, you drink coffee to stay awake or use your phone as an outlet and waste time as such. you start to reach a breaking point — a point of no return. this is the point that can make our world and everything we love and loved shatter in an instant.
think about it:
stress —> no sleep —> brain doesn’t function properly —> productivity decreases —> less to no time for social life —> starts leading to burnout —> all these negative emotions take a toll on mental health —> you start to lose out on important relationships or parts of your life and identity
do you see where this is taking you? the vicious cycle starts with this one stress factor.
yes, i understand we have so many tests and assignments and deadlines and projects and presentations and it seems like it’s never going to end and everything is piling up and we can’t take it anymore because we’re so demotivated and don’t sleep anymore because all we’re trying to do is catch up and stay afloat.
but, love, breathe. there’s so much to do, yes, but you cannot do those things if you are not okay. stress seems like the biggest thing ever in the moment, but you can be so much bigger than it.
remember when i said that stress stresses you out? it’s because when you are stressed, everything seems harder, and every little thing can seem like the biggest barrier.
but stress to you is what you let it be. if you let stress stress you out, then of course everything will seem overwhelming. but if you remember that you are in control of how you deal with your stress and learn how to manage it healthily, then suddenly, your stress becomes a very trivial part of your life.
this means sleeping a reasonable amount, eating well, taking care of your mental, emotional, and physical health, and keeping a balance between your work and social lives. this also means being productive when you can be and not procrastinating. it means managing your time well and planning the things you need to do and being organized. all of these little things can guarantee that you can control your stress better.
“yeah, well, that’s easier said than done, apuroopa.”
i know! i’m not saying that this is at all easy. but the very first step to managing your stress is to realize and acknowledge how much it is affecting you. being stressed is completely okay. stress hurting your health is not.
remember that stress is like a star or two in the sky when our lives are the skies. you see, our lives can be so beautiful, if we let them be. they can be clouded sometimes, but if we shine so bright then even the clouds seem so insignificant in the big picture.
here’s what i mean:
yes, you and i and likely every single person is stressed about something right now, big or small. but no matter what, don’t forget that the minute we let the stress take control of us, we no longer can be there for whatever we need to do. whether this be a loved one in the hospital that we need to attend to, an important deadline crucial to the rest of our careers, or studying for the biggest AP US History test of the year, we are only going to do as good as we let ourselves do. you can not sleep at all and stay in the hospital at the side of your loved one, but at what cost? you can study for hours and not sleep well and take the test and get an A, but at what cost?
at one point, your body is going to give in. and at that point, what if you’re no longer able to be there for your loved one because you yourself are no longer healthy? and what if you are no longer able to be productive for the rest of your classes at school?
see what i mean? it’s the vicious cycle.
that’s what we’re trying to break. we are not machines. we are human. we have a limit and our bodies and minds can only take so much. if you are not healthy, you will not be able to tend to life. that’s why you hear the same thing all the time: take care of yourself.
you only have one body and one mind and one heart. there is only one you in this world. you were given only this one life. you were put into it for a reason. let your passion drive you. let yourself grow and learn and love and be. and let yourself breathe.
life is what you make it to be. make it good. shine bright.
love,
apuroopa