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  • We've all had the feeling before. Your stomach is in knots. Your muscles are tense. You feel

  • defeated. You feel low and unhappy. When you try to think of a solution, or of a way out,

  • you go blank. You're stressed. The American Institute of Stress defines stress as physical,

  • mental, or emotional strain or tension. I'm very interested in the topic of stress management

  • because as a college student I'm faced with all different kinds of stress. After reading

  • articles on the topic I would like to inform all of you of a few reasons for stress and

  • then some tips to help you manage your stress and make college life more enjoyable. First,

  • I'll talk about some of the reasons for stress. Although I'm sure that there are many everyone

  • here probably has their own reasons, I'm going to stick to three main reasons that you can

  • probably relate to. The first one is the amount of schoolwork. College can be so demanding

  • due to such a heavy workload that we're expected to keep up with. It's so easy to get overwhelmed.

  • We have projects, tests, papers, exams, midterms, finals, co-ops. Stress can easily build without

  • a good strategy of tackling these assignments. A second reason is pressure to do well. Pressure

  • to do well can come from within. That's the inner drive, that inner motivation pushing

  • you to succeed. Most here desire to do their best and to get good grades. The Methods of

  • Healing website conducted research and found that 71 percent of college students say that

  • their grades have a direct effect on their level of stress. Pressure to do well can also

  • be external. That's your family, your friends, your coaches, your teachers, your professors.

  • Everybody who wants to see you succeed. Wanting to live up to the high expectations that they

  • place on you can be pretty stressful. A third reason is change in environment. Now this

  • may affect some of us more than others, depending on if you're from Rochester or not, but going

  • away to college means leaving behind everything that's familiar. Your close family, they're

  • not with you. Your friends, they're not with you. Some students have never been away from

  • home which can be a difficult adjustment. Then, once you're here at RIT there's social

  • acceptance, peer pressure--these are issues we may face since we're in a new environment.

  • Wanting to fit in can be a challenge and often is. Now, let's recap the three reasons we

  • talked about. First was the amount of schoolwork, second was pressure to succeed, and third

  • was dealing with a new environment. Now that we know the three reasons, let's examine some

  • tips to help reduce the stress. There are five simple things we can do to manage our

  • stress. I created an acronym to help me remember the tips. The word I'm using is relax: R-E-L-A-X.

  • We'll go over each letter one by one. The first letter, letter R, stands for Recognize.

  • We have to recognize the source of our stress before we can address it. Once you realize

  • why you're stressed, why not keep a journal? Write down everything that you feel. Writing

  • makes you feel more relieved and allows you to pinpoint any trends in your stress. The

  • second letter, letter E, stands for Exercise. Incorporating exercise into your daily routine

  • takes your mind off of problems you may have, and not to mention, it's good for your body.

  • So create a routine. Set aside time for exercise. Set aside time for classes--for studying,

  • for homework, and then schedule in downtime for yourself. In the end you'll feel less

  • overwhelmed. The third letter, L, L stands for Let it go. Think about the stressful situation.

  • Will it matter in five years? Will it matter in ten years? If it will matter, take a deep

  • breath and address the stressful situation piece by piece and step by step. If it won't

  • matter in five years or ten years then let it go. Stressing over small things is tiring

  • and unnecessary. The fourth letter, letter A stands for Attitude. When you talk about

  • school do you say things like, "Ugh, I'm gonna fail," or "That test was so hard I bombed

  • it, I'm never gonna learn this material." If you do that may sound pessimistic and doubtful.

  • You can self-reflect and adjust your attitude. According to a 2005 Stress Management article,

  • being optimistic and having a positive outlook has a direct connection with how we feel,

  • even with how well we perform. Now the last letter is X. You're probably wondering what

  • word I came up with to start with this, so I cheated a little bit and it stands for eXtra

  • sleep. All students need sleep for energy. Are you not getting enough? Go to the letter

  • R--recognize why am I not getting enough sleep? Maybe it's because you're hanging out with

  • your friends until two, three, four in the morning. Why not cut down that time? You can

  • still hang out with them, just not as long. Maybe you're not getting enough sleep because

  • you have too much homework. You pull an all-nighter, cramming for an exam, up till 5AM. Why not

  • make a better schedule? And then stick to that schedule. Don't procrastinate. When you

  • map out your time and you stick to a routine you'll realize that you have enough time to

  • get everything done, even sleep. In the end we'll be less frustrated when we get the sleep

  • we needed. Another interesting point that I found is that all stress is not bad. Distress

  • is bad stress. That's what we've been focusing on in this speech. But then there's also good

  • stress, that's called eustress. Eustress comes from excitement or adrenaline. But, to focus

  • on managing our negative stress let's try to remember all of the tips and the word relax.

  • R, recognize where the stress is coming from and address it. E, exercise daily. L, let

  • go of minor problems, don't worry about it. And A, adjust your attitude and be more positive.

  • And X, get eXtra sleep. In conclusion, we cannot ignore the fact that stress occurs

  • in our lives. Regardless of the reasons we have to manage it one way or another. Above

  • all, from my speech I hope you take away useful tips to deal with your stress so that college

  • is more enjoyable. Even if you can't remember what each letter stands for, do just what

  • the word says, and relax.

We've all had the feeling before. Your stomach is in knots. Your muscles are tense. You feel

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