It's happened to every one of us. Whether we miss a few days of school and get piled up with missed work, or procrastinate until the very last minute, we've all experienced that hair-pulling, agonizing feeling of "I'm never going to get this done." Often, it's appropriate to blame school-induced stress on ourselves, as we tend to say "I'll do it later" over and over, until we realize that super important project is due the very next day. However, there are occasions in which stress is cause by other, non-controllable factors, such as illness, or difficulty in keeping up with lessons. Whatever the cause of your stress may be, it still has a big, negative impact on everything you do, from your attitude, to your grades. Although we can't outrun stress, we can make it manageable.
As you sit on your couch eating potato chips and playing Call of Duty, you suddenly realize you have a book report due in a week, and you haven't even started reading the book! What do you do now? Not only did you completely forget about that super important grade, you also decided to hold off on your science project, as you thought you had plenty of free time to complete it. To most people, this is a very stressful situation. No matter what you do, there will be a few negative outcomes. If you read the book, you'll miss out on your video game. If you miss your video game, you'll be cranky. Once you're cranky, your friends won't want to hang out with you. Then...ok, lets not turn this into a DirecTV commercial. I think you get the point.
Now, you must decide how you'll manage to get everything finished on time. By thinking about how to get out of the situation, you realize you're wasting valuable time that could be spent getting out of the situation What does this do? Add more stress, of course! You eventually decide that you'll never get everything completed on time, and resort to playing more games. As you can guess, this adds even more stress to your plate. Not only do you feel lousy about yourself for being so unprepared, but you worry yourself sick about the horrible grades you know you'll receive. Do you honestly think video games is worth pulling your hair out and failing?
As I stated previously, the above situation is not always the case. You may have been bed-ridden for two weeks with an awful case of the flu. Because you missed so many days of classes, even if you felt like doing your work, you'd have no idea what you are supposed to be doing. Another example of uncontrollable stress is falling behind in class. Take Algebra for an example. Say you don't understand today's lesson, and you're too embarrassed to ask for extra help. In any type of math class, you must often know what you learned previously to solve new material. So, if you don't understand how to do today's work, chances are you won't be lost tomorrow, and so on. It is important that you identify the cause of your stress, to avoid blaming yourself when other factors are to blame.
We all have one serious question: How in the world do you deal with stress? A better question to ask ourselves is this: How do we prevent stress? If we can answer the second question, we won't have to worry about the first. I can't give you a direct method for solving your stressful life, as people deal with stress in their own ways, and all situations must be handled differently. It is wise for you to manage your time in a way which will allow for responsibilities, as well as leisure. Be sure you have all of your work finished at a reasonable time, and write down assignments you may forget. If you miss school, consider asking a friend to get your work for you. If you are having trouble in class, talk to your classmates, and arrange a time for your teacher to give you one-on-one lessons. Always remember, stress can be avoided.
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