COURTNEY HUNDSETH
Opinions Writer

Particularly toward the end of November, students face perhaps the most stressful and time-demanding month of the school year.

Not only are we forced to adjust to the rapidly plummeting temperatures and lack of sunlight, but also to the steadily-rising tower of assignments, papers and exams. The end of November marks the beginning of a roughly month-long time period where students get caught up in deadlines and focus far less on sleep — resulting in a rise in stress and the frequency of sleep deprivation.

We are much too focused on how quickly we can get things done, how soon and how accurately — only to move onto the next project, bringing us back to square one.

Do you ever stop to notice that once you’ve finished one thing, you seem to frantically search for the next thing on the list to devour, in order to keep constantly busy?

However, is this really the best route to take, or does it amount to little more than spinning your wheels?

For those students who must also maintain a job just to make ends meet, it’s even more difficult to eliminate the added stresses of this time. I myself am one of these students. We rack our brains trying to manage school, work and money. Sleep is hardly ever our first priority — and yet, ironically, it’s always on our mind.

One of the most effective considerations to take into account for stress management is the simplest: learning to avoid procrastination. Completing a paper two weeks before it’s actually due might seem daunting, but once you jump in, it’s surprisingly easy and remarkably good at alleviating stress.

There are many other solutions to help cope with the factors of stress, from stress balls to vitamin B complexes, music to yoga, to massage and meditation. Everyone has their “thing.”

We become overwhelmed with stress, and trying to come up with the best possible solution to avoid it altogether. However, stress is not necessarily terrible for you as anxiety and fear are not the only emotions that accompany stress; stress shadows general adaption to a change in one’s life. At the very least, it denotes excitement within your life.

With our lives constantly in flux, it’s impossible for stress to disappear entirely. However, we can adjust to stress and learn to manage it.

Make a schedule for your assignments, take time out to go for a walk or practice deep-breathing. Sigh, take a step back from your life and look beyond (but keep it brief, because you still need to finish those assignments, after all). It feels fantastic to do absolutely nothing but sit and organize your brain.

Your brain is like a shelf, with intricate drawers, spacing, hinges and crevices. When the brain becomes overloaded and stressed, we tend to throw everything into those crevices and hidden spaces, tricking ourselves into thinking that we will deal with it later.

So perhaps the next time you feel the heavy shadow of anxiety creeping over your shoulder, instead of throwing it under the bed, step back, breathe, reflect and realize that nothing is out of arm’s reach. You’ve got this.

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image: Bhernandez/Flickr