College life is not all parties and hanging out with friends away from the supervising eyes of your parents.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite!
College is about proving to yourself that you can manage adult life and its responsibilities. In addition, for students who truly care about their education and want to stay on top of things, college can be quite a stressful rollercoaster.
According to the American College Health Association, 45% of college students said they experience “more than average stress.”
The increased difficulty of the lessons and topics and the amount of study material they need to cover for each subject can be overwhelming.
Considering this, we think that the most important lesson you can learn in college is stress management. And here’s a few extra reasons why this is mandatory:
It Can Have Permanent Consequences
Stress, in general, puts quite a toll on your body (regardless of age and build).
For instance, stress can induce a condition called alopecia areata, where white blood cells attack and destroy hair follicles. As a result, your hair starts thinning down and falling (sometimes in patches).
If this happens, you may need an effective hair loss treatment (hair eventually grows back), but it’s better to prevent than treat. So, to avoid leaving college looking like an old person, why not try to find better ways to manage stress?
A good way to fight anxiety induced by exams and huge amounts of study materials is physical activity.
It also helps if you play a team sport, where you get to rely on and befriend your teammates.
This way, you’ll have both an outlet for your anxiety and a strong support system with your friends.
It Teaches you Valuable Skills
Good stress management is also a great life skill that everyone should master by the time they leave college.
In order to avoid stressful times, you will need good organization and planning skills (which are also important for project manager jobs).
When you are organized, it’s easy to keep track of your notes and divide your study sessions and breaks accordingly.
Also, if you plan ahead, you will go through the material early on, allowing you to be more relaxed during exams (which may also earn you better grades).
Overall, it pays to be prepared regardless of the situation and age. As you go through life, you will have to deal with more complex situations and you will have to juggle several important projects at once (job, family, friends, hobbies, and more).
If you’re used to planning and taking each task one at a time, things will be a little easier.
Wrap Up
Many college students are forced to face failure in one way or another. This can be jarring and most likely will add to the overall stressful situation.
However, both failure and feeling overwhelmed are part of life (especially after college).
So, the best thing you can do when this happens is to learn from the experience and move on.
