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College Stress: How To Manage It

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:11:56 +0000

The college experience can represent one of the most exciting stages in a person's life--new goals, perspectives, friends, and freedoms can be exciting, and can change the direction of your life! But college brings a significant amount of stress as well, and if you don't know how to manage that stress, it can become overwhelming. According to a 2009 report from the American Psychological Association, , roughly 50% of college students are at some point so depressed that they have difficulty functioning, while 15% actually meet the criteria for clinical depression. Another 2011 study showed that college students are rating themselves as lower in emotional health, and college women are feeling overwhelmed 38% of the time. As someone who has worked in a few college counseling offices, I can attest to the fact that there are many new stressors in a university setting.

Fortunately, there are also many options for managing that stress! Today I gave a keynote presentation on college stress and stress management for College Week Live, an online college fair attended by thousands. (It's free to watch, and you can find it through the link, under "Keynote Sessions." Here is a list of other presenters, here is the College Week Live Agenda, and here is more about College Week Live.)

If you're a current college student, a high school student who's looking forward to going to college in the near future, or the parent of an incoming college student, this talk will help you to know how to prepare for college stress and learn to mange it. (If you're not an incoming college student, you'll still find nice stress management information there.) I received some great questions, many of which I couldn't answer during the webinar, so I'll be answering them in the form of articles here--stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, here are some additional resources that can help with college stress and stress relief. Use them to take charge of your college years and make them the best they can be!

Common Causes (And Effects) of Stress In College

How To Reduce Stress in College

The Root Cause Of College Sleep Deprivation

College Stress Traps To Avoid

The Freshman 15: What You Need To Know

Fox Business: How To Handle A Difficult Roommate

About.com College Life: College Time Management Tips
Common Studying Mistakes People Make--And How To Avoid Them

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Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:59:39 +0000

If on February 1st, you took a look at your lifestyle and found that it wasn't profoundly different from January 1st--or at least it wasn't different in the ways that you had hoped!--you may be starting to doubt your ability to make important, stress-relieving changes in your life.

At least you're in good company!

Countless people find themselves doing the same thing around this time of year! Gym parking lots--always so packed during the month of January--start seeing more vacant parking spots. Schedules start filling up again, dessert starts looking better and better. If you're trying to change from sheer willpower and perfectionistic adherence to a stringent code of desired behavior for yourself, you may start feeling fatigued. You may have already slipped, or fallen off the wagon completely. You may be wondering if it's worth the effort to make changes.

First, I can tell you that it absolutely is! If you're reading this, it means that you care about making healthy changes in your life and want to relieve stress. Your goals aren't the problem, and using the new year as a springboard for change can work out very well. (And if you're one of the readers who didn't set goals for January, I implore you to take the opportunity to set some now!) But perhaps you're succumbing to common pitfalls that many people find challenging. This is all part of the process. In fact, with my coaching clients, I always mention that somewhere between Week 3 and Week 8, we usually see a dip in progress--the initial excitement of reaching new goals has worn off, and the work is starting to feel more challenging. The following are common impediments to change:

Perfectionism: are you expecting perfection immediately, or are you gradually working up to your goal?

All-Or-Nothing Thinking: if you find yourself slipping up, are you tempted to give up completely, or do you consider slipups to be a normal part of the process?

Pessimism: do you consider backsliding a sign that you're not cut out to make these changes, or do you congratulate yourself when you catch the backsliding, knowing that redirecting yourself back toward your goal is a big step toward success?

Support: do you have people in your life making the achievement of goals more difficult for you, or easier?

Flexibility: do you stick with a plan that doesn't fit your lifestyle until you can't take it anymore, or are you able to shift gears and find a plan that does work for you?

Now is the perfect time to stop and take a look at what's working, what's not working, and why. Success may be as simple as recommitting yourself to trying again, or as involved as examining what's made change difficult so far, and seeing what you can do to overcome your obstacles. But now is the time to take these steps, envisioning your goal and keeping it in your mind for motivation.

The following links can help:

Goal-Setting, and Reaching Goals

Goals, Not Resolutions

Free E Course on Making Changes Stick

Overcoming Perfectionism

Positive Peer Pressure

So, how are you coming with your goals? What's working, and what's not? Share your tips, trials, and experiences here. And if you enjoyed this blog, I'd love it if you'd pass it along with the 'share' button!

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