Stress is a monster that leaves no one. And students are the easiest targets – with the ever increasing pressure to do well in school, entrance exams, extra-curricular activities, and more. On top of it, the last two years have been even more tiresome with the absence of offline classes and confusion on syllabus, exams et al. So how can you beat this stress monster? This is how:
- Mediate and exercise – Doing these even for short amount of time can be extremely helpful.
- Go out and breathe in the fresh air – Take out at least 15-20 minutes from your busy schedule to do nothing except roam around outside (safely!)
- Surround yourself with positive people, and cut out toxic influence – Please ignore the uncles and aunties who keep asking about your “future plans” and “marks kitne aaye“.
- Have a timetable – Planning eliminates the uncertainty in your schedule. When one is stressed out, chaos leads to more confusion, and more stress.
- Most important of all, understand that the goal of education is to learn, and not just get high marks. Enjoy as you study, and half your battles are won.
- Sleep for at least 8-9 hours.
- Eat healthy food.
It is equally important for the adults and peers in the lives of stressed out students to take care. A little help goes a long way in making the life of a student better – Support, encouragement, positive feedback, and reinforcing your trust on them – are the key ingredients of your actions to help out students.
With board exams around the corner, students are stressed out more than ever.
On one hand it is true that a good education and its role in one’s life is undeniably important. However on the other hand it is apt to remind that the process of learning is supposed to be enjoyable. The goal of exams is to assess oneself, to know where one’s strengths and weaknesses lie. The competition is with the self, and not the others.
All said and done, at the end of the day, remember that it is important to laugh and breathe freely. Take time for yourself. Learn because learning makes you a better person, and not because it makes you better than your peers.
If you are feeling stressed out over exams or any other reason, please do reach out to professionals. You are important, and will always remain so.