New students on campus must meet and get along with new roommates and hallmates, adjust to living away from home, and adjust to a new environment. During the sophomore and junior years, students often must balance an increasingly rigorous academic schedule with their increased involvement in extracurricular activities. Taking a step back and looking at your life in order to determine what is causing stress is often helpful. Once a cause has been identified, strategies can be considered and applied to deal with stressful situations. The next step may be to use some of the simple and quick strategies listed below to help manage and take control of a stressful situation, or the use of a more complex solution such as time management.
Time is a precious commodity in our society and our race with the clock often results in stress.
One of the ways to reduce stress is through managing one s time. Counseling Services staff may suggest that students use a calendar or planner to list everything that needs to be done each day and to prioritize each task. We hope this information serves as a resource in understanding and helping your family member deal with the stresses in his or her life. We also hope that you will use these suggestions to reduce your stress during your son s or daughter s college years. As you take in a slow, deep breath, imagine collecting all the tensions in your feet and legs, breathing them into your lungs, and expelling them as you exhale.