I really want to keep up with my good grades, but I also don't want to be stressed all the time.What can I do in order to still like studying, but also not get stressed and cry my feelings out all the time?
When we’re stressed it releases a hormone called Cortisone which is primarily responsible for our ‘flight or fight’ response to things. The problem is, we’re not designed to feel stress as much as we inevitably do in our modern society. We know that stress in the short term isn’t much fun and affects everything from your emotions, behaviour and short-term health. We also know that over long periods of time, it can seriously cause complications with your long-term health, so it’s super important we all have our own toolkits for dealing stress.
In a way, crying helps release some of the negative emotions building up inside, but there are also other things you could be doing in order to reduce your stress and prevent it from getting that bad you end up in tears (think we’ve all been there tbh).
Have you ever been doing something you’ve enjoyed that much you literally lose track of time? It actually has a scientific term - it’s called your ‘flow’. When you’re in your flow, the idea is your mind can’t focus on anything other than the thing you’re doing that makes you so happy. We all have different things that help us find our flow - some people work out, game, design, build things, draw, honestly there’s an unlimited amount of things you could try. Find the thing that makes you feel the flow and make sure you’re building in time to do it - even if it’s half an hour a day, give yourself the space to do it and turn off all distractions.
Active exercise, like running, swimming and boxing are also amazing ways of reducing the cortisol pumping around your body and subsequently squashing down your stress. Exercise also releases feel good hormones.Â
I find that when I’m stressed, writing good old lists always helps. Also for some reason, I’ll just have an overwhelming desire to tidy my room and sort out my cupboards. Different things work for different people.
If you want to learn more about stress, mental health and dealing with your emotions, chapter 4 in FEARLESS is your MVP.Â