Stress and Coping Skills

This post was written by a CSUCI student featuring artwork by Eve Zhong, a Medea Creek Middle School student.

How have you dealt with stress? What are your coping skills? What works for you and what would you suggest for others?

Once you reach that age of becoming an adult, there are things that can become stressful. For me it began once I graduated from high school. I didn't know what it would be like starting a new chapter in my life. When I began my education in college, it began to hit me that I am an adult and I have more responsibilities I have to take care of.

Throughout my years in college, I began stressing a lot and there were times I wanted to give up on my college education since I felt that at times it wasn't for me. My hair began to fall out, I wouldn’t sleep well and there were nights I would only sleep about 5 hours which wasn’t enough because the next day I would have to wake up early and my schedule would be the same every day. To add on, I feel that this has led to me having some mental health issues in a way because I usually tend to overthink too much and tend to worry at times.

Now that I am almost done with my career in college, it began to hit me again: what am I going to do after college? Am I going to work? Will I be attending grad school? How am I going to make money in order to support myself? etc. That worry and stress began to hit me again. But I told myself that I have to stop stressing so much and that I should take a year off from school, try new things like volunteering, going out more, and find a decent job that would help me in the long run and that way I won’t be stressing too much.

Some coping skills that I decided to try is going to the gym so that I can feel better about myself. But most importantly a coping skill that helps me is listening to music. Another one would be going on walks, and one that I am still trying to work on is getting some rest or at least taking a nap when I can. So far these are some of my coping strategies, but I am looking and searching for more to help me feel like myself again. Finally, what I suggest for others is to do something you would like to try or get back into something you enjoyed doing. The one coping skill that usually helps me the most and that I always suggest is to listen to your favorite music and sing or dance like nobody's watching.