Combating Stress | Kayla Fung

Combating Stress

by: Kayla Fung

Walking through the halls of CCA, one is bound to subconsciously eavesdrop on passing peers. From freshmen to seniors lies a common denominator in every conversation: stress. Seniors are frantically filling out a multitude of college applications. Juniors are preparing to wrestle the ACT and SAT tests. Sophomores are experiencing their first AP classes, most notably, AP World. Freshmen are attempting to adjust to the fast-paced academics at Canyon Crest. With all the responsibility and rigor of being a student at our high school, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the workload, and let’s not forget, it’s only our first month of school.

Recently, in our classes, our teachers have been practicing mindfulness and wellness with students. While it seems simple to engage in mindfulness when a teacher is leading and allotting time for stress relief, it’s exponentially harder to do on one’s own. It’s easy for us to pass up working out or relaxing with friends in exchange for homework and academic extracurriculars. The value of simply being has become underappreciated in the hustle and bustle of our busy world.

Now bear with me, I know you are probably thinking that what I’ve said is cheesy and I’m just being a broken record, repeating mindfulness powerpoints that you’ve seen in the past. But have you ever stopped to consider that maybe all the wellness practices, meditations, and talking about feelings (shocker!) is actually helpful? What I’m saying is, everyone has different kinds of activities that act as stress relievers. It doesn’t have to be all kumbaya and world peace, stress relievers can even be something as simple and seemingly useless as watching an episode of your favorite Netflix show.

Everyone has their own unique ways of combating stress, and we shouldn’t feel guilty for taking a mental break once in a while. We can’t really expect ourselves to be constantly on our game, grinding out essays and homework assignments every waking hour of the day. It’s important to find some sort of balance in your life and to allow yourself to chill out. Just think of it like this, if your car is going at maximum speeds for an extended amount of time, your trustworthy vehicle is going to wear down sooner or later (sorry if this metaphor alludes the non-driving underclassmen). In other words, if you are constantly going full steam ahead trying to be the perfect student, you are going to burnout. So kiddos, this is my advice as a senior: slow down, try to enjoy your time here, don’t stress out too much because it’ll be over before you know it.