How to Manage Stress in College

Even after three years at LSU, I still find myself feeling very overwhelmed and stressed about school and/or my personal life. Whenever I find myself in these situations, I practice a few techniques I have learned over the years. Managing stress in college is vital to your success. 

While reading this, please keep in mind that everyone is different and will handle manage stress differently. Therefore, my methods might not work for you but it could give you an idea of what will! 
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College students are known for procrastinating and with everything else you have going on besides school, it is easy to leave schoolwork for the last minute. Save yourself the ultimate stress and DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. Once you are in college, you could find yourself taking twelve to eighteen credit hours a semester. This means quizzes, assignments, projects and exams can pile up quickly and you may find they fall on the same week. 
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Believe me when I tell you procrastinating is not worth the amount of stress and lack of sleep it will cause you. The best way to avoid procrastinating and getting your school work done in time is by simply planning ahead. 
 
A perfect example in my life just happens to be this week. I have an assignment due on Wednesday, a quiz on Thursday and an exam on Friday. I make a plan to get the easiest one out the way first and work my way up to the hardest one. In order to do this, I create a false due date in my head by telling myself that everything is due the day before the teacher’s due date. This allows me to get a heads start on my work, which in turn lower my stress. Even if I do not completely finish the task on the same day, I have some time before the actual due date to complete my work. So for this week, I will start and try to finish my assignment on a Monday, start studying for my quiz on Tuesday and start reviewing my exam material on Wednesday. By working on my easiest assignment early on, it gives me more time to be prepared for the most important assignment: the exam on Friday. 

Managing stress is all about priorities! You will notice your priorities changing throughout your college years (mine definitely did!). It is all about being able to balance everything and being happy with the results at the end of the day. If you prioritize going out (to Tigerland) or binge watch a show on Netflix over studying, you will quickly find out that your grade on that quiz for your easy class was not as good as you thought it would be. If you had put in the time to review your materials and waited to go out after your quiz, you might have gotten a better score. 

Oh, and if you think and all-nighter will help, trust me it does not. Sleep is the one thing that will keep you sane throughout college. Not only is this about priorities but simply about time management. 

Most importantly, I use my weekends to decompress from the previous week and relax with friends and family. I start planning for a busy week on a Sunday afternoon to get ready for the week ahead. For my busy schedule this week, I made sure to start and finish this blog a few days before its due, and that alone has already made me feel less stressed. I am in control of my stress and are getting the results I want by following these tactics and so will you! 
 
- Camille Amadeo
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