It's That Time of the Year Again! Stress Time
The definition of stress is the physical exhaustion of the body and mind. According to research, teen stress levels are increasingly higher than those of grown adult. As a teenager, you begin gaining more responsibilities and feeling the weight of life approaching you. When you add school to the mix, everything can seem even more overwhelming. About 40% of students affected by stress are irritable and 36% become anxious.
In the YES Prep Southeast community, stress runs on a calendar, as stress fluctuates each month. Most of the year - with the exception of August, April and May - is stressful for students, but anxiety especially builds as grades become more crucial and Common Assessments bombard students. Students get into the rhythm of school in September, and subsequently begin to feel some pressure. When October rolls around, students begin to relax because of upcoming breaks, but as the end of the semester looms, students, trying to end the semester strong and salvage their GPAs, feel overwhelmed again. Despite the end-of-semester pressure, January, February and March is the most intense - due to a lack of breaks, an overload of projects and impending tests. According to Ms. Daniels, Southeast Counselor, stress levels in this period are the highest of the whole year.
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In order to see the full effect of stress on the YES Prep Southeast students, we interviewed one student from each high school class. The freshman said the main stressors are her GPA and the way YES Prep “shoves college down your throat.” Sophomore Yasmine Chapa explained that her primary worry it to “have a high GPA,” but her doubts create more stress. “I’m always feeling like I'm not good enough so this makes me even more stressed because I can't focus on my work,” she told us. Junior Susanna Patino stated multiple deadlines and tests on the same day are exhausting because she never has enough time to study. Last but not least, our senior Lillian De La Rosa said, “Trying to find time for everything and just thinking about everything I need to do is probably what causes the most stress for me, personally.” When our interviewees were asked how the school could diminish stress, they responded with suggestions such as reasonable amounts of homework, fair due dates, free weekends, and more time to complete work in class, or in a study hall. All felt capable of being successful, if they were not so overwhelmed.
One tip to help reduce your anxiety is to notice when you are struggling to manage and ask for help. When you try to handle everything by yourself, you create more challenges for yourself and deteriorate your mind and body. Confiding in someone you trust will diminish the pressure on you, as s/he can help you with relieving your stress. Another option is to take time to be breathe and refocus. Sometimes you need to extract yourself from situations for a day or two, and focus in keeping your body healthy and mind sane. The most fundamental/imperative/important recommendation is to get organized and reduce procrastination. After all, we are our own enemies. We control how much we handle and put on ourselves. The more we do to reduce stress build up, the happier we will be in the long run. So the next time you are putting off an essay, you should think twice.