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MEGA - Studying, Exams, Stress, and coping with them

I took some time off after my first 2 years of undergrad and def. don't regret it. Going back 'later on' is almost better, in my opinion. I feel like those who go to college right away don't allow themselves the thinking time necessary to really figure out exactly what they want to do (this does NOT apply to all people - so....no one take that personally). My ex went back to school almost a decade after getting her BA and now she's working AT the University.

You'll be just fine ! Don't worry about it :)
 
coping with stress at school without drugs.

Ok, Stress has played a huge part in my drug addiction. I'm trying to do the right thing and not do AS many drugs, or stay away from the hard shit (like heroin,coke,meth..etc..) I dont drink either, so have to find other ways to deal with stress.

The stress mostly comes from being rushed, or not finding a parking spot, or having a shit ton of homework, the list goes on!

Anyways, The college I'm at doesn't really have anything fun to do.. like not a real nice campus.. It's a ghetto ass community college in the hood. and the only reason i'm going there is.. not because it's an all black school.. I know the teachers there want to see the students move from the hood, and start their careers anywhere but here.

SO even though being the only white kid in the class, maybe I can get in on this, and move from the hood...

So if anyone has any stress relieving ideas?? please let me know.. :]
thanks
 
try this:

I breath in and calm my body.
I breath out and smile.
I breath in and recognize this moment.
I breath out, this is a beautiful moment.
repeat

Hi D's!!!!
 
Hi D, I have the same problem as you (as I'm sure do many others on this board).

I frequently manage a 20 credit load (biochem) per semester. I always start out clean and on top of things, but as the weeks drag on I can't seem to keep away from downers and excessive amounts of herb. This ALWAYS makes things worse, but rationalization if the most devious part of drug abuse :/

+2 for time management. I've always been a good student but this is a lesson I've learned all too late. I find myself motivated and reassured if I keep a fastidious daily schedule taped to my wall. I tend not to stress as much if I can see it all in front of me. It doesn't mean you have to stick to it strictly, cause hey, life happens. But if you have it all planned out, it's much easier to accommodate leeway and unexpected responsibilities. Do it, even though it might take getting use to.

I also find that I'm less tired during the day if I exercise before classes. I like lifting, but riding a bike to classes is also good light exercise depending on how far away from campus you live. Might seem a little contradictory, but it lowers stress and keeps the good vibrations going so that I don't have to resort to powdered chemical happiness.

School starts in a week for me. This year is going to be tough. Good luck to us both.
 
thanks everyone! i thought i was the only one that went through school related stress.. because all the students at the school i'm at look serously too happy. lol
thats cool trans that u can disipline urself like that, every time i tried setting strict rules for myself id never fallow through. mostly because i get over whelmed of failing, or tell myself that i'm already a failure.
i'm doing better now.. i'm actully using a student planner this semmester lol, and so far have wrote all homework assignments in it, and upcoming quiz, and test dates. I also look at it when i get home lol, so thats a big step up for me :).
wish the school here had some stuff like that, just a ghetto ass community college in the hood. theres no where safe to ride your bike around here, you either have to worry about being hit by a car, being robbed, or being part of some racial attack. (blacks hate whites here). even tho i'm the only whity in my class, so far i havn't had any problems. maybe because we are all taking the lowwww math and english class, and none of us is any better then the other lol.

i live in a very stressful enviornment also, theres always something going on here (live in a halfway house), so its really depressing being here during the day. luckly i have a set of wheels now, so i drive around n shit.
when the day gets bad enough theres a cool place to go rock climbing not really far from here.
other then that, nothing for real. besides what mehm mentioned above, breathing tequniques., which only go so far with me because im a chronic cigarette smoker.

i really need a girlfriend or something lol,
 
every time i tried setting strict rules for myself id never fallow through. mostly because i get over whelmed of failing, or tell myself that i'm already a failure.
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same with me; I usually don't follow through either. But every time I try I get a little better at it. It's good practice even if it collapses after a while.

Girlfriends usually complicate things unless you're reallllly lucky......but the only difference between being alone and being lonely is that the latter is inside your head.

When I don't feel like dealing with shit I just lose myself in the woods...I don't know if you meant rock climbing indoors or outdoors. But when you're deep in the sticks there's no difference between now and 1000 years from now or 1000 years ago. It's comforting to me because it puts things in perspective. People today get hung up on really petty, cursory shit. I try to remind myself to relax, cause nothing is as big a deal as it seems, and no one makes it out alive anyway.

I grew up in a fucking hick little town. I'm not going to pretend it was really ghetto or dangerous, but the bar was set LOW. I don't want to stay there; that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I don't think I'm better than the people who live there, I just think I've had enough. Maybe you've had enough too.
 
were living on a planet thats weird thats why i live on my OWN rules. Bad is good and good is bad if you understand flip them around

im not sure if that made any since but try and find out the meaning
 
i hate when youre sitting in class and your lost so you look around at everyone faces and notice they all seem to understand whats going on.

but really if u ask them after class most of them have no fucking clue what was just said to them lol
 
sssssssssss said:
i hate when youre sitting in class and your lost so you look around at everyone faces and notice they all seem to understand whats going on.

but really if u ask them after class most of them have no fucking clue what was just said to them lol
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This is so true. I always feel like everyone else has a much better grasp of things than I do...but it almost always turns out that they don't. Or if they do it's by a marginal amount and not the leap and bound that it seems. Of course there are exceptions (but fuck those people anyway :D).

I think that intelligent people generally tend to exaggerate their own imperfections in the mind's eye.
 
sssssssssss said:
good way of telling urself u can do it
but no need to be arrogant about it tho
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hehehehehehe.....

I think if you can get into a pattern of positive behavior the stress will fade a bit..it takes work to begin to replace bad habits with good- but if you can get the ball rolling it will become easier and easier..one helpful little nugget i picked up at NA was the idea that our decisions/behaviors are like dominoes...one bad one will create a greater likely hood of another bad one, then another..An example: I got fucked up last night..sooo I'm tired this morning, Im less likely to go work out before class and i might be feeling shitty about myself for getting fucked up which; in turn could encourage me to use to relieve that feeling and so and so on. But if you start changing your behaviours you will notice that doing the healthy thing becomes a little bit easier each day...just my personal experience good luck
 
sssssssssss said:
good way of telling urself u can do it
but no need to be arrogant about it tho
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Heh, yeah. I see on reflection how my post sounds arrogant. But I meant it more as a compliment to you guys than a compliment to myself - I really do think smarter people tend to often lack confidence (as D and you have related in your posts). I think Bertrand Russell said that the problem with the world is that the smartest people are always questioning themselves and the ignorant are cocksure.

I take some tough classes with people who are certainly smarter than I am. I often put myself down and become discouraged. At first I thought this was a positive trait because I was afraid of being accused of arrogance...of being the insufferable know-it-all. I've since come to realize that's a bullshit defeatist way of thinking. There's no shame in being smart and on-top of things, and it doesn't mean you have to be insufferable or can't be an interesting well-rounded person. I was standing in my own way by thinking that.

I shouldn't have said "fuck those people anyway". I meant it in a kidding way, but yeah, it doesn't read well.
 
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Transcendence said:
Heh, yeah. I see on reflection how my post sounds arrogant. But I meant it more as a compliment to you guys than a compliment to myself - I really do think smarter people tend to often lack confidence (as D and you have related in your posts). I think Bertrand Russell said that the problem with the world is that the smartest people are always questioning themselves and the ignorant are cocksure.

I take some tough classes with people who are certainly smarter than I am. I often put myself down and become discouraged. At first I thought this was a positive trait because I was afraid of being accused of arrogance...of being the insufferable know-it-all. I've since come to realize that's a bullshit defeatist way of thinking. There's no shame in being smart and on-top of things, and it doesn't mean you have to be insufferable or can't be an interesting well-rounded person. I was standing in my own way by thinking that.

I shouldn't have said "fuck those people anyway". I meant it in a kidding way, but yeah, it doesn't read well.
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i wasnt meaning to call you arrogant, i was just saying in general lol sorry
i noticed it when i used to be cocky about my intellegence, b/c i think i figured if everyone thought i was then i was.
 
eat well, sleep well, regular exercise, keep on yop of readings/studying/assignments, party occasionally (but not too hard or too frequently), stay social. This is whats worked for me.
 
Best thing I can say is

As someone who struggles with a lot of anxiety is that drugs really only mask problems. In the long run, "using" doesn't make you feel better. My 5 steps to living a healthy life (in order of perceived importance): 1.Diet (Eat mostly fruits and vegetables and very little sugar or red meat),2.Sleep (at least 7-9 hours every night) ,3.Exercise (I run 6 days a week),4.Supplements (Anxiety is largely a chemical thing), 5.Meditation/Breathing/keeping perspective. Just thought I'd put in what has been working for me.
 
*Good time management.

*Take up yoga) I recommend ashtanga, taught by someone who doesn't teach it as a way of gaining strength and flexibility, but someone who teaches it more as a way of training your mind)...then move onto meditation from there, when you've calmed down a bit and can actually fathom sitting down and letting all your thoughts bubble up and dissipate.

*A healthy diet is absolutely KEY, and one of the hardest things to change from my experience, without the right outside influence.

*Think about the effects and side effects of all the drugs you take into your body, and adjust accordingly.

* work now, play later attitude.
 
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