Student Health: let go of stress

In this time of huge international stress, it’s easy to forget that interpersonal crises are happening just as often as the terrorist alerts are raised. And while it’s good to race off to protests against the war on terror and to speak out for what you believe in, if you let your personal stress get to you then every action you try to take to change the big picture will be less effective. Learn how to keep everyday relationships with friends and significant others from escalating into endless battles, and save yourself the anguish and annoyance of having to spend your food budget on Kleenex.
Stress and anger can help to cause poor health, and therefore are no help at all in the already-stressful life of a student. So then the question becomes how to create a low-stress emotional environment, even when it’s easy to lose your head. There are some basic rules that can help keep life low-key and low-stress, even during finals week.
First off, make sure you eat and sleep enough. It sounds stupid, but the easiest way to become grouchy is by being hungry or tired and ready to snap. And while being completely well fed or getting a full night’s sleep may be difficult sometimes, if you try overall to keep to a regular schedule you should do better in general at keeping your temper within its bounds. For questions regarding nutrition, contact the Campus Nutritionist, Joan Boettcher (Joan.Boettcher@oberlin.edu). If you have time, exercise is a good stress reliever as well, and Phillips is open until 10 p.m.. Take out the bad test grade or the annoying habit your roommate has on the treadmill, and it won’t be able to fester into a fight with your best friend.
Secondly, don’t go to bed angry. It’s not worth it, and can lead to grudges that last a lot longer than they should. Try to resolve issues immediately, and without storming out of the room. If you feel the situation and discussion is getting out of hand, take a breather, but make sure to come back the same day with a clearer and calmer head to discuss some more. You don’t want to stew and make the issue bigger than it already is. Remember that impassioned arguments rarely lead to solutions, because the emotions overtake any kind of logical thinking that could find a compromise. For an impartial mediator, try contacting an Ombudsman (ombuds@oberlin.edu). If you let yourself get lost in your side of the conflict, you may ignore potential solutions in favor of bringing up old hatchets that should really be left alone.
Which brings us to the third point. Let the past remain in the past. Anything that happened six months ago is old business and cannot be brought up again. Just consider it off limits. After all, six months can bring about a significant change in a person, and if you ignore the chance that that change exists, you may simply ignore or be unable to see that this is a fault that has been corrected. If you push an old issue, you risk bringing up a million complicating factors.
Fourthly, deal with those complicating factors one by one. Each time you have a small annoyance, deal with it. Avoiding the small things only puts them into a pressure cooker where they will build and explode eventually into a monster argument. If you find yourself in one of these arguments, take at least ten minutes to go out and walk around and think. Get some crying done with. Think about what you really want out of this situation in the long term, not just about revenge or for that particular day. Make sure you keep the big picture in view and don’t get lost in the tiny details of that particular fight.
There is a story about a man who reached Saint Peter’s gates only to realize that the only thing he could honestly change about the world was himself. While the outside world may hold a large portion of your attention as an Oberlin College student, don’t forget that the one person on whom you’ll have the greatest effect is yourself. While you may feel frustrated in your attempts to change the world, remember that by changing yourself, you have already changed one small part of the world, and thereby achieved your goal. Remember that you can shoot for the moon, but make sure to build a rocket first. Hang in there, OC students! If you have questions concerning health and wellness, please feel free to contact either Student Health (x8180) or the Counseling Center (x8470).

—Emily Roberts
College junior