Written by Zuba Mutesi
Your life. The pandemic. School. Midterms. This is the scope of life most of us are in at the moment, and I don’t know about you but I know this has been quite a stressful time. As we all are learning to navigate this pandemic and keep our heads above water, everyone has slowly come to build a system or systems on how to cope and deal with all the different stressors of our lives. This semester has somehow been lighter on me because I am kind of getting the hang of things, but that does not take away the fact that I do find myself quite stressed at times.
Recently I found myself mentally bogged down by the amount of work I have to do, what assignments and midterms are coming up and also remembering to take care of matters outside of my academic life. As the mental toll got higher, the stress levels grew and my ability to see that I needed a breather was slowly diminishing. I am quite an anxious person so when I reach points where I am being overwhelmed, it becomes almost impossible to find a point at which I tell myself to breathe and take a break.
Sometimes we feel like working in overdrive mode will help us get things done, and then after that we can catch a break. The reality of this is that we end up driving ourselves into deeper anxieties because even after we finish one stressful chapter, we must keep going. So, just as you prioritize getting things done, prioritize resting and giving your mind an opportunity to breathe. Your brain and mind drive everything we do, so if we do not give it the space to breathe and decompress, then things tend to fall apart.
So help yourself and take a break, your mind and body will thank you
