Seniors: What about stress?





High school life can be stressful dealing with dating, classes, thoughts of the future, money, parents and after school jobs. Being a high school student of any grade level can be stressful, but being a senior has its own additional stresses. How will I pay for college? What if I don’t get in? What will I do? Will my classes be too hard?

“Senior stress is very hard to deal with, but I run my stress off. Thinking about it all gives me a headache and takes a lot of time,” said Lena Grant.

March is a particularly hard month for seniors as they begin to check the mail daily for acceptance letters into the college of their choice. While some seniors already know where they will attend school, others are still anxiously awaiting word.

“Dealing with stress is hard. I get stressed and I end up either really angry or crying! But I eventually quit crying and deal with my problems, because it’s a lot better to do something about an issue than cry over it,” said Jessica Price.

While some seniors view their senior year as one to take all easy classes and basically take the year off, others take as many advanced placement, dual enrollment, and upper level classes as possible. They do this to improve their GPA and class rank since these classes are weighted and an A is worth five instead of four points.

“Being a senior is stressful. Not only do you have to worry about your classes you also have to worry about your next steps, college and career choices. We are making choices now that determine our future,” said Brianna Cochrane said. She knows about stress; last year she attended Governor’s School in Pulaski and also dealt with all of her classes here, all while participating in several sports

Students choose different ways to deal with stress. Some suggestions given by students on an online blogging site were: playing the drums, yelling really loud or recording thoughts in a journal.

Peer pressure is also a large chunk of a high school senior’s stress. Not only are students competitive about the colleges they will attend, but class rank, GPA, cars, jobs, and money are all issues about which seniors are competitive.

“Everyone deals with stress differently, and finding what would be best for you is a hard thing as an individual,” said school nurse Tracie Cook.

She said that although smoking, drinking, and eating junk food may make you feel good, it only lasts for the moment. Caffeine, nicotine, sugar, and alcohol pump your adrenaline, but when those little pumps wear off, you’re left feeling more drained and stressed than ever. “Relieving stress can range from relaxation methods, alternative behavior, or simply removing yourself from the situation,” Nurse Cook said.

Those are bad ways of dealing with stress. And although we aren’t college students yet according to Susan Fee the top 25 ways for dealing in a healthy with stress are…

1.

Exercise.

2.

Listen to your favorite music.

3.

Visit a pet store and play with a kitten or puppy.

4.

Read a book for pleasure.

5.

Take a shower.

6.

Rent or go to a movie.

7.

Call a friend.

8.

Go to a park.

9.

Visit a museum.

10.

Blow bubbles.

11.

Go to a ballgame and scream.

12.

Light some candles.

13.

Take a nap.

14.

Plan your spring break or summer vacation. Read the brochures often.

15.

Buy some playdough, balloons, or a Slinky.

16.

Take a yoga class.

17.

Go for a hike.

18.

Read the comics.

19.

Buy some packing bubble wrap and pop all the bubbles.

20.

Play your favorite video game.

21.

Buy a 64-count box of crayons and color.

22.

Get some old vacation posters. Put them up near your bed and daydream.

23.

Release upper body tension by rolling your shoulders forward, up, backward, and down. Repeat several times, and then reverse the roll.

24.

Go to a batting cage.

25.

Make chocolate chip cookies (or just eat the cookie dough).