Don’t Let School Bring You Down! Tips on Managing Stress and Mental Health

In movies like Mean Girls and The DUFF, high school is portrayed as a superficial place but in reality, it isn’t. Instead of having schoolmates focus on rumors and juicy gossip, most of the high school students I know are preoccupied with their studies. Knowing how to harmonize school and a personal life is an essential skill that a lot of students don’t have.

The majority of people I meet in high school are walking down the math and science career route, which is the biggest challenge I’ve seen so far. These courses are usually filled with back-to-back tests, quizzes, and lab experiments.

Most of the time, juggling math and science is impossible since time is limited and teachers make multiple assignments due on the same day. Although I am not taking any math and science courses, I can understand how stressful school can be since I’ve seen close friends of mine breakdown due to intense stress and anxiety.

After interviewing some students from my school, I’ve gathered information on how they cope with stress and some methods they find helpful when taking care of their mental health.

Have Someone to Confide In

Just like everything in life, every door comes with an entrance and an exit. Having stress enter your system without an outlet will eventually make you breakdown one day. Talking to someone will let you channel that built-up stress and release it. Talk to a family member or a friend about these problems. If you have personal reasons you can’t talk to these people, don’t feel afraid to talk to your guidance counselor.

Guidance counsellors exist to help students, not to make fun of them. These people were once students as well – they might have gone through the same situation.

They have more knowledge and experience, so their advice might be better than what you can come up with on your own.

Make Sure to Be Organized and DON’T Procrastinate!

The number one reason why students stress out in the first place is because they are unorganized. Like I said previously, deadlines can be tight which is why it’s better to time manage and complete assignments early. I understand how easy it is to procrastinate since I’m a frequent victim as well. It’s impossible to transform a bad habit into a good habit overnight but that’s why it is important to take baby steps.

Try setting a personal deadline before the actual assignment is due. Think about this tactic as setting an alarm to wake up. Some people need several alarms in order to get out of bed while others only need one.

Setting a personal deadline for your assignment works the same way. They first alarm is there to make you realize that it’s time to start working. Even if you don’t complete the assignment in time for your personal deadline, don’t beat yourself up over it. There’s always a second alarm placed as a safety net. This way, there is no need to start from scratch and most of the work is finished before the actual deadline.

If It’s Too Much to Handle, Don’t Be Afraid to Talk to the Teacher

If juggling the workload is still too much to handle, don’t forget to ask the teacher for extra help or an extension. A lot of my friends ignore this option because they are shy. If you’re too scared to ask in person, try asking for an extension via email. Some teachers can be strict and won’t allow exceptions but not all teachers are the same. You won’t know what type of teacher they are if you don’t talk to them. The only thing that should be considered before using this method is to give the teacher a heads up.

Teachers are people too! They won’t appreciate a last minute email the day before the assignment is due. Be considerate by telling them a day or two in advance.

If you show consideration towards them, they will most likely show consideration back to you and will give you that extension.

Hopefully after reading this, you have a better understanding of how students can evaluate mental health and how to tackle stress. Don’t let school bring you down! Learn to be the one in control and able to balance school and a personal life without pressure.