“The most stressful thing about school is doing all the homework on time,” said sophomore Anna Piazza. Photo provided by: Anna Piazza.
By Eric Burch
Plymouth High School students discuss what stresses them out, what they do when they are stressed, and give advice on what other students could do.
Homework, sports, social life, and relationships are just a few examples of what could be on students’ minds. Just as life has its ups, it also has its downs; when the situation gets rough, students should find a healthy way of coping with things. “Don’t miss the sunshine today by worrying about the rain tomorrow,” said sophomore Anna Piazza. Life is a roller coaster, and just as one can be glad with the good times, one should also be prepared for the rough times.
Stress could be a result of one or many things. Freshman Elizabeth Gallardo said she believes “having too much to do with so little time,” is a stressor. “If you get a bad grade or something then you end up getting stressed,” said freshman Jake Dewar. He then said, “I think that stress has a lot to do with school and social life.” While Dewar thinks that school and social life are two major contributors to stress, freshman Katelyn Berg thinks that one of the benefactors is the “constant strive to be perfect.” She said she is attempting to make a change, and also is trying to stop stressing over too many things.
Something that students dedicate a great big chunk of the day is school. It is the building block of the future. Elementary school, junior high, then high school is the order that students normally go through to get into college. While a student is in classes for approximately twelve years of his or her life, things can get stressful if one allows life to get him/her down. “Now that we have technology, I feel like we are given so [many] more projects and homework adding to the stress of our already busy filled lives!” said junior Breanna Morrow. Sophomore Nathan Williams said he can relate to the projects resulting in stress. He also said, “I don’t think tests are that hard; it’s the projects.” School, projects, and also prom are things that certain students have been worrying about. Senior Tori Godwin said, “[…] well, that depends on the person. For me personally, it is planning activities for my two play school kids while trying to get my other homework done. It’s also stressful because I’m trying to plan other things such as prom and college payments along with trying to have a social life and I tend to think about it at school. There are a lot of other aspects to stress due to school, but it is different for each person. Some may think friends are the stressful part, while others may think studying and homework is stressful. It depends on each situation.” Godwin said that she believes that she is easily stressed compared to others.
Everyone lives a different life, and so each person goes through different experiences. Sophomore Hope Banghart said she thinks the most stressful things in the world are sickness and disease. She handles stress because, “my stress affects me as much as I let it. I can choose to let it ruin my day and possibly affect my sleeping and eating habits, or I can choose to be patient and understanding. Everyone has an off day once in awhile. I choose to be patient and kind to those who are not doing well.” She went on to express how she thinks others deal with stressful situations. “Most people dwell on their stress, only making it worse,” she said. Piazza has a similar coping way. “Most of the time I just think about how I can cope with the change, and I’ll talk to someone about it and pray, too. Listening to music also lets me relax for a little bit,” said Piazza. The experiences that people go through can change their own stress level from day to day.
Sophomore Guadalupe Ortiz said she does show signs of stress. “Yes. My hands start to shake, or sweat, and my feet start shaking too,” she said. When one get nervous or stressed, the brain sends waves activating the sympathetic nervous system. Berg said that her “facial expression, patience and the tone that I talk about sometimes. My patience is very short and limited when I am stressed.” Certain types of stress signs can be fingernail biting, tapping a pencil, and other habits.
Because each student goes through different situations, it just goes to show how people deal differently with stress, what they get stressed about, and how they would like to deal with things. Piazza said, “I’m not really sure what the majority of people do, but some people have to work it off physically by working out, other people talk it out or pray[…]. It’s really sad how stress can harm us so much.”