SHARE
READ & LEAVE A COMMENT
Filed in
4 Tips to Reduce Teen Stress
Being a teenager could be very stressful. Although most teenagers don’t have to worry about paying all of the bills or taking care of a family; there are many stressors that greatly impact teens. Your teen years are a roller-coaster ride full of trials and tribulations, highs and lows, and heartthrobs and heartbreaks. As teenagers, we try to remain calm, cool and collected on the surface while we internally are trying to find out who we are and what direction we want to go in. In our later teen years, reality starts to kick in and the stress of studying for your SAT’s and applying to college can be very overwhelming. It is so important to learn how to manage your stress while young so that these habits stick with us as we grow into adults. Although there is no magic potion to make the stress go away, there are certain things we can do to help us manage our stress level while being proactive at the same time.
Prioritize
Teenagers have a tendency to think that they are invincible and that they can do it all. Reality check, you can’t do it all and if you try to do everything you will not be able to work as efficiently as you could. It is so easy to get overwhelmed in high school by taking on to many activities as well as being a full time student. It is impossible to be the President of your class, play a school sport, study for your SATs, complete all of your Homework and have a social life. The key to managing your stress level is to prioritize what extra-circular activities are worth it and what can you simply do without. This also could mean that you have to prioritize your weekends. Instead of spending the entire day with friends, spend the morning taking SAT practice tests and meet your friends in the afternoon. Not only will this help you with your final SAT score but also it will help you reduce your stress level.
Prepare In Advance
It is always so stressful when you leave things for the last minute. Instead, organize your calendar and strategize what you can accomplish each day, which will help to even out your workload for the week. Your smartphone calendar can be your best friend. Be sure to add all of your appointments, tests, papers, midterms, and tutor sessions in your calendar so that you can easily keep track of your responsibilities. A helpful trick is to set alerts and reminders on your phone a few days before the due date so that you can stay ahead of the game and avoid last minute cramming. There are also many apps that can help you organize your school schedule and calendar like Class Buddy- Student Planner and CoursePro.
Stop Comparing Yourself To Others
By definition, competition is healthy. It keeps us on our toes and encourages us to strive to be our very best. Most teenagers compare themselves to another friend or compete to be better than the other, whether you compete on the soccer field, or comparing who gets better grades, or competing for the same boy or girl, or even competition over body image. It can be extremely stressful to constantly compare and compete against someone else. Although it is much easier said than done, it is much more rewarding to be supportive of your friends achievements in hopes that they will give you the same encouragement in return.
Do What Makes You Happy
Whether you love to dance, read, play sports, or build websites, finding something your passionate about can help you reduce your stress level. Take the time to do what you love and to also try new activities. We live in such a fast pace world where the time seems to fly by and we forget to stop and smell the roses. You deserve an allotted amount of time per day to do something that truly makes you happy. Take a breather, unplug from the world, get those endorphins pumping, and that will help your stress level down.
Although, the human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress becomes negative when a person faces frequent challenges without relief or relaxation between obstacles. Stress also becomes dangerous when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try and relieve their stress. Instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems. Be mindful of your stress and chose to take action in a healthy way instead of using drugs or alcohol.
