Going to college is probably one of the biggest highlights in a 17 or 18-year-old’s life. You’re moving away from your family, starting a new life in a new environment, and you have all the freedom you want! Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Well, it is. However, like everything in life, there has to be a balance.
College isn’t all fun and games and parties all night. Like any academic institution, you have to study and work hard if you want to finish your course. Apart from studying, there’s also getting a part-time job to support yourself financially, and having to adjust to your new way of life, which can be stressful.
Every college student experiences stress. It’s completely normal. However, it would be best if you found ways to cope with that stress, or else it can affect your studies, relationships, and life in general. There are already so many stresses that come along with college. Don’t let finding a college apartment be an addition to that list! For more info, you can check for affordable approved housings for your chosen university online.
There are many ways to cope with stress, and some colleges even offer programs to help students deal with stress, but if you want to deal with it on your own, you may want to try writing.
Writing can be a great form of meditation. You get to collect your thoughts, write what you feel, and just feel like you’re talking to a friend who knows how to listen. Below are some reasons writing eases your stress while in college:
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Writing Helps You Express Your Emotions
Maybe you had such a rough day, and your emotions were all over the place, or maybe you were in a situation where you weren’t able to express your emotions freely. Keeping your feelings to yourself can be such a burden. So, in order to unload all these feelings and stress, you can put it on paper.
When you write what you feel, you become more aware of these feelings. It helps you have a better understanding of yourself and your emotions so that you can keep those emotions in check. Have you ever experienced keeping a secret for a long time, and when you tell somebody else, it feels like a weight has been lifted from your chest? Writing when you’re stressed also gives off the same effect.
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Writing Can Help You Overcome A Traumatic Memory
Trauma can occur when a stressful, unexpected event happens and causes you distress. When you happen to experience a traumatic event, you have to remind yourself that it’s completely okay to feel distressed. Your feelings are valid. You can cope by sticking with your daily routines, talking to friends and family, taking good care of yourself, and writing.
A piece of paper or a journal in your dorm is like a friend that’s just waiting for you to open up. You don’t have to write about your experience immediately after it happened—you can’t force yourself. Write about it when you’re ready. That way, the experience doesn’t stay in your mind forever, and you’re slowly releasing it on to that piece of paper.
Writing may not always be enough to ease all types of trauma, so when it doesn’t help, seek professional help.
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Writing Helps You Remember Better Days
Remember that one time that a fellow student helped you when you needed it? Or that time you got an excellent rating on one of your essays? If you don’t, you can always look back on the old entries on your journal and reminisce about the good old days. Consider it a throwback to relive and remember.
Writing and reading about previous events that bring positivity is a great way to ease your stress. It can help serve as a reminder that you’re not always going to be stressed, and that you’re bound to have other better days ahead. So, keep writing so that you’ll have more memories to look back to!
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Writing Helps Keep Track Of Your Progress
You’re always going to have ups and downs, not only in college but also in life. So, whether you’re stressed or are way up high in cloud nine, take a moment to write down what happened and what you’re feeling. Doing this helps you keep track of all the events—good or bad—in your life.
When you write about all the positives and negatives that happened, you can also check and evaluate how you responded to each situation. These bits and pieces of ‘reports’ can then serve as a guide for you on what you can do better next time. You can see how much you’ve grown when you look back and see how different you coped with stress during a certain period.
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Writing Can Momentarily Help You Escape Reality
One way to ease your stress is by converting it into creative fuel. Sometimes, all the pressures of college can be overwhelming that you just feel like running away from it all. Writing can help you do that.
Whether it’s writing about your dreams and fantasies or a fictional short story, you can find yourself getting lost in the moment when you’re writing. You can even feel as if you’re a part of what you write. Be it as your own hero, a knight in shining armor, or even a ruler of a kingdom, you’re bound to ease your stress and take a break from reality when you write.
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Writing Gives You A Moment Of Self-Reflection
It’s normal to feel so many negative things when you’re stressed, but it’s also important that you learn to cope with it. Too many negativities can drain you, after all. So, you have to combat those negativities and make them go away. What better way to fight the negatives than with its exact opposite?
Writing positive things can help you feel more positive, too! You can try writing a mantra repeatedly to help convince yourself that you’re going for more positivity in life. Another technique you can try is to take the time to reflect and remember everything that you have. Yes, you are in college, and it can get so stressful and frustrating, but try to reflect and write about the following:
- What are you grateful for?
- When was the last time you were happy?
- What makes you happy?
- What are the things you like about yourself?
- Did you take the time to practice self-care today?
Having time to write and reflect on yourself helps make you feel better when you’re stressed. You’re reminded that you have so many things to be grateful for and that the stress is there, but only momentarily.
Final Thoughts
College life can be stressful. You have to worry about your new dorm, a part-time job, having to get along with a new set of peers, and so much more! Stress is a normal thing that people experience, and you must learn to cope with it in order for you to have an enjoyable college life. So, the next time you feel stressed out, get your pen and paper—or notebook—and start writing!