Pressure. I feel it. Just about every day, I feel the pressure to be better than the day before, and don’t forget the stress.

Being an adult is stressful enough; so why did I decide to torture myself with college? I try to stay positive and tell myself “It will all be worth it in the end.” I know I’m right but still, I crack under the stress sometimes. We all have.

College is supposed to be the best time of our lives because it starts new chapters and ends the old. So why do I literally stress myself sick over it? Can it be helped?

College is meant to be tough and challenging. If it were easy, we’d all have degrees.

If I’m not in class, I’m working on something for a class. I’m amazed how people have a social life.

Besides stress, there is the fear of failure. Will I ever get a career with this degree? Most days it sure doesn’t look like it. Almost everything I hear on the news is negative in terms of my future.

So what’s a college student to do? I don’t want to be naïve and think that everything will turn out great, but I shouldn’t be Debbie Downer either.

Sure, I could mope around, complaining about how I hardly see my friends, how I barely have time to have time and how most days I have so much to do that I decide to take a nap instead.

I quote Sweet Brown when I say, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

This semester I decided to take some fun classes and I recommend you do the same. My art and dance class help relieve my stress. It may be for only a short period of time but in those hours I spend working on my clay sculpture or trying to master the tree pose, I forget everything around me.

It’s very hard for me to have all my focus on one thing. My yoga and Pilates class relaxed me so much that I fell asleep once. I’ve never been stressed one moment and completely relaxed the next like I have when I’m in there.

So dance or art isn’t your thing. Trust me, it isn’t mine either. I’m falling all over the place like I have rubber legs. And half the time I’m covered in clay. But I’m distracted from the stress I once had.

Many events are held on our campus almost everyday. And, contrary to popular belief, many are actually quite entertaining.

Another way to get a break from the stress is to treat yourself. Every week, go get some ice cream or go rent a movie or heck, do both. You deserve it after all; you are a college student. That’s something to be proud of.

Try to save a couple of dollars a week or every day, and by the end of the month, treat yourself to something nice. It may not be much, but you’ll appreciate it.

We have to relieve stress somehow. Whatever you have to do to release it, do it. Just don’t hurt anyone, please. Go for a run or take a bath. The choices are unlimited.

It’s important to give yourself a break once in a while before life breaks you. A great Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

I try to live by that quote by living life to its fullest, but that’s hard to do in college. We all need to enjoy the little things. Be happy and enjoy the moment.

Those moments are few and far between, but they make life worth living. College isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning to something new. Cherish what you have now, it may not be much, but it’s something.