It’s come to my attention there is a certain word being thrown around campus, and that word is the infamous “stress.”

Stress seems to be a common enemy to many of us. I believe it’s the reason for many of us being in a melancholy state, the reason why it’s hard to get out of bed, the reason why we may question if it’s all worth it and with so much going on, it’s hard not to be this way.

Midterms will soon be upon us. Assignments have to be written and turned in, and lots of coffee will be consumed from the all-nighters a lot of us will have to pull.

And on top of it all of this, we still have a responsibility to arrive to work on time.

Stress is not just upon the students but upon the teachers as well.

For teachers, this is a time where they not only have to worry about trying to organize material, but they also have to make tests, grade tests, grade papers, turn in grades by the assigned deadline and help as many students as they can with issues they might be having with their assignments.

Recommendations have to be written, they have meetings and, of course, many teachers have families they have to take care of.

So, stress is an enemy that doesn’t discriminate.

The question is: how do we deal with it? Is there a way it can be relieved?

Some might say no, but I say yes.

Stress can be relieved by many simple methods.

Here are three methods I use to relieve stress, and they do help me:

1. I go down to the bayou and sit with my iPod and listen to music.
2. I lock the door to my room, shut off the lights and watch a good movie.
3. I talk to one of my very good friends or to my mom and dad.

Now, I do realize these methods don’t work for everyone. I’m only giving out options to help those who have no idea what to do.

Some people have other ways of relieving stress, and that’s great. The point is to relieve it.

Stress can take a toll on us, and if we let it, it will never let go.

It can turn us into the total opposite of who we are as a person.

I, myself, am a victim of it, and it tries to consume me everyday, but I do my best never to allow it.

Now, saying this doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes lose the battle, but I can say my wins are far greater than my losses.

So to the teachers and students: Please don’t let stress consume you.

Don’t let it turn you from a positive person into a negative person that no one wants to converse with or be in the same room with.

Don’t let it push your family and friends away, or make you lose focus on what’s important.

Don’t let it deter you, and most of all, don’t let it depress you to a point that you can’t get out of bed in the morning.

I know it’s hard to not let it do the problems I listed above, but try.

It’s better to try rather than not try because at the end of the day, stress is not worth losing so much of our lives over.