Dealing with Study and Work Stress

Whether you are a full-time student, a full-time worker, or a combination of both sides the way I do, you can feel stressed. Unattended stress could lead to burnout, which affects your entire mental health. How can you survive and deal with study and work stress?

Many think that being productive means studying or working 24/7, but that is not the case. Do you want to know how to deal with study and work stress while staying productive? If so, do not forget to like ❤️👍 this post and subscribe 🔔 It will help the channel grow! Also, please feel free to share this link with anyone who is also struggling with stress, too! ✍️

Without further ado, let's dive into the tips!

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We are not robots; hence, we must take a break every once in a while to cope with our life. As a full-time L&D employee and a full-time master's student, I understand how all of the deadlines can put a tremendous amount of stress on one's nerves. Not to add that when a family member or oneself becomes unwell, or when there are bills to pay and obligations to meet, managing studies and job could be one hell of a ride!

To deal effectively with study and work stress, we need to ask ourselves these three essential questions. What are they, and how do we use them to de-stress? Let us go through them one by one!

"What is Our Life Focus?"

We only have 24 hours each day, and we need to “make sure of the more important things.”​ However, ambition towards earning a particular achievement at school or promotion at work might make us blind or distract us from what is really important - our spiritual, mental, and physical health, followed by our bond with family and true friends we have (JW, 2020). That is why we need to take time to reconsider what our life focus is.

Be humble, set reasonable goals, and recognize our own and others' limitations. Try tracking your time usage for a week and build up a sensible schedule for the upcoming week based on it (JW, 2020). You can check my previous post about making a well-prepared schedule that is manageable and doable. When we make our priorities straight, we will feel less stressed and motivated to accomplish more success!

"How Much Energy Do We Have?"

When you are sick, you have less energy than when you are fit. When it is the weekend, you might have more free time than weekdays. You are the one who knows your schedule, so manage your energy well around them! Prioritize your energy to do the ones with more urgency or with higher difficulty.

Each person was born with a different body chronotype, so try to understand what chronotype you have and work around your characteristic! You can refer to one of my post to know more about body chronotype and how to make a schedule based on each chronotype! Furthermore, when managing energy, you need to do priority based separation, make power recognition, and strive for a positive productivuty. Check out my other post to learn more about managing your time and energy well!

"Who Are the People in Our Inner Circle?"

Do you know that stress is contagious? If you spend time with stressed people, you will be stressed, too. For example, when you befriend extremely workaholic people, you will be influenced to make your job your one and only life goal, even if that means having no time for yourself or your loved ones. This wrong focus, in turn, will add to your stress instead of helping you deal with it (JW, 2020).

Remember that when we follow someone on social media, we are allowing them into our inner circle, along with all of their shared dramas and ideas (JW, 2020). We will grow more depressed if we follow celebrity gossip or models with unrealistic body types as we will begin to compare our mundane, uninteresting lives to their perfect-photoshopped posts! When we are stressed, we should stick to social media accounts that promote a positive mindset. Thus, our inner circle will contribute to our inner serenity and assist us in coping with stress.

"Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits." – Apostle Paul (NWT).

Some people like to de-stress by smoking, consuming alcohol, or using narcotics when meeting up. However, when people like this enter our inner circle and influence us to consume these things, the harmful substances will leave us feeling more stressed afterward (JW, 2020). Instead, try to make friends with people who have a healthier lifestyle who can encourage us to exercise, eat healthily, and enjoy relaxation together! Choosing with whom and how we spend our time together can either de-stress us or make us more stressed. Hence, we have to choose our inner circle wisely to avoid adding stress to our busy life.

In summary, we have to have a clear life focus, manage our energy well, and filter people who enter our inner circle if we want to deal with our study and work stress. Do not let so-called friends, either on social media or in real life, distract us from what truly matters. Moreover, do not be perfectionists who set too high standards for ourselves, as we have limited time and energy each day (Abdaal, 2021). By doing so, we can cope with our responsibilities in our studies and work better! 📖

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Those are the tips I can share with you now. I hope this helps!💕 How about you? What other things do you usually do to deal with study and work stress? Please feel free to share in the comment section! ✍️

References:

Abdaal, A. (2021). How I manage my time - Ten time management tips [Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iONDebHX9qk

JW. (2020, March). How to deal with stress. Jehovah’s Witnesses. https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/awake-no1-2020-mar-apr/how-to-deal-with-stress/