take weekends off, and to not worry about school work. This may seem counterproductive, but it really does help. Taking the weekend off gives time to refresh and recharge, making the students more alert and less overwhelmed during the week. Although no work was done on the weekend, being refreshed causes the student to be more productive, and accomplish more than if they would have struggled through it on the weekend. This coping strategy isn’ t going to work for every weekend, because it isn’ t reasonable to waste so much time, but on particularly hard weeks, a weekend off can severely increase happiness, or at least decrease the undesired emotions somewhat. Another way to cope with the negative emotions is to just take time and express them. Sit with a friend or even alone, and just let the emotion run its course. In society, it’ s common to hide the negative emotions, and to have others tell you to cheer up or smile more, but it really is critical to let the emotions run their course. After, most individuals feel refreshed, and they are no longer carrying the weight of so many emotions around, making the tasks that must complete less dauting than they seem. One final way a student can cope with negative emotions is to realize that when bad things happen, or when they get a bad grade, or are faced with tough decisions, that it’ s not the end of the world. Most students become more sad or angry when something bad happens, and it leads to a spiral down a deep sad path. Students start imagining scenarios that will generally not happen, which just increases the intensity of the emotion, adding fuel to the flame. Although it may be difficult to think in a
“ Sit with a friend or even alone, and just let the emotion run its course …” positive way when surrounded by negativity, students must realize that one small situation will not impact them graduating or getting a good job, and that debt will eventually be paid off. Most situations that cause sadness or anger are minor, even though at the time they seem major. It may take time to realize that everything isn’ t‘ life or death,’ but that realization could help alleviate a lot of the sadness, stress, and anger felt. College may be tough now, but later in life, looking back, we may realize that it might actually be the best four years of our lives.
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