Blog: How I deal with stress

I thought I’d dealt with stress hundreds of times before even starting university, but once exams started, I soon noticed that everything I’d dealt with up until then was nothing...

As soon as May/June arrives, it can get pretty hectic. You feel like every day needs to be spent revising, writing assignments, practising presentations or completing group work. But I'll let you into a little secret, it's not healthy to take on that much work at once.

You need to take breaks, physically and mentally to help you cope with all of the added stress that is happening in your life at this time. It doesn't help if you're having difficulties with your course/subjects too, and that you want to go out with your mates to keep yourself sane AND you work 3 nights a week; as I do!

Once I got my priorities in order, things got a bit more manageable, but I was still stressed out beyond belief. BUT if you're feeling similar and think you might have taken too much on and it’s all becoming too much, here are a few things you can try:

1. Get organised. 
Put everything you have to do in the next few weeks or months into a (simplified) list and start making your way through it bit by bit. 

2. Prioritise.
Once you've got your to-do list together, organise it into the most important to the least. This way, you get the biggest and most important tasks done first and you can slowly work your way down to the ones that require less attention. This is to make sure that the important things don't get left behind amongst the other chaos.

3. Take enough breaks.
You have to be sure to give yourself a break every now and then, and I don't mean watching the odd YouTube video between writing an assignment and starting your revision - take a walk, have a chat and a coffee with your friend or exercise to take your mind off everything for a while.

Hopefully, these tips will give you a bit of peace of mind if you find yourself struggling during the upcoming exam period and you're not sure where to start!