By Joe Sanchez-Castro
Staff Writer
Brace yourselves, Bonnies: It’s finals week. But there’s no need to fret, because there are ways to cope with stress. Two members of the center for student wellness gave their advice to stressed-out students on Tuesday.
Seven people showed up to the lecture, “Dealing with Everything Life Throws Your Way,” by Christopher Anderson, director of St. Bonaventure University’s center for student wellness, on Tuesday evening in the Doyle Hall Board of Trustees room.
“We have a tremendous capacity to influence our emotions and behaviors, which then have consequences, simply by looking at what we believe about ourselves and what we believe about our society,” Anderson said.
He said we have the opportunity to create great futures for ourselves through the education we receive at St. Bonaventure.
“We need to really look what we were brought up to think, because if we were brought up in [uncomfortable] family situations, or we were abused, we take in these messages that are so toxic and we start to believe some of this stuff,” said Anderson. “The reality is that we have a capacity to not accept that garbage and to start to really live out the truth, which is that we have great capacity to do great things in this world.”
This presentation showed the top stressful things for college students, such as being in relationships, managing time, finals, roommates, finances and more.
Anderson described the difference between positive stress and negative stress.
He talked about how some college students resort to drug and alcohol abuse to cope with anxiety.
More importantly, the presentation gave imperative advice about how to cope with stress. Anderson gave examples such as deep-breathing techniques, imagery techniques, relaxation and positive self-talk.
The most important way of coping with stress, according to Anderson, is to change one’s negative beliefs.
“We need to take a good honest look about [what] we believe about ourselves in order to make changes in our life,” he said.
Deepak Iyer, a sophomore biology major, explained how he deals with stress in his daily life.
“One of the biggest things I’m dealing with right now is finding my balance and making sure I don’t over-commit myself,” Iyer said.
“I feel stressed most of the time. Sometimes it’s good stress, sometimes it’s bad stress. Sometimes it motivates me, and then other times it’s pretty overwhelming,” Iyer added.
Utilizing free time to relax is Sanahya Vijapurapu’s way to combat stress.
“Prioritizing is hard for me, because between academics and other things, it can be hard to find a good balance,” said Vijapurapu, a sophomore biology major. “I like to read and listen to music to cope with stress.”
Iyer added that the lecture helped him come up with some new methods of dealing with stress.
“The breathing technique is definitely something good I got out of this because it’s something you can do very easily at any given time you feel stressed,” he said. “You can always take a few minutes to do that deep breathing.”
sanchejd16@bonaventure.edu
