photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
BY BIANCA BILLONI, STAFF WRITER
Anxiety. It’s a real thing that many people struggle with. Lately, I’ve been struggling with it a lot for several reasons, the main one being graduation. I can’t believe this is my last semester at St. Bonaventure University when it feels like I just got here. The stress of not knowing how often I’ll get to see my friends, whether I’ll apply for jobs or for graduate schools, or if I even know what it means to be anything other than a student is downright scary.
Your struggles might be different than mine, and you might not feel them to the same extent as me, but I guarantee most of the people reading this have at one time or another been overwhelmed to some extent. We all have our forms of coping. Some people go to the gym. Some people journal. Some people develop a new skill or hobby. Regardless of what it is that we do, we have ways of dealing with the stress that comes with our lives.
I have tried many tactics to alleviate the stresses of being a senior in college, and it’s a difficult thing. There’s no one right answer, in my experience at least. I’ve found that it helps to combine multiple solutions so when one isn’t working, there’s always something else to turn to. Something I’ve been exploring lately as a coping mechanism is meditation. I’ve done yoga before with meditation woven into the session, and I’ve practiced different breathing techniques, but I’d never truly sat down to meditate until recently. I’m very much a person who does better with talking my feelings out or writing them down, so I think the idea of sitting alone with my thoughts—even just for a couple of minutes—scared me. However, I’ve found it to be much more relaxing than I had imagined.
Of the many options of meditation that are out there, I figured I would start with something short and simple. I downloaded Balance, one of the many meditation apps available on the app store, because I saw it was offering a free one-year subscription to its platform. I thought I might as well try it out just to see if I liked it. Boy, am I glad I did.
The process of signing up for a personalized plan is simple, the meditations can be as short as three minutes, and if I miss a day, the program waits until I come back to continue. There’s no pressure at all to fully commit right away, and I am very grateful for that. I tend to pack my schedule to the brim, so having something that I can turn to a few times a week when I’m really feeling overwhelmed is a lifesaver. Another thing I really enjoy is having someone to guide me through each meditation because it helps me focus rather than letting my thoughts wander to the very things that are stressing me out.
I hope to eventually get to a point where meditation is a regular part of my routine. I’m not going to sit here and say you have to try meditation for stress relief and anxiety. I do, however, think it’s important to find a coping mechanism that works for you. If you think meditation is something that would help you, then you should try it. If not, then find something that will help you. Mental health can and should be just as important as physical health. If you’re struggling like I am, I hope you take the steps to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to de-stress, if you’re not already. Best of luck!
billonbd19@bonaventure.edu
