S T R E S S

Are you a human being? Do you have needs that require fulfillment or wants that you desire to fulfill? Do you interact with other human beings on a regular basis? Do you have a job, a family, and/or school? If you've answered "yes" to any of these, then you've most definitely encountered stress at some point. Stress is just one of those unavoidable and ever-present factors in our lives. My psychology professor formally defined "stress" as "any circumstance that threatens or seems to threaten our well-being and, therefore, reduces our ability to cope." He offered the example of a bridge designed to only carry, say, 2 tons of weight; if 4 tons of traffic were to be stuck on that bridge, we'd say the bridge is under "stressed." The same applies to people. Often we find ourselves trying to do more than we're capable of, putting us under intense degrees of stress.

Pictured above: Me, yelling

The impending conclusion of this semester has been a roller-coaster ride that never seems to stop going up and it's definitely hasn't been a fun ride up. My internal state over these last several weeks can be easily summarized in the above gif. November - and all of its hubbub with the elections, Thanksgiving, and registration, among other things - flew by in a painfully quick blink of an eye and plopped right us into the immense activity of the December holiday season without any room to breathe. Or at least that's how it feels on my end. With all this craziness in mind, I'll be taking a look at how to cope with stress in an upcoming post!