Stress - Elle Ogden

Stress comes in so many shapes and sizes that I can't quite say how to relieve "stress". It's just too broad. I'm also not the best at managing stress, as I am quickly overwhelmed and cannot seem to break things down enough to deal with them individually. And then, it just becomes one huge mountain of all different kinds of stress and ultimately I end up going to bed.

School stress is probably the worst of them all. At school we are constantly being compared to our peers and how they are performing versus how we are performing. And with the looming college applications and, well our futures, school causes one to be rather stressed. This year, I have found that there just aren't enough hours in the day to even come close to completing everything that teachers expect you to complete, to the best of your ability. This causes many late nights on your bedroom floor with a spoonful of ice cream in one hand and a pencil in the other. And then, a large mug of coffee a few short hours later while driving, half-asleep, back to school.

Even though soccer causes half of my stress, it also relieves stress for me. I'll be on the way to a game and be thinking of all the things I need to be doing instead of soccer, but once I start playing, it's easy to forget about all the work I have to do. The only downfall, is that I'm typically even more tired after a game and therefore have even less motivation to do my work, and like I said before, it usually results in me going to bed.

So maybe it's sleep that is the best stress reliever. But food is also pretty great too.