The College Student's Nemesis

It's an omnipresent part of life. It can trigger the "fight-or-flight" response, which can cause hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol to surge through the body.

Stress...a college student's nemesis!

 


As a college student, I struggle with stress every single day!

I'm constantly running through my mental and physical lists of everything I have to complete! It's exhausting!

I try to balance getting good grades, homework, social life, relationships, and work!

I've come to realize that I can't control the common stressors in my life.....but I can control how I react to them!

Instead of getting frustrated and taking my anger and frustration out on people and my poor punch bag ( yes, I do punch things when I'm upset) I can pause and reflect on the root problem here.

The root problem is that I'm not trusting these problems and things that are stressing me out to Christ!

I've been trying to get into the habit of speaking truth to myself in moments of overwhelming truth and I do this with some Bible verses that kind of speak about stress in some way, shape or form...

Here a couple:

James 1:2-4

"2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

I guess you could call some of my stressors, trials, but regardless I love this verse because I can either view my stressors as either a curse or a blessing! I can view this stressful time as a time where God is reminding me to totally surrender to Christ and rely on Him!

Psalms 94:19 

"19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."

Pretty much all I can say to this verse is AMEN!!!! 

Romans 8:6

"6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;"

By taking EVERY thought captive and truly analyzing it, we can determine whether truth is running through our minds or lies, planted there by the cunning devil. If we are listening to a lie we can quickly turn it around and speak truth. 

Now this verse or should I say... verses is a pretty cliche one for anxiety and stress, but I don't think we should discount it because there is truth dripping from the very words! 

Philippians 4:6-7

"6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Hmmm great words to ponder huh?

Now, how do we combat stress? I guess we talked about it a little, but I think we should look at a few tangible ways....

*DISCLAIMER: this is not a formula! These are things that work for me...this doesn't always work for everybody!*

 

- Learn how to say NO!!! If you are anything like me, saying 'no' is the hardest thing to do! I could have a ton going on, but if someone asks me to do something for them or to join something, I just can't say no! But saying no has prevented a lot of stress in my life! The more things you add to your life the higher your stress levels will go up! 

- Exercising!! Trust me! It really works! I'm not going to go into all the science behind it, but exercising releases the adrenaline hormone resulting in a much clearer head! When I'm starting to stress out about something the punch bag and the gym become my best friend! Punching the bag is much safer then punching someone else...right? Plus you can get a nice work out in! Hey! Stress can be good for something! 

-Cut somethings off your To Do list. Are there things that can wait until whenever you are less stressed? Cut them off! Save them for a less busier week! Or you could be like my best friend and get everything done BEFORE you get stressed so it is already done! Yeah she's crazy! 

- Plan things out! For all my visual friends out there...get a planner and plan out what you are going to do each day! The key is to ACTUALLY do it though! No procrastinating here, which leads me to the next point..

-DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!!!!!! I can not say this enough....

Procrastinating = A Ton Of STRESS. So just don't do it!

 

- Express your feelings. Don't bottle them up! Talk about it! Talking through the things that stress you out will not only give you a chance to process what you are thinking and feeling, but it will also allow someone to help you problem solve and come to a solution. 

- If all else fails....resort to chocolate! I can't personally tell you if this works because I don't like anything sweet! Least of all chocolate ( I know I'm weird...people tell me that ALL the time) But I know plenty of chocoholics and they say it works!

 
 Personally, I prefer chips and guacomole and some hot tea ( weird combination I know...don't judge)...that's my comfort food, but whatever works for you is good! Just looking at that picture makes me feel less stressed about whatever I'm stressed about! ( I don't even know what stresses me out sometimes!)

 

- I saved the BEST for last! This I know works for EVERYBODY! If you don't try any of those ideas, at least do this one! 

Prayer and being totally engrossed in God's word is KEY!! I can't stress how vital this is!! When you get up in the morning just spend like 5-10 minutes in prayer...it is a great start to the day! Whenever you start thinking you can't do something or feel like you just don't have the time, remember Philippians 4:13 " I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me."

 Well guys...I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did writing it! Maybe I will write something fun and carefree soon! 

Love you guys! 
~Cait

Why Some College Age Kids Leave Chruch

Someone in my church recently asked me if I could write on this huge topic that is greatly debated in Christian circles.   

Wait for it…..

Why Some College Age Kids Leave the Church (Notice I underlined the ‘some’ because thankfully there are still many young adults that attend church!)

I have to be honest with y’all I have no idea about this topic at all!! I’m going solely off of what I feel in my heart, and the responses I got when I posed this question on Facebook.  I’m not even in the college age group yet! I have grown up in church my whole life and the thought of leaving hasn’t even crossed my mind yet! So I have no personal experience and know scholarly knowledge about this!

Now that I have shown how non-creditable I am, I will proceed to share with you mine and other people’s (who, I might add, are all people currently attending church- super creditable I know!) opinions on this topic.

#1 Kids are too “busy” to go to church

I’m still in High School and I’m even busy, I can’t imagine how someone can possibly juggle school, work, and relationships! That sounds way complicated! No wonder they are too busy for church! Church is clearly not a big deal to some kids for them to drop their attendance to church.

#2 The Desire for Complete Independence

Um, I’m pretty sure when you are 18yrs old you are pretty sick of your parent nagging you and telling you to do stuff. I even get tired of it sometimes!!

#3 there isn’t any kind of group or study for that age group

I know how helpful my youth group is in my walk with the Lord so I’m sure it’s really hard if there isn’t always that kind of option for a college age person.

#4 The Hypocrisy in the Church is Unbearable

This would really turn me off too. There is a lot of hypocrisy in the church and many college age kids see that and turn away because they see that the church isn’t perfect and they don’t want to be associated with it! I guess that is the church’s problem, we don’t have these kids trust.

#5. I’m probably going to get some heat for this one, but I think it is necessary to say. If a person is truly a 

Christian they will not be turned off by their parents when they tell them to go to church. In fact, parents won’t even have to push their kids to go because their child will want to go on their own. So when a young person doesn’t want to go to church at all maybe there is no heart change towards Christ. Obviously I’m not saying that when a young person doesn’t go to church he/she is not saved because I am in no place to judge that person’s heart. That is between them and God. But since I am writing on this topic I would say that is a pretty big indicator on why someone doesn’t want to go to church.  

Those are just a couple reasons that myself and some other people I know came up with! Obviously, seeing how I am clearly not an expert I wouldn’t go using this as a source for a paper! Okay I’m done! Until next time dear friends!
~Caitlin