The Stress Game

Greetings, sun shiners everywhere!

In honor of the end of my first semester at college (yikes!), I want to talk about something called the “stress game”. This is something I became aware of my sophomore year in high school, when the new head of the Judicial Committee gave her first speech to the school. She shared with us some words of wisdom about a phenomenon that I had never really been aware of before, but now I hear it all the time!

 

There’s a game people like to play. It’s called the stress game. The goal of the game is to one-up the person sharing with you how stressed they are. This is an example of how the game would go:

Person A: “Oh man. I’m sooo tired. I had 2 papers due today, and I was up until 2am working on them!”

Person B: “You think that’s bad? I had a test, a quiz, AND 2 papers due today, and I didn’t get to go to bed until 4am!”

Sometimes the game is disguised with an attempt to make the first person feel better, as in “You know what should make you feel better? How much worse my night was!” but no matter what, the stress game has begun, with everyone constantly trying to prove themselves by how stressed they are. It sounds a little ridiculous, I know. But listen for it! It happens all the time. There is nothing wrong with sharing your stress with others, or needing to vent a little frustration, but the problem with the stress game is that it begins breeding negative attitudes. Instead of people being supportive, everyone commiserates with negativity. Misery loves company. Don’t let it overtake you!

It’s so easy to use the amount of work we have, or the hours we stay up at night, to try and prove ourselves or our worth. It can be hard to remember sometimes that how stressed you are is not a measure of how successful or hard-working you are. Stress is destructive; be positive and proud about your accomplishments instead of continuing to live in the struggle it took to get it done!

 

And now, back to my work! The end of the semester is in sight, with a lot of relaxation and good times just around the corner. =)

 

All my love,

Leah

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