Reducing Anxiety & Stress in College

I’m not going to lie to you. College is stressful. That probably won’t come as a huge surprise to you (but if it is, sorry to be the bearer of bad news!). In my experience, a lot of life can be stressful and anxiety-inducing. But that doesn’t mean college (or other parts of life) are bad, just because of the stress and anxiety they cause! In all honesty, college is one of the more stressful phases of my life I’ve experienced (so far), but it has also been one of the best phases of my life!

Everything comes down to this: managing your stress and anxiety! Follow some of these tips and hopefully you won’t feel like this photo!

      Figure out your triggers. Make a list of things that cause stress or anxiety for you. Common ones are roommate issues, exams and grades, college loans, money, friend drama, boyfriends/significant others, homesickness, etc. Now figure out what aspects of these triggers that you can actually control!

      For anything out of your control, try your best to let it go. If you can’t control it, there is nothing you can do about it. Worrying about it will only make you feel worse!

      If you can control it, write down a list of things you can do to reduce the problem that actually causes the stress or anxiety. Then act on that list! Hang it up by your desk or mirror or somewhere you can see it often so you don’t forget about it.

      Make sure you are taking care of your body. This means eating enough, getting enough sleep, keeping up with personal hygiene, etc. Remember: for a typical person, you need to eat about 2,000 calories a day, sleep about 7-8 hours a night, and get about 30 minutes of physical activity per day.

      EXERCISE! It is hard to make yourself go to the gym sometimes, but exercise—whether it be walking, running, sports, pilates, yoga, or something else—releases chemicals in your body called endorphins that MAKE YOU FEEL HAPPY! So exercise = more happiness and less stress and anxiety.

      Get outside and see nature! Sunlight is proven to make you feel better. If you have access to them, pet an animal like a dog or cat! This also releases endorphins. If you don’t have a pet of your own that you can pet or cuddle, try asking your friends or even going to an animal shelter.

      Keep busy. Make sure you are keeping yourself occupied and not just sitting around in your room, moping about your stress.

      Talk to someone you trust about your stress and anxiety. This can be a parent, other family member, roommate, friend, teacher, etc. In the same vein, talk to a therapist if you feel like you cannot manage your stress or anxiety on your own. Penn State offers counseling and psychological services to students. There is NO SHAME in seeing a therapist/counselor/psychiatrist. Their job is to help you, and it is definitely worth it to look into.

      Remember to take a deep breath, and try to relax. You can get through this.

      Volunteer. Helping out in your community can really help you to gain perspective on what actually matters in life.

Good luck managing your stress and anxiety! While it may all seem overwhelming at times, stress and anxiety is not the boss of your life. YOU ARE. And you have the power to reduce and remove stress and anxiety from your life. You got this!

Emma Clement is a junior majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering and is a Mentor for WEPO'16!

Finding the right club(s) to join

“Get involved.” Any new college student has probably been told this about a thousand times—from family members, friends, older college students, tour guides for college students, and now me. One of the best things you can do during your freshman year of college is getting involved.

Why get involved?

• You will meet people who are involved in or interested in similar things as you (and let’s face it—as a freshman in college, you will need to make friends and meet new people). I am involved with two different clubs on campus, and I have met some of my closest friends in college through these clubs and the various activities we have done together.
• You can do really fun stuff with clubs! For example—I myself am a member of the Society of Women Engineers, and one of my favorite memories of my freshman year of college was an event I did through SWE. I was a part of the planning committee that organized the event, and I got to participate in it as well. The event: Mr. Engineer, a beauty pageant for male engineers. This event was fun to plan, absolutely hysterical, and also helped to raise money for THON! It was honestly one of the most fun and entertaining things I participated in as a freshman, and I would not have known about the event unless I had joined SWE.
• It keeps you busy! And it can help you de-stress! I know college is already busy with homework and studying and jobs and everything. But honestly, do you want to be BORED in college? I thought not.
• Resume-builders and leadership experience. Employers look for people who have been involved in their college lives, and participating in a club (or three) is a great way to boost your resume! Just don’t join clubs solely for the purpose of a better resume.
• Memories. You’ll make some great memories through clubs and just being involved during college. I personally remember the specific fun things I did in my various clubs more than I remember the days I watched Netflix all day (not that Netflix or other down-time activities are bad- they are a great way to de-stress! It is just important to find a balance between leisure and work and clubs. You don’t want your only memories from college to be those Netflix marathons).

So hopefully I have established why it is so important to get involved in college. But how exactly do you get involved? There are almost a thousand clubs at Penn State—that is pretty intimidating.

Finding the right clubs/things to be involved with:

• Talk to people! During WEPO as a freshman, I talked to a lot of older girls, and one of the things I asked each of them was what clubs they joined. Because of this, I heard about On My Honor—the on-campus Girl Scout volunteering organization—a really small club I wouldn’t have heard about otherwise! 
• Actually read your WEPO activities sheet! This packet lists all of the organizations (by category) that WEPO people are involved with, along with descriptions of these clubs, contact information, and more. That way, if you hear about a club from a mentor or fellow WEPO-teer, you can look at who (from WEPO) is involved with that specific organization and contact them! There are so many different clubs listed there, and you can read about all of them to see what interests you.
• Go to the activities fair in the fall! In the HUB during the first week of classes, there will be a fair with people from a variety of clubs. Go for a while, talk to people, and see what clubs interest you. And don’t hesitate to sign up for the email listings of a bunch of clubs-I signed up for almost 10 clubs at the fall involvement fair my first year! Once I started receiving emails from those clubs, I was able to attend a meeting for the clubs, and decide which clubs I really wanted to join, and which clubs fit my schedule. Don’t feel bad about signing up for a club, and not actually joining, either!
• Look Online. https://studentaffairs.psu.edu/hub/studentorgs/orgdirectory/ So many different clubs are listed here, and you can look through this whole list if you want to (it may take a while) and see what piques your interest.

Other club-joining tips:

• Don’t be afraid to try something new or different!
• If you are shy, see if a friend or roommate will go to the first club meeting with you.
• Don’t stop looking for clubs to join! Many clubs will let people join mid-semester or at the start of the second semester of the year!
• Don’t go overboard! Engineering is a tough discipline, but you can do it! However, you will (probably) not be successful as an engineer if you join and are actively involved with 15 different clubs. My advice is to join between 1 and 3 clubs that fit your schedule, and see what you can handle. If you are in over your head, don’t hesitate to dial back your participation in a club or two.
• Being dedicated and actively involved with just one club is better than being only kind of involved with 7 clubs!
• Find what clubs YOU want to join. Not what your mom wants you to join, or what your roommate wants you to join. If you really want to join a club, do not hesitate, even if you are the only person you know in that club! And if you are pressured into joining a club and you don’t want to, then DON’T join it. Do what YOU want.

Good luck finding the perfect way for you to be involved on campus and throughout college! Don’t stress or worry about it- you will find the right club for you.

Emma Clement is a sophomore in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and is a Rover for WEPO 2015!