Fight or Flight

There are times when I long to sweep away half the things I am expected to learn; for the overtaxed mind cannot enjoy the treasure it has secured at the greatest cost.- Helen Keller

Stress is a normal physical response to events which make you feel threatened or upset. Your nervous system floods your body with hormones such as adrenaline so it's ready for action.

I've heard quite a few stories about people having a really stressful time at the moment, and all I want to do is wrap them in a duvet, give them a cup of tea and stroke their hair. When I was going through my most stressful times, I would have loved someone to tell me how to deal with and that it would be okay. So, here's my story of stress.

I've always struggled with stress, ever since I began formal examinations and serious school work. Until Sixth Form, I'd generally managed to keep it under control. Once I realised that Year 12 was a massive uphill struggle, I began to stress. Year 12 saw me struggling with Human Biology and whether or not I'd actually be able to pull it off as an AS level, as well as sorting out my Drama performance.

Doing Drama is by far the most stressful experience I've had to date. Everything was going okay until one of the group members became really ill with something contagious so simply couldn't come into school. It was completely terrifying because none of us in the group had any idea what to do. With only two weeks until our exam, we had to carry on without a member and hope she'd be better. I decided to take charge (it's what I do naturally) and try and sort it all out. I reached a point where I would just break down whenever I wasn't doing Drama, and I was unable to concentrate on anything else. In the end, we had to post-pone the performance and we scraped through the exam.

The real issues came at the start of Year 13. I started off the year badly, as I broke up with my long-term boyfriend and felt pretty damn sorry for myself. As a way of forgetting about him, I threw myself into my work and started to compile my life around school. By Christmas I was massively struggling and spending all of my time work or crying. It got to the point where my poor history teacher had to take me aside and tell me straight that I was working too hard, and that I needed to take a step back. I took a deep breath, listened and took his advice.

I'm still stressed. I still get a sickening feel when I come across a problem that I feel I simply can't handle, and I spend far too much time thinking about school; but I'm getting better.

The best way to deal with stress is taking a step back/deep breath and reviewing the situation. It's all about prioritizing what needs to get done and when, and making allowances for yourself to relax. Read a book, lie in bed and just think, or just whatever keeps your mind off whatever is stressing you.

It will be okay, I promise.
Promise me you'll take a break every once in awhile, okay?
Thanks for reading,
Kitty x