The Stress Busting Guide for College Students

By Sabrina Sherman, LSW

Are you feeling completely overwhelmed with everything on your plate? Are you counting the down the days till Winter break? The holidays and end of year festivities can really put many of us in a tailspin but then the stress of finals and work on top of it is a complete recipe for burnout. The good news is there are a few fairly simple tips that can help you manage your stress this winter! 

  1. Boundaries

Learning how to set them and keep them will be incredibly helpful. This includes setting them with your friends, family and work. When your to-do list starts piling up the last thing you need is to say yes to something you can’t possibly accomplish. Now is the time to kindly let your friend know that you will not be able to attend her 10pm party when you have a final at 8 am the next morning. The same goes for grandma who although loveable does not understand the concept of a “quick” phone call. We often think that saying “no” is seen as mean or “not showing up” for our loved ones when in actuality setting boundaries is an act of kindness for yourself and ironically for others. When you respectfully tell someone “no” you take the pressure off of yourself to try to fit in something you realistically don’t have the capacity for and set realistic expectations for others so they don’t end up disappointed when you inevitably can’t follow through on that one extra request. 

  1. Organize 

At ten years old I would prance around my house proudly proclaiming to anyone who would listen, “organization is the key.” Now I was the least organized person I knew at 10 years old but something inside of me knew that if I were to be organized it would help me immensely. Getting organized can really help chip away at that dreaded overwhelm feeling. A “fun” game I like to play with my clients is having them make a to do list for the week where each day has its own column of tasks.  The trick with this list is to go old school and write it down on a piece of paper and to only put down what absolutely has to be done for the day, so this means Monday’s column is going to have a list of the bare minimum of what needs to be done that day in order of priority. On the bottom of the page, I have my clients put a “bonus” column of things that need to get done throughout the week and list those in order of importance. Then I recommend only looking at the “bonus” column after they have completed their daily tasks and then taking one or two tasks off of the “bonus” column and tackling those. This way the bonus column tasks sneakily end up getting finished by the end of the week! 


  1. Scheduling in time for self-care 

This isn’t an ask, it’s a demand. Often when we feel really overwhelmed with everything, we have to do we think to ourselves “yeah I don’t have time for frivolous things like “self-care”. Welp, if you don’t have time now for self-care let me tell you, you certainly will not have time for it when you are completely burnout and can’t get anything done. The time is now! It doesn’t matter if it’s a 10 min walk, a 30 min bubble bath or even a 20-minute tv show, if it is something that relaxes you, nourishes you and feeds your soul then it is just as important as every other task on your to do list. The key to scheduling in this self-care time is that whatever self-care activity you have chosen for yourself you try to be completely immersed in. That means for that 10-minute walk you are not allowed to worry, stress or plan. If you only can make it 2 minutes without worrying that is totally fine, keep going, you are still a self-care super star! If it is helpful, you can set a timer for yourself and the second that timer is up you are allowed to go back to regularly scheduled programming.

Therapy is also a form of self care. If you are seeking a therapy “home”, we’d love to see you at Ignite! You can schedule a free phone consultation (on the home page) to ensure a great mutual fit.