Road to Destress: Physical

Starting my freshman year, this was definitely my case. Anxiety was my best friend. I felt as though to make myself more competent I had to over-work. It wasn’t healthy emotionally, and especially not physically. Research has shown the pressing issues that stress has on the body, ranging from high blood pressure to heart disease and even obesity. High levels of stress can turn your body into a ticking time bomb. So how can you help it? Undoubtedly, there will always be stressful situations throughout life. So how do we stop stress from overworking our bodies? For me, the answer was simple: movement.

To keep my physical levels intact, I used movement. As silly as it may seem, movement is more important than you might think. Whenever I was overly stressed out from school, I always used to sleep. Usually most college students actually complain about the lack of sleep. As for me it was different; I felt as though sleeping was the only thing that I couldn’t possibly mess up. I always told myself I could start over after a good rest. However, it started becoming an unhealthy habit. My naps turned into deep REM sleeps and it negatively impacted my sleep pattern. I was sleeping for probably more than 9 hours during the day and barely at night. Ironically, I always still managed to feel tired. Fatigue was a constant barrier, and sleeping all the time started cutting into what I needed to get done during the day. Sleeping from being stressed out was actually stressing me out.

As a result, I turned to exercise. It started as a simple social outing that my friends and I started doing for fun. I know what you’re thinking: “exercise is fun? The gym is not a social outing.” Although you don’t necessarily have to go to the gym to exercise, you do need to move. Movement sends signals to your brain that you are alive, and that is a constant reminder that your body is worth a working body. Movement is life. Getting on the treadmill while listening to music was equivalent to being in a space alone where I could think, like when you’re in the shower and your mind starts roaming about what the day has in store and what happened yesterday. When I went to the gym I could push myself, and for the first time I felt like I had control over my body. I could set a goal today and try to beat it, and tomorrow try to beat the one that I set the day before. I started being my own competition, and the only one I had to be better than was me.

However, it doesn’t take strenuous exercise to stay active. Dancing is a great example of how you can have a good time and stay active. Grab some friends and go soul cycling, rock climb with the ones you love, or even go hiking just to get that perfect selfie, as long as you know that staying stagnant will never help you grow. This is one of the biggest things that I’ve learned in college. College is a constantly changing environment and the smallest things seem to have larger consequences. Luckily enough, making little changes such as being more active can lead to great results like confidence, self-discipline, good health, and (most importantly) less stress.

Naturally as humans, when encountering traumatic or severe critical moments in our lives, we are inclined to stress. Stress, once just a state of mental or emotional strain or tension, has become almost an addiction in the 21st century. In a time period where completion is global, anxiety can be capitalized, and depression is more or less glorified, the world is at a point where unstressed feels unnatural. The line between natural stress and chronic stress is blurred more and more each day. This is why a healthy balance is needed, because while stress is normal, chronic stress is fatal. This is a three-part series on the little and big things that helped me to better center my stress levels through the means of balancing my physical, mental, and spiritual pillars in hopes that they can help you.

As a current college student, let’s just say I know a thing or two about stress. If you think about it, college especially is a breeding ground for stress. It creates an environment where people are out of their comfort zone, mixed in with the anxiety of not knowing what their future will hold, and a sprinkle of fear of not being liked or good enough. Many college students seem to suffer from a serious case of do-it-all syndrome. This is when we try to stretch ourselves way past our limits. It is also one of the fastest ways to get stressed out.

My name is Olamide Ogunjobi, but most people call me Ola. I am currently a pre-law intent student pursuing a degree in economics and advertising with a minor in Korean language and a certificate in new media. I know that’s a lot and most of it doesn’t even make sense. However, that’s kind of why I am here. Life will rarely make sense and we could all use a little assistance trying to figure it out on a day-to-day basis. Lucky enough, you don’t have to do it alone. I truly believe that the only things that matter from the day you were born to the day that you will perish is the impact you have in others’ lives. I plan on doing just that, whether it may be just a quote that will make you rise in the morning, a passage that will descend into the inner thoughts of your mind during the day or even a simple story that will put your mind at ease at night. Just call me your instant motivator, always one click away.

#stress #destress #relax