According to a survey conducted by BestColleges.com, the pressure of attending college during a pandemic has resulted in negative mental health symptoms for 95% of college students. These symptoms have an effect on the student’s academic performance as well as their early career success.
According to research carried out by Boston University, anxiety and depression have taken the top two spots as the most common mental health issues affecting college students since the year 2014.
One thing that a lot of students don’t realise is that they have a lot of control over how much pressure and stress they put on themselves. This indicates that you should be selective in the jobs, internships, projects, and extracurricular activities that you take on outside of school and that you should maintain a realistic outlook. Students and those just starting out in their careers need to develop healthy routines to help them better manage their time and their reactions to different situations. And at regular intervals, you need to check in with yourself and ask, “Am I trying to accomplish too much?” Does it have an effect on the way I live my life?
In his senior year at Howard University, David Robinson, who is now a first-year law student at the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University College of Law, struggled with anxiety-induced procrastination due to the fact that he had to replace his face-to-face connections with screen-to-screen ones. Robinson will graduate from Howard University in the spring of 2021.
David Robinson, a recent graduate of Howard University is currently enrolled in the first year of his legal studies at the Florida A&M University College of Law.
David Robinson is the original source.
“Putting things off until later was the overarching theme,” she said. Unbelievable amounts of putting things off until later. Even just waking up to do Zoom was a fight to get on the screen; sometimes I was camera-ready, and other times I wasn’t. Just being present and bringing everyone together for school was a huge source of stress, according to Robinson.
Anxiety can both cause and be caused by procrastination, and the more you have on your plate, the more likely it is that you will put things off. Robinson decided to pursue a career in real estate as a means of professional development after the pandemic caused him to lose the summer internship he had been working toward. Therefore, during Robinson’s senior year, he was required to study simultaneously for both the Florida state real estate licence and the Law School Admission Test.
According to Empxtrack, a human resources software company, members of Generation Z, who are currently in college and entering the workforce, have a tendency to be appreciation-driven and love opportunities to showcase their abilities in the workplace. This is the case even though Generation Z members are just entering the workforce.
Roger Lin, who is currently 22 years old and majoring in finance at the University of Utah, During his sophomore year, he was working as an intern for HF Foods Group, and he drove himself to exhaustion trying to impress his superiors.
“Because I was so enthusiastic about this venture, I approached my boss and inquired about the possibility of working on the merger. Lin elaborated, “I spent the better part of two months meeting with investment bankers and putting together financial statements in preparation for the eventual merger.” Since I’ve been working at this company for such a long time, I was able to walk the investment bankers through the fundamentals of our company while they were in town. This was a significant workload for me, especially when factoring in the schoolwork and the sales role that I was playing at the time,” he went on to say.
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According to Frederica Boso, a licenced mental health counsellor in the state of Florida and a therapist for Brightside, a teletherapy company that focuses on cognitive behavioural therapy, taking on multiple opportunities may be beneficial to one’s resume, but it may have negative effects on one’s mental health.
“If you try to do too much, nothing will get done the way you want it to. If you spread yourself too thin.” “It’s easier to work with a smaller amount of work or to break things down into castes of work that are easier for you and more manageable,” Boso said. “It’s also easier to work with a smaller amount of work.”
As a method for coping with feelings of anxiety, she suggested taking things slowly and in small doses. It is important to address these issues as soon as possible because, if left unaddressed, they have the potential to grow into problems for the professional development of recent graduates.
Maria Offutt, a graduate of The Ohio State University who currently works for Teach For America (TFA) as an internal recruitment manager, received a diagnosis of generalised anxiety disorder while she was working in her first post-graduate position as an elementary school teacher.
Maria Offutt is an internal recruitment manager for Teach For America. She graduated from Ohio State University in 2019 and is currently working for the organisation.
It was provided by Fernanda Ruiz.
“I remember my parents coming up to see me about six months into my first year of teaching… and they were like, ‘You look different…'” “I remember my parents coming up to see me about six months into my first year of teaching… The reason I appeared different to them was that I had shed 15 pounds in the time since we had last spoken as a direct result of the strain that my anxiety had placed on me… Offutt reflected, “my anxiety was no longer social; it was more like generalised anxiety disorder that was not going away any time soon.”
Offutt was under a lot of pressure because of her role, and she was constantly worrying about whether or not she was adequate. Am I the kind of parent my children deserve? Do I have what it takes to be the kind of considerate and helpful leader that these students need in the classroom?
One thing that a lot of people are guilty of doing is becoming fixated on events that did not go in their favour. They see it as evidence that they were unsuccessful in some way. Take a moment to reframe the situation if you find that you have a tendency toward perfectionism.
Cognitive reframing can change the way that we interact with stress and anxiety, as stress physiologist and public speaker Rebecca Heiss explained. “Rather than viewing something as a setback, think of it as an opportunity for growth,” she advised.
If you are having trouble with any of these things, here are some suggestions that Heiss and Boso have provided to help manage the things that cause stress and anxiety:
According to Heiss, one simple way to look at it is to do your alphabet backwards. YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF: Is this a matter of life and death? BREATHE. Investigate what aspects of your life you do have command over and what steps you can take to reclaim that command.
You should establish a support system that consists of people you can lean on, such as friends, counsellors, and mentors.
Don’t make it about you and your failings.
Create new interests for yourself by participating in activities that come easily to you.
Some of the early professionals and college students I spoke with are already putting some of these tips to good use in their careers.
“The one thing that helps me the most is always interacting with others…so it’s helpful to have people you can talk to,” said Lin. “It’s so helpful to have people you can talk to.”
In order to demarcate the difference between his academic life and his personal life, Robinson engages in a variety of activities that are unrelated to the legal industry.
“I’ve grown to enjoy cooking… a little bit of exercise… some yoga… I like journaling,” he said.
The majority of today’s college students and entry-level professionals have had their time managed by others (such as their parents, teachers, or other authority figures) for the majority of their lives. Now that they have gained control over their time, they can determine when they will study when they will go out, when they will go to sleep, and when they will stay up late if they so choose. It requires active management of both time and activities, as well as an awareness of when any aspect of life has become overwhelming. Do you require a short break? Take it easy or ask for assistance. If we do not find a way to effectively manage our stress, it has the potential to spiral out of control, wreaking havoc on both our physical and mental health.
Take some time over the holiday break to evaluate how stressed you are and determine whether there are any adjustments you need to make in order to maintain a healthy level of stress. Ask yourself, “How am I doing in terms of stress?” Is there too much of it? What can I do to get a better handle on it? If you feel like you need assistance or support, don’t be afraid to ask for it. The fact that you are attending college on your own does not mean that you are required to go through it by yourself. If you need help, talk to a friend, a member of your family, or the counselling centre at your school.
Stress is something that affects all of us. The manner in which you respond to it, however, will determine the outcome.
CNBC’s “College Voices” is a series that is written by CNBC interns from universities all over the country about their experiences getting a college education, managing their own finances, and beginning their careers during these extraordinary times. At the moment, Darreonna Davis, who is a junior at Howard University and majoring in journalism, is working as an intern for the Specials Team at CNBC. Cindy Perman is in charge of editing the series.
