Escalating Stress Among Students: How to Handle !

In the words of Dorothy Rowe, ‘Depression is the prison, where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer’. It’s that mental disturbance wherein human undergoes feelings of severe despondency and dejection that overpowers all other faculties of wisdom in him. And it’s this depressive state or pressure of negativity in and around the students that need to be targeted to do away with the escalating stress among students and bring smiles on their faces.

Really!Merely by seeing the students in stress, we may em pathetically calculate the ache of their sufferings but do we ever realize the cause behind the nerve-racking conditions of these students. The reason can be any from the long list that includeshitches in the education pattern or conventional psyche of the society that forces the students to go for few prestigious professional choices like Medical, Engineering, Civil Services, CA or MBA instead of pursuing their passion as their profession. It can be over expectations of parents, peer pressure, wrong career choice by the students, over estimation of one’s potential or lack of proper guidance at the right time that disappoints the students and lands them into stressful conditions.

At times parents/teachers are unable to track the passion of their children and neglect the need of developing the capacity among their children to face failure. They probably forget to drill in them the qualities as perseverance and action-oriented smart work. The increasing pressure of marks oriented studies with least significance being imparted to the talent and skills in students compel the poor chaps to stand cut-throat competition and then failure in that competition steals away their peace of mind as huge parental as well as societal pressure propels them into the well of frustration and stress.

The worst thing in life is seeing our parents disheartened. That’s why extreme fear of failure in achieving their own or their parents’ desired outcome-darkens the world of these students and extinguishes their desire to live. At such times, they ought to be taught and reminded that it’s okay not to be perfect at everything. In fact the most beautiful people in this world are the ones who have known defeat, suffering, struggle, loss and have found their ways out of them. These people earn appreciation; have ‘sensitivity and understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness and a deep loving concern.’

And this does not come to the students by itself, it needs to be learnt through experience,either of their own or their elders like parents and teachers. Parents play the most significant role in this regard as according to Stein berg, ‘good parenting fosters psychological adjustment, promoting positive behavior and attributes as empathy, self-reliance, cooperation, honesty, kindness, intellectual curiosity, success at school, motivation to learn and the desire to achieve.’ He states that good parenting also helps deter children from anti-social behavior, drug and alcohol abuse, anxiety, depression and eating disorders. It’s even profoundly said that good parenting may give head-aches, but bad parenting may give heart attacks, so it is mandatory for all parents to believe and pursue the traits of good parenting so as to groom and develop their children as emotionally strong and intelligent individuals.

The parents and teachers should allow children to buzz with dreams and imaginations that fuel their passions. They should never tell them that anything is impossible, but alongside they should even check or get evaluated the potential and ability of these children for that particular field and never leave them in the ocean of competition, unguided and untrained.

Whenever in a state of disequilibrium, the students should count their blessings, follow their passion and not the fashion that’s been enforced upon them by someone.

Whence the grip of the stressful whirlpool ambushes, the students should follow the ‘Three Step Formula’ to break through. Step one, analyse the situation honestly and fearlessly and figure out the worst consequence of the problem that can take place. Step two, mentally accept the worst consequence that could happen and step three, after accepting the worst outcome strive utmost to improve the condition. This formula will surely relieve their stress and worry as when we accept the worst result of any problem, our brain gets solace and starts working on the solution of that problem.

The students who often get stressed, for one or the other cause, should even attempt to find happiness by diverting their attention and pursuing their hobbies or passions as that can give vent to their stress in a positive mode by helping them achieve mastery in whatever they love to do.

To wind up,good parenting and consulting counselor at the appropriate time can assist in safeguarding the precious lives of our future citizens. Let’s collectively endeavor to retrieve smiles on the faces of those students who’ve lost it and strive hard to save that of the others.

As when“we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."