Stress is a common experience for many college students. There are numerous coping skills that can help to support stress management, and raising awareness of more mentally and physically beneficial tactics for coping with stress is critical.
For those who are creative or interested in arts and crafts, taking up activities such as painting or coloring can be helpful. One specific type of painting for relieving stress is painting by numbers, as it allows you to focus more on filling in each section of the work rather than on stress. Creativity can also be expressed in the kitchen, as cooking or baking is another beneficial way to manage stress. Whether through trying a new recipe or making a comforting dish, the experience will uplift your spirits, and your mood brightens the second the dish delights your palate.
Creativity through arts and crafts or cooking are time-consuming activities that can provide students with the space and time to escape their stressful thoughts and re-enter with a clearer mind. After engaging in such activities, students will gain the ability to approach their stressful situations step-by-step.
By playing music in the background, students can enhance the experience of stress relief. Another auditory recommendation for stress management is listening to podcasts. Podcasts can introduce the implementation of a double stimulus to your routine. If you want to be mentally removed from stress, but find a walk outside is not satisfactory on its own, listening to a podcast introduces an added layer to the experience. Podcasts are a beneficial way of heightening your awareness and moving your attention to experiences and topics outside your stress.
Expanding on walking as a coping skill, getting outside or participating in gentle movement is a productive way to deal with stress without overexerting oneself. Rather than immediately resorting to an intense run, a HIIT workout or spending three hours at the gym to escape stressful thoughts, engaging in calmer movement is a beneficial way to exercise mindfully and intuitively.
The most important aspect of approaching any coping skill for stress is to avoid relying solely on or fixating on just one method. A widely-practiced technique is referred to as the stacking method, which keeps students’ minds active and occupied. Many therapists use the stacking method to provide their patients with flexibility and freedom in their approach to stress management. For example, I have found it beneficial to start by engaging in cooking to manage my stress, then playing comforting country music during engagement in gentle movement after I finish eating.
By combining these two methods, I calm my mind to a point where it has escaped the initial intensity of stress. I encourage everyone to brainstorm which coping skill combinations may work best for them. Take the list you create and produce a plan of how such activities can be combined using the stacking method to relieve your stress. We all experience stress, but there are always creative options of strategies that can be used to relieve it effectively.
