Stress, Worry and Anxiety Are All Different. How Do You Cope With Each?
Article | Tell us about a time you experienced worry, stress or anxiety. Describe how it affected you and how you tried to cope with it? What might you do differently now that you have read the article?
The most recent event that got me worried is obviously Coronavirus outbreak, especially when many countries started the border lockdown relays. As a boarding student, I could not stop worrying for the 2 whole weeks of spring break, trying to make a decision whether or not I should fly back to South Korea, as I there was a high chance I won’t be able to fly back and meet my family over the long summer break. Many of my peer students have already gone back, some were stuck in Singapore until the end of the lockdown, and all these chaos in boarding house has brought me extreme stress. Knowing Korea can close its borders any time soon with its skyrocketing number of cases and possibility that the school may go online after the break, I could not mentally stay calm and focus on revising for the mock exam that was supposed to happen after the break.
After wasting the first half of the break calling my parents, talking to the houseparents and staring at the Korean news website every day, I finally managed to get my mind back together and go back to studying. One thing that helped with cope with such stress is allocating enough sleep time for myself. I haven’t been able to get a solid 8-9 hours sleep from 11 pm to 8 am, as I had to make up for missed study time during the day due to the circumstances, but I avoided quick naps during the day and started exercising to get my body tired, which helped my fall asleep early, wake up early, and recover my physical wellbeing.