“Ayoko na! I give up on school!” Have you ever told these words to yourself due to the overwhelming and huge amount of workload in school? Well, I hope not. Have you ever experienced sleepless nights or having not enough time for sleep that you feel that your eyebags are more ready for school than you are? Have you ever felt like a failure just because you didn’t pass a test? Have you felt like giving up but you’d tell yourself “Bes, kapit lang!”? It may seem funny but it happens; it happens to a lot of people, and it’s something that shouldn’t be neglected.

Schoolworks, requirements, long tests, deadlines, these are some of the things which cause teenager students stress especially when there’s just too much to handle. Of course as students, each one has the responsibility to cope with the requirements of the school and his/her courses. However according to Kam, “School stress is serious business. A 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report suggests that for children and teens, too much work and too little play could backfire down the road. ‘Colleges are seeing a generation of students who appear to be manifesting increased signs of depression, anxiety, perfectionism and stress.’ the report says.” Moreover, this stress can also lead to different complications in oneself if no action is taken immediately. Thus, how do we cope with stress?

One of the things that can help one cope with stress in school is time-management. It’s hard to resist procrastination or cramming most especially if there’s a lot of time left before the deadline. However, it can affect the quality of the output since only a little time was used. Although some people tend to work better under pressure, not everyone can. Thus, time-management gives a big help in lessening stress in school. If one knows how to manage his/her time well, he/she tends to be more organized in doing things by prioritizing what’s needed to be done first and what things matter the most. Moreover, more work is done, hence, it makes a person more productive. He/she doesn’t need to rush things and deadlines because the work is already done, so there’s no need to stress about it when more tasks are given. Also, it motivates a person to put effort and finish the task within his/her time; therefore, it can also stimulate the brain. Furthermore, time management opens more opportunities in doing things, since less time is wasted, one can have more free time and make himself/herself more productive or relaxed.

Loving what you do and being happy about it, is another way to reduce stress level in school. Students must not only see requirements as requirements, schoolworks as schoolworks, tests papers as papers that one would answer just to pass, and projects as hassle in life. In short, don’t view school as something that you are obliged to go to just because you need to pass. Love and enjoy what you do in school, the workload may get hefty but see it as something that you can overcome and learn from. “Learning is more important than grades.” Learning is different from studying; it’s the main reason why schools are built, for students to learn. So in order not to see the heaviness of the task, enjoy while learning. If you fail, don’t be discouraged; be encouraged instead, to do better. And you won’t notice how well you’re already doing, because you appreciate what you do.

“Teenager ka na nga, estudyante ka pa.” As teenage students, it’s hard to cope with different challenges and problems as school is not the only problem that one needs to take care of. But it’s important to learn how to be able to overcome such “school stress” and other stresses in life.