What Pushes Us Over The Edge?

During this last term of the year, it has become evident that most of the university population has become incredibly stressed. This got me to thinking about what stresses us out the most.

1.)    Revision

Without a doubt, one of the most frequent causes of stress for university students is looking down at a textbook and realising that you aren’t revising, but are re-learning. Sometimes looking down at a textbook and wondering when your lecturer went over this and that can just seem too much – who likes Foucault anyway? Revising steals sleep, time and fun but is (unfortunately) one of those necessities.

2.)    Obsessing over boyfriends/girlfriend?

We love them, look after them – and get down right irritated by them; if it’s because they are snoring during the night and we can’t sleep, because they call when we are trying to revise, or pick a fight when they are drunk. However, on the other hand it can also be stressful when a partner doesn’t call, doesn’t stay the night…could something be wrong? Are we being super critical because we are so emotionally invested or have we found ourselves trapped inside a generation, surrounded by chick flick movies where all women eventually find their Mr Darcy or all men find their Princess Leia? Finding the perfect relationship or going through a bad relationship can sometimes feel like the most stressful thing in the world.

3.)    Printers being taken up in the library just before a deadline, especially a dissertation

You know that feeling where you REALLY need to get a piece of work in on a very tight deadline? Yes you maybe shouldn’t have gone out last night before submitting it, and maybe that lie in wasn’t needed but SERIOUSLY?! Does this FRESHER really need to be using this printer NOW?!

4.)    That late assignment that we are doing at three o’clock in the morning before an 11 o’clock deadline

Very closely linked to the previous stressful situation is this one; why do we do it to ourselves? We have all made the new years resolution to get our work done a week before the deadline but going to the local coop to pick up some energy drinks and some match sticks to keep our eye lids open as we try to get our essay done has somehow become uncommon. This is without doubt a very stressful situation, quickly followed with a full day and night of sleep after submission.

5.)    Money problems

Probably a very common problem with most university students is the issue of money. The question that haunts many students: HOW am I that far into my overdraft?! Many of us may have skipped on a few meals because everything seems so expensive and what funding we get may not seem enough. Money = stress.