Taking a full load of classes, working at a demanding job and participating in numerous organizations can be stressful for most students.
If you are trying to juggle being a student, an employee and club member, you may be joining ranks of other college students who are nearly exhausted with the daily demands of being productive pupils in and out of the lecture halls.
Although there are several ways to alleviate stress, an increasing number of students are attempting to allow deal with stress by relying on religion.
Dannie Augustine, a junior industrial engineering student from Miami and a devout Catholic said her major is very demanding and requires a lot of time and dedication to studies.
However she finds an interesting way to handle her stress.
“What I normally do to relax is engage in praying my rosary because it is a relaxing form of therapeutic meditation that helps me get through a sometimes mentally challenging week or a really difficult day,” Augustine said.
The Rev. Ilesanmi Osasona of St. Eugene Catholic Church on 701 Gamble St., said the Catholic church has historically promoted the use of religion to development of the human as a whole to enjoy a stress-free life.
He also said although he supports the holistic way of dealing with stress, trials and troubles are a part of life.
“Life however is not without that human element of stress so at St. Eugene’s we provide different forms of activities that students can come to and enjoy while relaxing,” Osasona said.
Osasona said because life is a gift in which people should excel, the church tries to assist and encourage its students.
“We make sure that we do all that’s possible to make stress manageable, so that students are prepared to make the best use of their study,” he said.
Praying to a rosary or communing with peers in the Catholic Student Association isn’t the ideal way to blockade stress for everyone though.
A very practical solution for problems with stress is prayer.
Christians and others that read the bible often believe that this method changes things and situations.
Many students that have to face the challenge of balancing college and extra curriculum activities usually turn to prayer.
Tamia Booker, a 21-year-old from Philadelphia, Pa. agreed.
” Dealing with stress while making the transition from high school to college is difficult. Sometimes you can’t call on your parents.
But because I have a foundation in my religious beliefs it keeps me focused, and prayer serves as my biggest asset when anxiety tries to attack me,” said the senior political science student.
Obviously, when it comes to religious practices, stress can be handled in a variety of ways.
And although there are several procedures that require more of a scientific way to ease stress, many agree that the ultimate remedy for stress is as simple as using one’s personal preference of faith or religious conviction.
Contact Amanda Wilkerson at awilkerson@yahoo.com.