Too Many Things To Do? No Stress!

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock… 

There is a pen next to your notebook, but there is no ink on the paper. Your room is around you, and all the clothes are on the floor, but you don't care. 

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock… 

You have so many things to do before tomorrow, and you don't know what to do first. So you plan what to say to your parents because you want to miss dinner and work until midnight. But you can't find any reasonable excuse. 

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock… 

The clock gets you back to reality, and you take the pen. But you can't concentrate on solving the most straightforward math problem.  

This situation is familiar to students around the world. To learn more about this topic, I interviewed Ms Shipley, and she said, "I think that every student in the school experiences stress, at some point during the day or week, and it kind of goes in a wave. Some days are more stressful than others and some days aren't, depending on the amount of work and also what's happening at home and in the world. So, I think all students experience stress."

“I think all students experience stress.”

Ms. Shipley, Middle School Counselor

Being stressed is a part of our lives and can help us function. Ms Somers, a Grade 6 Learning Support Teacher, says, "It's natural to feel a little stressed because then, we're trying to work towards something." But, what if you have too much?

A way that would most likely be helpful to manage the stress that is out of control is to find the root cause.

"I would want (you) to make a list and rank the top three stressors in their life, or top five. Then look at those and then talk with (you) to see what ideas they have initially.. my ideas about it won't be the same as someone else's, and my ideas might not work at all(to you)." Miss Shipley explained.

Strategies are one way to manage stress. At first, it takes much time to do your strategies, but afterwards, it comes naturally. "It's different for everyone," says, Ms Somers.

Here are three common stress reduction tips for middle students:

Overcome Stress with Systems and Organization.

Teachers tell you to write things down on paper. But you lost it? 

Habitica is an app that can help you and make you motivated to finish things by making it into a game. After each play, you get points that give you blocks like in the booklet. Habitica works the same after each achievement. You get points and can buy things for your avatar. 

Do you want to stop glancing at your blank paper?

"I think it can be useful if you decide on a time window. Like I'm doing this task from 4:30 to 5:00. That is the goal that I want that I need to get done. That is how much time it's going to take. Set a timer and then stop at the end of the timer and reflect on what you got done instead of; I need to do this eventually or have the computer open but not really doing anything, and then say to yourself, okay, it's five o'clock you finish. I did my 30 minutes. I had my timer on, and [now]I (give) myself a break. "Says, Ms Somers 

A Comfortable, Organized Learning Environment.

All your clothes are on the floor, and all the papers are flowing around like magic made them dance. You can see pieces of candy on the floor, bed, and shelves. Your mother must have already shouted at you to clean up, but you don't have the power.  

That might be because of the mess. Being organized will help you turn things in on time, be more focused, and have more energy when you do your homework. I don't say everything should be without a speck of tiny dust, but knowing when everything is and being able to move in your space freely will help you work. 

Too many things- Too little room?  

Throwing things out that you don't need can help make space for other things you need. For example, I organized my room before I went to Israel. I didn't have much space, but half of my shelf is empty and has an area for other things. 

Did everything squash in the same space? 

Having fewer things can help you see and have more space; putting labels and organizing our notebooks can help us find everything more accessible and not smushed in one place. 

Go to the beginning every time?

"I recommend for all my students is once a week to do a locker cleanout, because once it starts getting a little bit messy, it gets a lot easier to just throw stuff in … "says Ms Somers. It is vital to have tips and organize time at your table so you won't get messy. 

Tablets and Phones Need Organization As Well.

Too much work to organize all at once? 

Organizing our computers daily is how we keep them organized. 10-20 minutes a day on putting all your email in their folders or deleting them and titling your docs can help." I think that's something that has to be done every day. "Ms Somers.

Too much email coming every day? 

Email! You always get more than 20 messages a day; most are useless. Organizing physical places, deleting what you don't need, and putting things in categories (folders) can help you. Ms Somers" the way that I like to organize my inbox is(to leave it there), and once I've done it and taken care of it, I move it into a folder. The other thing I like is the tasks feature on Gmail … it's like a to-do list on the side, and you can set dates for your tasks. And you can even move an email directly to tasks and put a date. So if it's something that you have to do in two weeks, and you think it'll get buried, and you'll forget, I'll put it on my task list… And then it reminds me, so that's one of my favourites for keeping track of Emails. "

Do docs and slides keep getting lost? 

How many untitled docs do you have? I have 27 united docs and slides, all lost on the computer and can never be found when wanted. (if you don't know, they are untitled) . Putting names on your docs takes less than a second, but it helps when looking for the docs again. Also, putting the docs and slides in folders for their groups in the drive can help you find everything more manageable. 

There are many other ways to get less stress and finish your work, but I think you can start trying those and see if they work for you. At the start, they take time, but after they are a part of your life and go quickly, So this is essential to start early. Every person is different, so some people will have an easier time finding the things that work for them, and for others, it will be more challenging, but when you find yours, it can help you so much in your life and give you time to do everything you want. "I think it's worth doing because the better you get at prioritizing and planning your time, the easier it gets over time. And when you're just learning the skill, it does take extra time... But in the end, it's going to make you more efficient and reduce stress in the future when you have even more stuff that's being assigned to you. So I do think it's, it's worth the extra time. " says Ms Somers.