What is your definition of stress? How do you judge or weigh your stress levels? What signs and symptoms do you experience when you are stressed? What signs and symptoms do you notice in other people when stressed?
Name three things that worried you most when you moved away from your home. Did the techniques mentioned in this lesson help you solve these stresses? Why or why not?
Do you find your life more enriched after stepping out of your comfort zone?
How do you feel seeing someone else achieve their academic goals? Does this cause stress or pressure on you to also reach a particular goal? Did you notice any similar situations revolving around pressures to succeed within the course content that can be found in your own life?
List the challenges preventing you from meeting new people. How might you face them?
What advice or suggestions would you give to people who are not confident while meeting new people?
What are your current financial stresses? What approach will you take to address your financial stress? Can you control your spending to stay within your budget?
How does stress, in general, affect your life? How does each type of stress mentioned in the content affect your life, and how do you manage/resolve that stress?

To-Do List

by ariehl

On November 17, 2022

In To-Do

Review everything in the Read/Watch materials and in each module.
Complete the True/False and Matching activities for Module 1.
Record the things you attempt to step out of your comfort zone. Record the difference before and after you used the techniques and whether they helped ease stress. Post your observations in the comments of Module 2.
Join the Discord channel.
For Module 3, create and post your praise challenge screencast on Discord and comment on other partners’ screencasts.
Sign up for a group and participate in the Think-Pair-Share activity on Discord for Module 4.
Sign up for a group and review your group’s assigned case study and prepare two possible solutions for Module 5. Post your two solutions in the Case Study Discussion on Discord.
Set up your WordPress OpenEd blog site if you have not already.
Complete a blog post (350 words maximum) in response to one or more reflection questions. Post this to your blog site and submit the link on the Blog Posts Discord channel.
Post one comment on another student’s blog post (ask questions and add to the discussion). Submit the link on the Blog Posts Discord channel.

Financial Stress

by ariehl

On November 17, 2022

In Module 5: Financial Stress, University Stress

Ohio State University reported that 70% of college students worry about financial issues. University students must pay tuition fees, rent, textbooks, and other living expenses. Increasing rent, tuition fees, and other expenses leave students anxious, confused, and frustrated. Financial pressures make many things seem difficult to accomplish and require a high level of risk-taking when making decisions.

Zwart (n.d.) states that financial stress can lead to mental health problems, academic challenges, increased dropout rates, and overwork among university students. Dropping out of the university may solve financial problems in the short term, but it seems detrimental to one’s academic and career path in the long term.

Students face many problems when trying to solve their financial problems. Firstly, entry-level jobs usually do not pay well, and some students work many part-time jobs to get a good credit report. Spending too much time and effort on a part-time job can affect academic performance at university. Secondly, some students take out loans. Scholarship America (2019) points out that many students worry about how they will pay their tuition fees and how they will be able to repay these debts in the future. Thirdly, many students have lost their jobs because of the pandemic. It not only adds to the financial stress of the students but also the psychological stress.

In this lesson, students will learn how to manage expenses and find techniques to address financial stress.

Activity – Case Study Discussion

Join the Discord Server and follow the case study group discussion instructions in the case study discussion channel.

The Pressure to Succeed

by ariehl

On November 17, 2022

In Module 4: The Pressure to Succeed, University Stress

No one wants to be a failure. Beginning your studies at a university is already demanding, and students are burdened by the amount of time and effort required to reach academic objectives (Graduate Coach, 2021). There is a ton of pressure to know what you want to do with your life, and watching other people move on and achieve their goals can be hard. When a person enrolls in college, their parents, friends, and teachers pressure them to do well in their classes (Davis, 2014). Your self-imposed academic pressure may result in your performance. When pressure overwhelms the mind and body, anxiety levels can rise, and performance can suffer (Davis, 2014). There is a concept called stereotype threat, which “is when someone has a negative belief about themselves, and they are worried that they will confirm this negative stereotype about themselves or their own group” (Davis, 2014. p.3). This implies that believing and feeling you will fail will cause you to fail.

Pressures to perform well can contribute to stress, anxiety, sadness, and a lack of confidence (Graduate Coach, 2021). Some people think your grades define who you are, but that is not true. We tend to be hard on ourselves and forget to reflect on our true skills, personality traits and interests within our lives away from school. It is recommended to focus on extracurricular activities to help you enjoy all your studies (Graduate Coach, 2021). That could be cooking, reading, playing sports, or creating art. The desire to pursue a particular job that needs a certain set of grades can also pressure a person to achieve. Higher grades should provide more employment possibilities after graduation if you are unsure about what you want to pursue (Graduate Coach, 2021). Even while your loved ones are supportive and want you to succeed, you will likely experience disappointment if you fall short of their expectations. Remember that it is your life, not theirs (Graduate Coach, 2021).

Exam and deadline pressure coupled with the pressure to excel in school is another element that plays a role. When deadlines approach, a person’s mental health and well-being may suffer, therefore, it is advised to work smarter rather than harder (Graduate Coach, 2021). Students may discover that a certain subject is more challenging than others, and some courses may have specific grades that must be met (Graduate Coach, 2021). Being in constant rivalry with your friends’ academics and comparing yourself to others might pressure you and negatively impact your scores. Friendly competition and drive are present, but it can be detrimental to your mental health to feel depressed even though you are working harder and still not achieving your goals (Graduate Coach, 2021). Forming study groups or finding a tutor can help you achieve your academic goals healthily. Being alone and keeping up with the demand for higher grades is stressful. Finding a partner or friend to study with provides reassurance you are not alone.

The-Pressure-to-Succeed-Edited Download

Activity – Think-Pair-Share

Join the Discord Server and follow the instructions posted in the Think-Pair-Share activity channel.

The Stress of Meeting New People

by ariehl

On November 17, 2022

In Module 3: The Stress of Meeting New People, University Stress

Meeting new people may also cause stress for most college students. Reasons for student reluctance or avoidance of meeting new people vary, but all these reasons cause students to become unconfident or uncomfortable around their peers.

One reason that may cause student unconfidence is being unable to accept the new environment that is university. This scene applies especially to international students. They come to their dream colleges through hard-working. However, they have found plenty of situations opposing their home country. The most obvious scenario is foreign languages. Another obvious problem among most international students is the workload (D’Souza et al., 2016). Domestic students face this problem as well. Even though domestic students have fewer challenges living in a new environment, it does not mean they can immediately fit into the new environment. Often students find the way they make friends in the university is very different and more challenging than making friends in high school.

Another possible reason cause students may not be willing to meet new people is potential childhood trauma. Many factors cause this trauma. One type of childhood trauma many carry with them daily is having grown up in a strict family. Their opinions and accomplishments are often denied or looked over by their family members, thus creating an environment causing students to learnt they should not trust other people. Accidents from everyday life may cause trauma as well. For example, bullying, discrimination, and loss.

All factors that may cause unconfidence require specific solutions to improve student confidence. This lesson contains opportunities to explore further reasons for university students may be uncomfortable or unwilling to meet new people and how to solve this issue in a customized way.

Activity – Praise Challenge

Join the Discord Server and follow the praise challenge instructions.

The Stress of Moving Away From Home

by ariehl

On November 17, 2022

In Module 2: The Stress of Moving Away From Home, University Stress

Many people experience anxiety when moving away from home. Especially teenagers when they are trying to live on their own for the first time. Many factors contribute to this stress, including leaving our loved ones, finding a new job, or general confusion about the future. It is tough to put ourselves into new challenges, knowing that we could have stayed where we were and enjoyed the old life. This is why many teenagers are forced into work by their parents, simply because they do not want to step into unknown territory. The anxiety becomes much stronger if we move to another city or country. Not only do we have to face all the problems mentioned above, but we also need to deal with cultural and perhaps language differences. This is probably one of the most challenging tasks to conquer. However, all these factors can be summed up into one core concept: leaving our comfort zone.

Above is a picture showing four levels of the human mind. What we want to achieve in this learning resource is successfully moving from our comfort zone to our growth zone. The majority of our stress and anxiety come from the fear zone. For example, we want to find a new job in a new environment, but we are scared that our resume will get denied or our new co-workers will be hard to get along with. We cannot succeed at anything when we are too scared of failure. So as a teaser, the number one technique for easing our anxiety is not to have too much hope and give up control. Many famous people have mentioned this concept more than once: the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment. So by keeping our hopes low, the disappointment we receive when we fail would hurt us much less. In addition, It is impossible to have everything under control in our life, so we have to learn to let it go sometimes. Make sure to get used to this mentality so that failure will not negatively impact your life.

Activity – Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

No amount of essay reading or lecture listening can help you conquer anxiety if you do not apply the techniques discussed above in real life. For this activity, you will attempt at least one thing that causes you anxiety, and to manage this anxiety, you will use a technique taught in this lesson to ease your negative feelings. You will record the difference in how you feel before and after trying out your coping strategy. Post your experience below in the comments.

Stress and the Signs and Symptoms

by ariehl

On November 17, 2022

In Module 1: Stress and the Signs and Symptoms, University Stress

Stress is defined as a state in which an organism experiences psychological and biological strain due to various demands (Salleh, 2008). Stress affects everyone regardless of all factors, whether age, income, or ethnicity; therefore, it is something everyone must cope with and understand. In this module, students will gain an understanding of stress and learn to define it.

Watch: Stress (Le stress)

Stress is something everyone feels at some point in their life. We all experience stress at different intensities and handle it differently. Both of these will determine the signs and symptoms of stress someone shows. For young adults, the most common signs of stress include, but are not limited to: feeling worried, increased heart rate, fear, chills, sadness, and headaches (APA, 2019). Physical signs of stress are symptoms other people may notice. Physical signs of stress include sweating, chills, increased heart rate, hunger, crying, bad temper, face blushing, skin rash, vomiting, stomachaches, and muscle stiffness (APA, 2019). Although our bodies show physical signs of stress, they are still caused by our brains. Cognitive signs of stress are symptoms we can notice but are not as obvious to other people. Cognitive signs of stress include: feeling afraid, weird, weak, worried, tired, sad, embarrassed, or mad; headaches; agitation; inability to think clearly; thoughts about death; and desire to hit someone (APA, 2019).