Finding happiness

Being a student is a double-edged sword. On the one hand what better platform can you have to display your personality than with a bunch of other people who share an interest with you and are going through an ordeal of sorts with you as well. No wonder that enthusiastic partying and caffeine-fuelled gatherings are the hallmarks of student days. On the down side is that very ordeal that you sign up for; inquisition via exam and essay that delivers a judgement on your worthiness for the goals to which you aspire. So being a student one of the skills you need that is not always focused on is how to stay happy in the face of ambient stress. This has been addressed in a new paper from the University of Cincinnati.

The report offers students ways to find their “happy place” but really the advice could be heeded by anyone seeking to remain happy in the face of life’s challenges.

The paper divides its advice into two sections; immediate actions and long term actions. The immediate actions recommended are threefold; stop, chance your vision, and phone a friend. This means that when you feel yourself feeling stressed in order to find your happiness you first need to stop, perhaps by deep breathing or counting backwards or even counting leaves on a tree, and just slow yourself and your thoughts down. Then, you should try to see the bigger picture around whatever is causing you stress; where does that exam really fit into your life in terms of importance? Then you should use your phone, we all carry them now, call a friend and let them know what is going on. Just talking to someone who cares about you not only provides perspective but reminds you that you are not alone after all.

The long term actions recommended by this report start with diet and exercise. It can be tempting when studying to forego a healthy nutritious diet and to skip exercising in favour of studying. Healthy diet and exercise not only support you on a physical level but psychologically they remind you that you are not only the stressful thing you are going through, but have a life beyond it. Taking daily “me” time for whatever you enjoy is also important to reinforce this. To sum it all up it is always handy to go for a pithy acronym and these researchers say that you should HALT: make sure you aren’t Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.

The writers of the report conducted a survey and found that higher stress levels were associated with lack of closeness to others. So you need to maintain your friendships even if that exam coming up is really important to you. They also found that 72 per cent of the hundreds of people they interviewed said that they did not employ techniques to deal with stress.

That means whatever is happening to you, it is possible to find your happy place and the good news is that you don’t have to go looking for it, because it’s right there inside you.