A lot of nursing students have a LOT of stress on a day to day basis. Sometimes that stress can lead to having problems in school. It can hurt your concentration with studying and a major problem is having the stress give you testing anxiety. A lot of students have a hard time managing that anxiety and stress. I know that there are some days I just want to give up. But it’s those times that I remind myself why I am sitting in that seat in class or why I’m waking up at 5 am to get to clinicals. Why? Nursing is the career I dream of and the stress I have is worth it in the end. Part of managing stress and testing anxiety is being able to have an inner balance and be able to calm yourself down and stay focused and be in control of your thoughts.
I was getting really stressed and I was made aware of a special room in the Student Affairs office at Mid-State. It’s called the “stress reduction room”. When you walk in you see a nice comfortable recliner, a small waterfall statue which runs water and it’s a very calming sound and other things to reduce anxiety and stress. The main part of this room is the computer. The computer has a program on it that helps you teach yourself how to slow yourself down and manage your anxiety. It rates you on having your breathing and heart rate going at the same rate. I don’t want to give away all the details because I want you to check it out!! If you go into Student Affairs stop at the desk on the left and ask Patrice if you can look at the room and ask her if you can set up some time to go in there and check it out. I guarantee it will be worth your time. Students have been using the room and have been having a lot of success in managing their stress!! So please go out and try it!!!
