Part of being healthy is your mental state. Dealing with emotional issues, relieving stress, all this is as important to your overall health as avoiding the wrong food and working out on a regular basis.

Now that my classes are kicking in their pre-thanksgiving exams and project deadlines, I'm beginning to feel the pressure. I finally understand the expression, "Buried in work," because every time I finish something, I think of how much more work I have yet to do. Ok, so yes, the pressure has been building up in my little world. I've been overwhelmed, tired, and rather grumpy. (OK, very grumpy.) I usually respond well to pressure and stress, but I couldn't find a vent for it anyway. Normally a long run helps and puts a smile on my face for a little while; I ran for 6 miles and didn't get the desired results. That's the first time in my life running hasn't helped.

Then God sent me a solution. I got a phone call from a girl I went to high school with. She's the happiest person I have ever known. She's always smiling, laughing, and seems like she's in a perpetual hypercaffeinated state. Just talking to her for an hour completely changed my attitude, and I couldn't stop laughing at everything. And I discovered something.

This friend is completely detached from anything happening at my college or in my classes...a conversation with her is a literal getting away without the physical getting away. I was in a completely different world from Purdue, and I think that made the difference. I wasn't talking to someone who had just as much homework as me, who was just as stressed. I was getting away.  

I've always heard that taking a break when stressed helps. Most people recommend working out when taking this break, so I assumed they felt better just because of the exercise and the happy endorphins and such. I usually ran to relieve stress, so I never saw how just taking a break and talking to friends helped also. There's something about removing yourself from the problem for a while and then re-approaching it later. It just clears your mind. So my advice to my fellow stressed student population: take a break, close the books, and forget about it all for a while. GET AWAY.