Is stress a major motivation for our need to succeed?
I got 3/4ths of my grades so far. They are dismal. Why? I had no job, no other pressing situations going on, no relative stress....
Stress. Something that I have been lacking in these last couple of months. I wonder, is the lack of stress actually detrimental my academic career? I have come to the conclusion that it is.
Many of us like to complain on how incredibly, infuriatingly, insanely stressful life can be: demanding college courses, demanding family, demanding soul-sucking part-time job. Many will tell you how they wish it would all just stop to make life a little easy.
However, how empty would our lives be without this constant, nagging stress? Imagine having classes that don't challenge you? A family who doesn't give a damn? No job at all? Stress can be a motivator: the need to have to get this stress off drives you to do the things you need to do.
It's not to say too much stress can't be harmful. An imbalance in stress can cause neglect in other areas (workaholic parents neglecting their children, who eventually turn into hell raisers) which isn't healthy. Prioritizing comes in handy to judge which areas need to be paid more attention to than others.
While many of us don't desire staring at a computer screen at 2:17 a.m., brain functioning only because it's hopped up on caffeine, trying to string together coherent sentences to hopefully passable paragraphs, we do enjoy the rewards at the end of a long, stressful evening of completing a term paper. We breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the sleep deprivation didn't go to waste.
Perhaps I am only speaking for myself here.
The need to constantly be on top of your work give us a sense of accomplishment, of purpose. Otherwise, we feel as if we have nothing to do... floating around... uselessly. What reward will come of floating around? Nothing.
We need the relentless struggle to finish something most of the time. It makes down time all the more worthwhile.
Stress, in moderation, is good for the soul.
I resolve to take more courses next semester; Perhaps 6 instead of 4. Perhaps the crushing weight of the work overload will motivate me to succeed at all of them.
I'll just attempt it from not breaking me.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Thoughts as I ride the A train.
Previous posts.
A little more about me.
Fellow thinkers.
Posts
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. - A.E.
1 comment:
I think that stress can be one of the most motivating factors in our lives, yet at the same time, one of the most detrimental. Like you, stress has motivated me to work harder academically. When I've had a lot of things to do, it's been overwhelming, but at the same time I feel like it's pushed me to make sure I get everything done and do the best I can, and usually, it yields good results. However, in sophmore year, my classes were pretty easy for me (with the exception of math), yet my average was the lowest that year and it wasn't even just because of math. I had low scores in classes where I could have done much better in, all because I had nothing motivating me or pushing me to make sure I did the work.
Life without stress would definitely be empty, like you said. If we didn't have anything in our life that challenged us, or difficult situations we had to overcome, our lives would be pretty much pointless. The concept of being stress-free sounds amazing to most people: not having to worry about anything, having everything come easy to you, and just being able to enjoy yourself and your life. Yeah, at first it'd probably be pretty amazing, but after a while, what would be the point? Life would just be the same thing over and over again, and eventually we'd get tired of it. A lot of the things in my life that have made me happy were things I've achieved and accomplished by working hard and putting effort into, which, of course, involved some degree of stress. Without it, I doubt I would have been as motivated to work hard and to gain these things.
"While many of us don't desire staring at a computer screen at 2:17 a.m., brain functioning only because it's hopped up on caffeine, trying to string together coherent sentences to hopefully passable paragraphs, we do enjoy the rewards at the end of a long, stressful evening of completing a term paper. We breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the sleep deprivation didn't go to waste." < That's true for me, too. Of course nobody wants to have to stay up late to work on a paper, but once it's done and we get to go to sleep (or if we can't sleep, at least knowing we've finished) it's a great feeling, knowing that we accomplished something, and hoping that the effort we've put into our work has paid off.
At the same time, though, being overstressed is a bad thing. It's not good to worry about every little thing in life and have it cause you more stress than necessary. I know that I have a tendency to worry about things too much and have them get me down, and I'm trying my best not to do that because I know it's not healthy. Even though stress motivates me to work harder and be better, I need to make sure to manage my stress levels so it won't screw me up. Like you said, it's good in moderation.
Good luck with your work next semester; hopefully you'll improve your grades and get ones that you're happier with. Just make sure not to overstress yourself- if you're feeling too overwhelmed, take some time to spend with friends, eat good food, laugh and have a good time...or just take time for yourself, if you need it. Life is all about balance...it's not always easy to find that balance, but all we can do is try our best.
Post a Comment