By Ashley Cruz and Brandon Cummings, Mar. 15, 2022
With midterm exams approaching, stress and anxiety enters overdrive for many students on campus. To relieve stress, people adopt new hobbies or experience fun activities that can help them cope with a range of emotions. From playing games to traveling to the beach, students across campus expound upon their unique ways of coping with mental stress.
Catherine Mendoza – environmental biology student
“After an exam or sometimes even before, I try to meditate and just take a moment to recenter myself. I also like going outside to eat or listen to music. For example, if an exam goes bad, I will listen to something more intense so I can get the rage out.”
Daniel Menkir – electrical engineering student
“I really like going out to the games room and hanging out with my friends. They have foosball and pool there. I have played those type of games a few times after tough exams. I also love to just sleep or eat, but more so games. There is this game called “Pathfinder” on my PC that I love to play too, I will say I’ll play that a lot too.”
Amber Wagner – animal health science student
“I most definitely like to do some yoga or journaling outside. Drawing what I am feeling inside helps me with my emotions, also drawing how I want to feel inside can make me happy or cope with whatever exam that happened. When I am outside, I draw things like flowers, anything that consist of nature. Though, when I do feel sad, I like to draw things that I see as depression or anxiety. I draw scribbles when I think of anxiety, and for depressed moments I like to draw clouds with different dimensions. Drawing things like that is what helps me cope the most.”
Brittany Kodama – finance, real estate and law student
“I like going outside and getting some nice vitamin D from the sun. I also noticed I take walks a lot just so I can clear my mind and forget about the midterm. Sitting at the beach is also another activity I like doing after test. I like to explore my options with beaches, but I usually go to Laguna Beach, I been there the most.”
Dahlia Pasaran – technology and operations management student
“Retail therapy, I love shopping at stores like Amazon and Target. I love to do nails too; that is something soothing that calms me down. So, watching nail videos on different platforms, and listening to ASMR or lo-fi videos help me with my coping. Anything without music over it, like natural sounds that are relaxing and receptive always works for me.”
Sean Tosti – chemistry student
“I love to play games; I love the game “Red Dead” right now. The game is like a huge open world where I can do anything I want playing that really helps me relax. I normally play with friends or by myself depending on how I’m feeling. However, when I’m not in the game mood, I like playing fetch with my two dogs. I love my dogs; they also help me deal with the stress I can get.”