Amanda Watkins
LifeStyle Editor

This time last year, I wasn’t completely myself.

Last November I had my first of many panic attacks. I was at my student house attempting to complete an essay that was due two days later, and I broke down. I lost control of my emotions and started screaming and crying. My housemate came rushing to my room because she thought someone had died. I called my parents and my dad drove from Mississauga to Hamilton to bring me home.

I felt hopeless. It was an immense and overwhelming stress and sadness that I couldn’t control no matter what I did.

I talked to my friends and family about the stress I was feeling, and they all assured me that this was a normal thing to happen to someone my age, and that I would bounce back in no time.

But I didn’t. The stress got worse, and suddenly what was once just mental frustration was beginning to disrupt my physical health. I couldn’t sleep, I would forget to eat, I started fainting and was rushed to the hospital on more than one occasion. I had lost control of myself, and thought that if I ignored the warning signs long enough, they would simply just disappear. In an attempt to turn my life back around, I resorted to unhealthy coping mechanisms that included repetitive, ritualized behavior, such as obsessive counting and forcing myself to stay awake.

The stress was tough, but what I didn’t realize at the time was that I was dealing with something greater than everyday worry.

“Everyone has stress, and especially everyone has stress around exam time,” explained Debra Earl, a nurse with the Student Wellness Centre’s Mental Health Team. “But with people who are exposed to a lot of stress, often depression can result.”

Hearing a word like depression used to describe yourself can be shocking and disheartening. Months after that particular breakdown, my inability to focus and sleep continued, and my unhealthy coping mechanisms became a default. After running from my problem for months, I realized that my symptoms were not going to go away on their own and soon after, I was diagnosed with a combination of general anxiety, depression and early signs of obsessive compulsive disorder.

“People will be struggling with a lot of symptoms, with their anxiety, with their depression, trying to manage it on their own, until it affects their academics. Then they realize, this is bigger than me, I can’t do this by myself,” said Earl.

When I was struggling with my health last year, the hardest part about finding help was accepting that I had a problem and asking for help. I was always really “normal” when it came to school, so having troubles with stress was surprising and hard to understand. But even if you don’t have a history of mental illness, during times of high stress, anything is possible.

“People who have never come in before are coming in and its beyond the stage of just dealing with stress, it’s often resulted in an anxiety disorder,” said Earl in reference to a number of students who approach the SWC for help.

Mental illness is not something uncommon among students our age, and it’s not something to be ashamed of either.

In the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey, 17 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15, approximately 4.9 million individuals, perceived themselves as having a need for mental health care in the past 12 months. It’s not a rare problem, yet for some reason, reaching out for help feels embarrassing and over dramatic.

“It would be better if people came in sooner, but most people don’t come in until a crisis has resulted,” explained Earl when speaking about early diagnosis.

There’s no reason to feel guilty, ashamed, or disappointed for feeling sick. It may not be something you have control over anymore and its ok to seek help for it. If I had dealt with my problem earlier on, I probably would have had a much more positive year and I would have found healthy coping mechanisms earlier on.

Earl encourages students who are having difficulties coping with stress to reconsider their eating and sleeping habits and make time for activities outside of school work.

If your stress is keeping you up at night, interfering with your work, or is making you feel unwell, reach out to a friend, family member, your physician, or one of the many resources on campus. Or even if you find that a friend or relative is acting out of character, initiate discussion, they may just be waiting for someone to approach them.

Running away from your problems is easy at the beginning, but trust me, they’ll catch up to you before you catch up to yourself.

Karen Piper
The Silhouette

Every year I listen to fellow students ramble on about how stressful midterms can be and the burden they have to bear of earning a reasonably ‘good’ grade on these seemingly purposeful academic assessments. Well, with Fall 2013 being my first term at McMaster, I generally had a positive attitude towards midterms and vowed my best to study hard and perform exceptionally well.

Of course, that is in a fairytale world where Thanksgiving break does not exist right before most midterms, where there are no group assignments due during the same period and one where you actually have no other life besides school. Needless to say, every one of us has multiple responsibilities, some more paramount than others.

However, should we blame our poor performance on midterm examinations on the fact that we have other commitments?  Now, please do not misinterpret this previous statement, I am well aware of the fact that many students do work tirelessly and subsequently do achieve exceptionally good grades. Nonetheless, every time I hear a conversation about midterms, it mainly has negative connotations.

Why is this so? Are we ashamed to admit that we do not have proper time management skills or that we failed to attend many of our classes during the first half of the term?

In Organizational Behavior (Commerce 2BA3), there is a unit called ‘Self Serving Bias’ which states that one generally has the propensity to take full credit for successful outcomes and deny responsibility for failures. Therefore, if we receive a good grade on one midterm, we accept all the praise and recognition associated with that outcome.

On the other hand, if our grade is disappointing, we tend to blame this outcome on the ‘poor teaching strategies’ of the professor, confusing terminology on the exam and so forth. As a student myself, after receiving a few midterm grades last week which were less than outstanding, I decided to do some self-reflection; for once I stopped blaming external factors for my “average” performance and decided that I needed to take full responsibility for my below par performance.

I suggest that we all do the same. It is true that midterms are unfortunately always around the Thanksgiving period. During this time, we would rather forget about our academic responsibilities and viagra canada online spend quality time with our family and loved ones. And who can blame us?

However, maybe if we developed an efficient study-schedule that commenced at least a week or two before Thanksgiving, we wouldn’t be tangled in a dichotomy between studying and turkey. Ample use of plenty idle time during the first few weeks of the term can save students from a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety come mid-October.

In other words, procrastination is our biggest downfall. Our saving grace should be learning from our past midterm experiences and developing a plan to perform better each year by strategizing how we are going to manage our study time. Having said this, many midterms are now over! Whew! It is almost pointless to agitate over what we could have done better.

Now is the time to enforce new, productive habits that will lead to a better performance in the final examinations. I will leave you with a quote that has great meaning to me and is quite relevant to university life: “It is not about how many times you fail, but how many times you strive to succeed after failure.”

Emma Suschkov
The Silhouette

Remember in high school when there were tests and assignments due all the time?  female viagra cream Each was worth about 5% so they really piled ‘em on. And yet somehow, everyone made it through reasonably well.

Skip forward to university. Tons of people (myself included) have a day off and there are only a couple of assignments in each course per semester (generally). So it should be manageable, right?

It all feels so manageable until that one week comes when I have four midterms, two essays, and a lab due. The week draws closer and closer and it seems as though the muscles in my shoulders will never relax again. How much does a massage cost? (Don’t be ridiculous, I don’t have time for a massage right now.)

I always tell myself to start studying and working early but no matter what, there is always last-minute cramming. I subconsciously attempt to solve calculus equations while writing an essay on autopilot. Then I read over what I wrote and it’s absolute gibberish and on top of that I still have no idea what calculus is. How can I possibly be expected to know all of this information? All of the subjects are just running together.

I keep getting advice – make sure you get enough sleep, take breaks every so many minutes, blah, blah, blah – but I can’t make time for something so unnecessary as sleep when there’s a month-and-a-half’s worth of five courses’ subject matter to learn.

So, midterms, the point is this: can you try the steady trickle method instead of always coming in a sudden flood? I’m drowning, here. Help us out a little!

Pleading again for academic mercy,

Stressed Stacey

1. Say adieu to technology. Facebook and your phone are you two worst enemies, because they distract you before, during, and after you check it. Turn off yo’ phone (or at least put it some place far, far away… preferably in the hands of someone else who you semi-trust). Turn off yo’ WiFi. And hide yo’ kids.
2. Play music without words. Lyrics are very distracting because it makes you want to sing along as if you suddenly possess the voice of Shania Twain. That said, some people tend to focus better if they’re listening to music since classical music can put you to sleep entirely. So pull out your favourite Hans Zimmer score and pray that Inception really works.
3. Watch a YouTube video if you’re lost. No, not ‘What Does The Fox Say?’ There are many educational video channels, like Khan Academy, that go through a variety of academic subjects. They can be particularly helpful if you are bored of reading and need to cram learn a concept in 15 minutes or less.
4. Read the summary and important concepts sections of the textbook. They go over what was taught in the chapter without all the extraneous details. Sure you may miss out on these details, but this way you at least have something to put in your answer on a test rather than an impassioned plea to your grader.
5. Find someone in your class to teach you. If your classmate is on top of things he’ll be more likely to understand why you’re confused. If he’s not, talking about concepts still clarifies and reinforces understanding. Sidebar: Don’t pick the person you’re trying to wheel – your crush will be a distraction and you don’t need to look like an idiot in front of them anyway.
6. Depending on the subject, do practice problems. Some practice problems will go over the major types of questions that will likely show up on a test step by step. Write down the strategies that the textbook uses.
7. Avoid rereading your notes. The best way to learn is to engage with material. Write an outline of an important concept, do some practice problems, then use your notes to fill in what you missed.
8. Complain less. Do more. Complaining about studying makes for a cathartic bonding experience, but all that time can be better spent actually studying. So get it all out in 5 minutes, then get back to work.
9. Take a break. A 20-minute break to go make a cup of tea will do wonders. Your brain simply isn’t built to work hard for hours and hours. This time can also be spent making a delectable study snack consisting of Nutella and banana slices atop a waffle.
10. Sleep. If you have a headache and nothing is going through your brain, get some sleep and wake up earlier the next day. It’s a waste of time to sit at the table and not absorb any knowledge while getting increasingly frustrated.

Amanda Watkins
LifeStyle Editor

The next few months are going to be consistently hard. And if the stress of the last few weeks has left you with little playtime and makes you want to break and/or burn things, perhaps a new calming routine may be in order.

This beloved Pinterest favourite intended for asshole children who can’t control temper tantrums, can also work wonders on your own case of the terrible twenties. This mixture provides a mesmerizing snow globe-like product that is a surefire way to calm down the midterm-induced fire of your soul. Watch the glittery concoction swirl around the jar and feel yourself drift into a state of ease and relaxation. Mix together this almost fail-proof solution and use it to put your stress at bay.

What you will need:

-       PVA glue (if you watched Art Attack, you will know what this means)

-       Boiling hot water

-       Loose glitter

-       Food colouring

-       Mason jar or empty clear container (i.e. peanut butter jar, cleaned)

Directions:

-       Fill up a little over ¾ of the jar with boiling hot water.

-       Add 2/3 of the bottle of glue to the jar. Stir.

-       Add in a generous amount of glitter

-       Throw in a few drops of food colouring until the mixture is your desired colour. Stir again.

-       Seal the container. I cannot stress this enough, make sure the jar is CLOSED. If you really need to, seal the lid to the jar with super glue. The last thing you want is a boiling hot mixture of coloured glue spilling all over yourself.

-       Give it a good shake.

-       Watch the mesmerizing patterns of the glitter as it moves around the goopy substance.

This concept may sound insane, but if crying alone in Thode or screaming at innocent passerby’s has become a regular activity for you, a calm jar may help control those genuinely insane outbursts. Embrace this toddler-approved anger management tool, and find yourself on a path to self-control. Or at least have fun making a craft.

As those who know me can woefully attest to, I am not the type of person to agonize over wardrobe choices. But when I reached for a sweater from my dwindling Clean Pile and came up with a cozy blue one, I hesitated. I stood there for a little while, half-dressed, holding the sweater at arm’s length as a convoluted stream of thoughts battled it out through the morning grogginess. Not because the colour was unflattering, not because it clashed with my pants, not because knits are out this season, but because emblazoned on the front, in friendly, bubbly lettering, was the word “SMILE.”

I knew that most people, myself included, faced with a goofy-font request to grin would likely react in some positive way. If not by smiling, than at least hopefully remembering that it’s still an option. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that demanding a smile from everyone I crossed paths with seemed a bit insensitive. What if someone I encountered, a friend, was having an off-day? My shirt wasn’t offering a sympathetic ear or a tight hug, it was suggesting they bury whatever they were really feeling under a veil of cheerful visual cues.

Nearly everyone has an automatic response for the casual query “How’s it going?” In the barrel, loaded, ready to go, is that reflexive “Good,” “Well,” “Fine.” I’ve come across a lot of discussion about this lately, calling us all out on out how little stuff like this normalizes the way we stifle hardships, hiding our weaknesses from one another. We’re all kind of programed to appear healthy and happy when someone asks how we are, regardless of whether or not we are. This discussion, I think, is constructive in that it encourages people to answer “How’s it going?” more honestly. I think it’d be nice for people to feel at ease talking through their problems, and would be a good exercise in empathy for all parties involved.

But like anything good, this message’s resonance came to an end with me. After scrolling through pages of various blog posts, newspaper articles and well-intentioned videos, I started to feel a little smothered. The concept of someone’s ability to be honest warped into a responsibility to share. I felt guilty for all the times I’d answered “Great!” to a polite co-worker, when what I was really feeling was more “Dishearteningly overwhelmed by life, stuff, and things.”

After wallowing in this image of myself as an everyday liar for a while, I started to actually think about why I lie about these things. It wasn’t because I felt some societal pressure to be perpetually cheerful, or enjoyed perpetuating an image of emotional invincibility. In fact, there are many people who have seen me laying, probably curled up, on the floor, or perhaps sprawled across a table, sobbing unattractively as only an excess of feelings can cause a person to do. Mostly because of my inability to handle terrifying amounts of kindness and happiness, but sometimes because I’ve been wholly defeated by the day.

It’s not that I don’t tell people what I’m really feeling. I’m not an emotional hermit. I just like to choose when I share, and with whom. If I tell you I’m doing great, when I’m really not, it’s not because I’m afraid the pillars of society will crumble, it’s just because this isn’t the time or place to talk about what’s eating me.

I do encourage you to ask, though. People you really care about, even when those people are strangers. Make sure you really ask, not just a quickly-rattled “whatsup?” Only ask when you want to know the answer, and know that really asking places a responsibility on you, not the answerer.

And that is a responsibility I am willing and happy to take on, all the time. So if you see me around wearing that blue knit sweater, know that despite the bold invitation, its shoulders would welcome your tears.

Plus, I give great hugs.

Amanda Watkins / Assistant InsideOut Editor

Where have you gone?

We’ve come so far as a team, yet at this crucial moment in my life, you’ve let me down.

I’ve spent years honing in on what you require to survive, yet now… You know what, fuck it. I’m not even motivated enough to finish this rant.

Yours sincerely,
Every student. Ever.

Palika Kohli
Student Health Education Centre

Last summer I had what I’ve now termed my “mid-undergraduate-crisis.” Until then, I hadn’t realized how stressful figuring out my future could be. It was always a vague haze, far away from my present, and I gave it an equally vague, hazy title that would somehow sound concrete. I realized that not only the path I had always imagined myself taking was one of many, but also that I basically knew nothing about that initial path in the first place.

It was all very confused. I switched my projected career path about three times, gave my parents conniptions and took the mandatory trip to Europe to “figure myself out.”

How I determined my future path might not be how you choose to consider yours. But what I realized is that it’s never too early to think about your future. The worst that can happen is that you’ll change your mind.

And if you don’t know where to start, here are some tips and resources that I have found to be pretty useful.

By: Ronald Leung

Did you know that excitement is a type of stress? When you’re planning an exciting birthday or party, stress drives you to do a really good job – because you really care about what you’re involved in. How does this differ from that nasty exam lurking months ahead? As cheesy as it sounds, it’s in our attitude. Hey, don’t expect anyone to suddenly become excited over an exam compared to a weekend hangout but slowly, the only way to really combat stress is to look at the challenges you have in a more positive light. Even the small things – choosing a file folder at Titles, or what to eat at Centro can all be related back to stress, just on a minuscule level. It’s just your brain looking out for you – it wants the best for you.
The next time you get stressed, try to turn the situation around. Think about what could be positive about that horrendous roadblock you see up ahead.
So the next time you see an upcoming midterm (don’t try to pretend you didn’t know you had one until the weekend before), really and I mean really try to plan out your studying time. Okay, who really wants to study? Hopefully, images of your crazed/binge-eating/exhausted/dazed self the night before the exam is some motivation. And if you do it long enough – gasp – it’ll become habit and soon stress will turn from that sleepless force to a more gentle coach. I think we’ve all had our fair share of stress, it’s time to turn the tables to take advantage of the benefits of stress.

By Rob Hardy

One of the bigger decisions of our lives is not only what kind of education we should pursue and where, but also what field we will choose to study. In recent years, and ever since The Great Recession, this has become a larger concern for the majority of people who enter higher education these days. But in true Socratic fashion, this becomes a much bigger debate we have with others and ourselves. Whether we realize it or not, we gradually develop philosophies on which things we value and, consequently, which we don't.

As our time in university plods on, we are forced to confront what value means to us. Is it some kind of inherent quality regarding the sanctity of life on all levels? Are we okay with resigning those ideals once money enters the equation on a more pressing level? Or are our values what we actually practice when it comes down to the wire? These are only some of the dilemmas facing us as we choose courses and think about graduate school.

While it is prudent to be aware of what awaits us when we choose to study philosophy or any of the other programs under the umbrella of Humanities, it is also prudent to understand the ways our experiences will vastly differ based on whether we make our decisions on external or internal forces.  Simply put, doing things we intrinsically enjoy versus our current idea of what practical is.

And therein lies a distinction. We never have to think about, or usually regret, those things that truly give us joy and make the minutes and days a pleasure to go through. But some conception outside of us about what constitutes security and a safe path is always to some degree arbitrary, shifting and not wholly clear.

I'm talking about this because there has been so much negative press circulating about the validity of pursuing a degree in the Humanities, or what others similarly refer to as the Liberal Arts. But what is ironic and unbeknownst to most, is that these subject areas of language, philosophy, music, as well as mathematics, in relation to our place in the world, formed the core of university curriculums since their inception. The line of reasoning was that in order to be a truly free person, one must be educated, and that these subjects were the essence of enlightenment.

So while the marketplace, something which is extremely fickle to say the least, is demanding students study business, technology, and other cut-and-dried industries, we are drifting further away from a core understanding of the institutions we comprise. And while there is nothing wrong in formulating a resume in order to optimize your chances of gaining secure employment and future prospects, we have to be aware of how much we are giving up as we essentially design and subsidize our own job-training programs then later nostalgically wonder about having forgone those courses for which we had a genuine curiosity. When we ask others to validate our paths and experiences, we lose control and confidence in becoming the captains of our own life journey.

It is no secret that university departments across North America are slashing budgets, and that Humanities departments are front in line.  But we need to take another look at the real value of dismissing what has been, up until now, the heart and soul of academia. After all, if we don't care what others have shared and discussed in the past, why should we be presumptuous enough to ask future generations to give us an audience?

As idealistic and passionate as I am about those courses many now deem a waste of time, I have to admit that I would have no problem with going into fields which are big money-earners if I had the aptitude. No one wants to feel like whatever they have worked on for years is not valued and rewarded by society as a whole. At the same time, there is a transient quality in current trends. Certain fields are booming now, but busts always follow sooner or later.  And for all the talk of “experiential learning” and teamwork, I still fail to fully grasp how this applies despite reading every word of Forward with Integrity, our esteemed University president's views on the direction we are/should be heading.

As much as we want some kind of short cut, the fact is that acquiring substantial knowledge has always involved the discipline of a tremendous amount of individual study over time. Other skill sets are also important today, but they are not so much academic in nature as they are broader social requirements newly demanded of everyone now.

Like many articles you have read on the subject, this is all just food for thought. Some of us are looking forward to careers in professions with a clearly defined track with little room for flexibility, while others have priorities that extend to other life areas, leaving little curiosity to debate the place of education in our lives.  Still, we should not be afraid or dismissive of the long rows of books we pass by as we walk through the library, thinking them irrelevant to our everyday lives. Just as Twitter has formulated the catchphrase “Join the conversation”, there are many other conversations waiting to be engaged, some via the printed word, spanning space and time.