Ending of semesters is always the most stressful time for students who dealt with their final essays. And if you are also facing with this issue. This one is for you!

Lynn and Song are two smart girls who are studying their master degree at the University of Melbourne at the age of 20s.

As other students who are studying in the top universities on the world, Lynn and Song are usually facing with stress issues related to overload in studying and working.

However, the ways how these smart girls get over their stressful situations are very fantastic and valuable for us to learn.

“Stress is my motivation to achieve something really awesome. But it also makes me feel burnout few times”, Lynn states it when we are having an interview in Art West building – one of the most beautiful place in the University of Melbourne. She is a typical academically high achievement millennial who used to get totally 89/100 score when studied her bachelor degree in East China Normal University (ECNU) – one of the top University in China.

Firstly, the stress is a mental health issue that is becoming more serious in recent years, especially for millennials who are studying in the universities in Australia.

In a survey revealed on The Hijacked, it stated that 70% of students are facing with the stress issue and having experience of “low moods” when studying in the universities surrounding this country.

Therefore, the problems related to stress have received a massive concern from the public for years. This is the reason why many studies about this field have been conducted in Australia, especially about the stress in millennial generation.

In this article, by interviewing Lynn and Song, two academically high achievement millennials who dealt well with their stressful situations in daily life and in academic life, we will have a better understanding about some effective ways that these people are using to solve their problems.

These academically high achievement girls will reveal about 4 main methods that they usually use in their daily lives to reduce the level of stress as well as doing their studying better in the University of Melbourne.

Rule 52 vs 17

This is one of the most interesting methods that my interviewees recommend for me.

 

Maybe you hear about the Pomodoro Technique that encourage people have the short breaks between working times to improve productivity. This rule is another version of this technique that encourage people to concentrate for 52 minutes and take a rest for next 17 minutes.

“This rule is very effective for me, especially in my assignment periods. It help me feel more comfortable when writing essays and do not exhausted because of sitting in front of computer for a long time”, Song states.

This rule encourages people to relax their minds frequently instead of concentrating too much on their tasks for many hours.

But why these numbers are 52 and 17? Why these are not another numbers but should be these specific ones?

Actually, these magic numbers has been researched by conducting many experiments about human’s productivity in recent years. And in one of the latest news related to this, the research has reconfirmed about the effectivity of this number and consider that it is the most effective method to improve the quality of work.

Not only Song but Lynn also has a similar way of thinking about this rule.

“I absolutely agree with Song.

“This rule is very effective and I encourage everyone tries to apply it in their daily lives. Because when you concentrate on something such as writing essays for a many hours. It is very tired and so stressful. Sometimes, you cannot have a good idea to write a good essay, either.

“Personally, I usually apply this method to study and suggest that it is the most useful tip I have learnt from Song”, Lynn smiled when revealed to me how she thinks about this rule and who taught her to apply this rule in her life.

Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships

“Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships” – this is one of the most famous quotes of legend Michael Jordan. And it is also a quote that Song uses to motivate herself to spend more time with friends instead of doing her research alone – a relatively popular phenomenon for master students in the University of Melbourne.

“I know that most of my friends love doing everything by themselves. They enjoy to study or hangout alone. However, I do not think that it is a good habit and can make you feel lonely or more stressful rather than studying or hanging out with a group of friends”, Song told.

It is true when said that many millennials usually choose to do a lot of things by themselves nowadays.

This trend could be considered as the result from the development of modern life style when we become more independent people; and the impact of social media platforms when encourage for the spirit of D.I.Y (Doing it by yourself), especially in Australia.

This spirit becomes a phenomenon in the young generations living in Australia, especially for millennials that encourage people try to do everything by themselves rather than asking someone for helping or supporting.

However, this trend also causes negative effect when it makes young people more lonely compared to the older generations, who usually spend more time for making friends and doing teamwork.

Enough Sleeping

At the first glance, this idea seems be very simple and does not make sense in solving stress problem. But actually, there are many studies pointing out that it is a real problem in our competitive society nowadays.

Within the higher living cost and higher requirements for new employees, many young people are required to work and study harder than older generations to have enough money to support for their lives or have a chance to get a good job in the future after graduation.

However, to earn more money or getting the better scores in colleges usually require students spend more time to focus on them and these are also the main reasons why many millennials do not have enough sleep time every day.

And in a research of Camille Peri published on WebMD, it revealed that Sleepless can cause many negative effects to our mental and physical health in a short or long time period.

“I always sleep at least 8 hours per day. And whenever I feel stress for essays, I just take a nap for an hour. Then, my mood will go up again”, Song told me about her favourite way to reduce her stress during the final exam period.

Do not Overthinking

Overthinking is a very popular phenomenon in young generation nowadays. It could start from comparing yourself to others who are smarter; or can earn more money; or live in a colourful life than you. All of these reasons could be the important starting point for overthinking in the millennials.

Moreover, when the social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook and Instagram are more viral, we can easily see pictures or videos of our friends who are enjoying their colourful lives while we are sticking in our rat races every boring day.

And it becomes the reason why many young people are easily stressful because of overthinking about their lives and their issues.

“Don’t think! Just make it”. Source: Anthony Lee. Used with permission

““Don’t think. Just make it”, this is the motivation quote usually appear in my mind when seeing my friends update their awesome lives on Facebook or Instagram. Overthinking just make me feel upset and cannot solve any real problems. So, I always try to do something really useful such as studying or working harder instead of thinking too much”, Lynn stated.

Her way of thinking is really awesome that I considered young people should try to apply in our real lives. Let be an “action man/woman” who try to create real results instead of overthinking and feel stress out because of your fiction issues.

You won’t have anything if you just think and do nothing.

Obviously, nobody wants to face with stress situations. However, this is a part of our lives, you cannot hide it, but you can learn how to solve it in effective ways. Especially in our modern society, the millennials like us are facing with more troubles than previous generations and “stress” is becoming a popular term for many of us. Through this article, I hope that you will earn some new strategies that support you to think positively and know how to get over stress more effectively.

“Life is a game, play it”. Source: Mother Teresa

 

Feature image: “HOW SMART MILLENNIALS SOLVE THEIR STRESS ISSUES”– Source: Canva.com; edit by Anthony Lee. Used with permission.