As college students, we all know midterms and finals week can be the most stressful time of the school year. But how do students deal with stress during the average week? I spoke with Mercer student Donald Williams Junior about his experience with college stress and how he de-stresses.

“In a normal week, I’d say on a scale from one to ten, more like a seven. I’m usually about a seven. But that’s kinda like my sweet spot, six or seven that’s my sweet spot of stress,” says Williams. “De-stressing after the week um, I’m kinda the one who likes the solitude, so I go back to my room, and just do what I like. Maybe watch some TV, maybe play a few cards with myself, or play a video game. I’m
one who plays video games. So that’s usually how I destress, and just regenerate and recharge for the upcoming week.”

Donald is an international business and economics major and is taking sixteen credit hours this semester. However, he says it isn’t just classes that cause him stress.

“It’s not even school for me, it’s the extracurriculars that I do. Um, my classes I pretty much have a nice handle on, but it’s just things outside of class that really takes up most of my time. Some of them actually help me destress, but others obviously do add to the stress. Most of the time it’s what I like, so it’s a nice sweet spot for me. The stress is kinda what I like”, says Williams.

He also has some advice for students who are new to the stressful life of college.

“Freshman who are dealing with college stress. Well, this is the perfect time for you to figure out what works for you, and what doesn’t work for you. So getting out of your comfort zone is going to be stressful at first, but understanding and figuring out those news things that you like about that new thing that you’re trying makes the world of difference”, says Williams. “And from there you can kinda figure out and gage what makes you stressed, what works for you, what helps you destress, and go from there. And kinda formulate your own plan of health.”

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