Coping with Stress
Hello everyone! It’s Sude here, welcome back to another blog post. Today I’ll be sharing the different types of coping methods for the stress you may experience whilst studying architecture. The majority of the points I discuss can also be applied to other causes of stress.
1. Timetabling Stress-free Activities
Whether it be slotting in an hours session of practising a sport or grabbing a book to read, you should make these periods of free time compulsory to undergo. They are as important as your university work, as it can significantly affect your mental health. It’s a good idea to balance out a strategic timetable where your free time is scheduled into the day at times where you struggle to get work done meaning that you are not occupying the time period where you work the best. This results in you completing work and feeling productive whilst also being able to take a step back to avoid build up of stress.
2. Avoid All-nighters
I mentioned on our creators page that I will explain how I avoid all-nighters. I am midway through my undergrad and have yet to do an all-nighter. In my case, it’s the way my body works. My productivity works according to our circadian rhythm. When the sun sets, my body starts to get tired leading me to lose focus easily and completing work becomes a longer task. Rather than forcing my body to work against its will, I prefer to get my sleep. It’s also a matter of prioritising your health. If I know that I work better during daytime hours, I will rather get my 8 hours of sleep instead of eating away on my sleep that would originally have me prepared for the next day. We can’t forget time management too. If you are aiming to get a good amount of sleep you have to figure out how much time you have to spend on doing your work during the day knowing that you can’t overrun into the night. Try changing up your lifestyle and your mindset towards sleep. All-nighters aren’t the only way of getting your work done.
3. Learn from your mistakes
Accept defeat and learn from it. There is absolutely no reason for you to beat yourself up about something that is over and done with. Whether it be a bad crit, tutorial or submission mark, you need to learn from your mistakes and move on. If you ponder too much on a past result, it will most likely cause a negative toll in your upcoming work too. You do not want to reflect this sort of energy into your next project. The mark/feedback you receive doesn’t determine your capability and skills as an architecture student or even as an individual. It only reflects one occasion of presenting your work. Do not let it define you.
Being able to accept a result that you are not happy with, is definitely a process and a skill you develop over a period of time, so the sooner you begin to be less harsh on yourself and start learning from your mistakes, is when you can overcome the ‘label’, making you feel less stressed and more motivated.
4. Praise yourself
Pat yourself on the back. It is difficult being an architecture student. Constantly having to produce good quality work all year round without a proper break until all submissions are over. The degree may be overlooked for being easy since there tend to be no exams but only architecture students will know the struggle of orthographic drawings and modelling. Don’t just focus on what you’re missing and what you do not have. Look back on all the great work you have produced and the efforts that have gone into creating it. Never discredit your work. Another big mistake that will interfere with praising yourself is if you compare yourself to others. Everyone’s starting points in architecture are different so there’s bound to be people who may be producing work you wish you could too but remember everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and not everyone will continue down the same path. It’s just a matter of improving your skills as the degree goes by.
5. Seek for guidance
Universities provide many services to help cope with stress. If your levels of stress get to a concerning level, you can always seek guidance from your degree department or mental wellbeing staff which all universities provide. There is a stigma that opening up to someone about your worries and struggles may make you seem weak or inadequate for the degree. It’s normal for you to be overwhelmed to the point where you ask for help from a professional that is well aware of your position. Confiding in someone will take some weight off your shoulders instead of storing it all inside eventually to burst unexpectedly.
6. Do not leave stuff till the last minute
I’m pretty sure this point is pretty self-explanatory. Leaving a whole set of final orthographics to the night before a submission or a crit isn’t the smartest idea in the world. The only product this will cause is an immense feeling of stress and anxiety, where you probably won’t be able to complete everything to the standard you are capable of. Do not do this to yourselves.
7. Meditation
This is something that I plan on taking up as one of my new year’s resolutions. Slotting in a couple of meditation sessions into my timetable can eliminate stress. Even if it’s a temporary escape from my responsibilities, it is better than nothing. Constantly being fed content can be straining on the brain and the body. This can also help with any physical pain caused by stress as well as emotional. Calm is one example of a meditation app you can use.
8. Spend 15 minutes outdoors
We understand this is quite difficult given the current circumstance of lockdown and the pandemic, however even going out to your garden or a walk around your block for 15 minutes to refresh your mind is so important. It can help improve your mood, reduce your stress and clear your mind to plan and complete your work more efficiently, simply by getting out of that stuffy work space. It’s important to remember and implement the small things that help us cope.
That brings us to the end of this week’s post. I do hope you all prioritise your mental wellbeing during your studies. Don’t forget that you shouldn’t need to compromise your health and it should always be your number one priority.
You guys can also share your tips for coping with stress on our Instagram comments section for this post update at @archidabble. Make sure to sign up to our email update service to be updated about our weekly posts when they are released!
