Studies and Stress

Studies are a very predominant source of stress for school going children, teenagers and youth. Studies per se can be a very rewarding and stimulating experience. Studies can stimulate the mind, fill one with positive spirit and enthusiasm, broaden the perspectives towards life and can generally bring about a lot of positive changes in the life of a person.

However when studies get combined and linked to the grades you score, with competition to secure seats in the best institute, for the purpose of getting a lucrative and competitive pay cheque it becomes stress. When studies become an activity not for mental stimulation and development of an individual but an activity driven by the need to prove one’s worth and having the ultimate aim of securing a materially high and luxurious manner of living, studies can get stressful.

Children and youth both are under severe stress to prove their worth. A person is respected or considered worthless and as a failure depending upon the rank or grade he/she obtains. Therefore all are under pressure to prove their worth only by studying well and coming out in flying colours.

People put themselves through inner conflict, threaten themselves with the negative impact of failure, force themselves to do things and follow routines that are completely against their will and get bogged down under this pressure and compelling need to do well. Their self confidence, self worth, self esteem,  managing self respect, and identity as a whole is defined by and hangs on the educational merits and achievements.

Studies are also combined by expectations from parents, relatives, neighbours, teachers and other social acquaintances. Everyone is out to judge children and youth on the basis of the commercial significance their educational qualification commands. The kind of stress, exertion, mental exhaustion this kind of pressurized environment can create can be left to one’s imagination, experience and intelligence.