It’s April and it is stress awareness month! Now is the perfect time to reflect about stress management. Stress is dangerous if it is not managed properly and it is a well-known fact that stress can lead to heart attack, stroke, hypertension and diabetes. There are many ways that we can choose to manage our stress. Type the word stress on the internet and google can list a thousand of ways to choose from.
Working as a teacher now is very demanding due to the high expectation of the stakeholders and employers. We are expected to perform and deliver results but at the same we are bogged down with responsibilities which are NOT related to academic. Juggling tasks as a teacher, mother, wife and part-time student is really taxing. Stress level is increasing drastically when assignments needed to be submitted, exam papers to be marked and keyed in marks on time, and not to forget the husband that felt neglected by me. To add more stress, my legs suddenly were painful when I walked and my doctor said it was caused by abnormal bone growth. Imagine how I felt when all of those had to be completed or addressed appropriately at the same time. At that moment, all the stress symptoms were experienced , headache, feverish, heart beat rapidly, tense muscles and the list went on.
Taking my friend’s advice, I took one step a time. There is no point doing multi-tasking when actually we do shoddy work. Taking a deep breath, hold it and exhale. I did that a few times and in between break times. Praying on time and reciting a short surah from the Quran really worked. I felt less tense and calm to proceed doing my job.
Buddy support is also playing an important role in managing stress. Having someone just to listen to our problems and saying a few encouraging words is helpful. It is like we are sharing or transferring our burden to him or her. This seriously will make us feel lighter and feel much stronger to face our problems. Somehow we will not feel alone in this because there are people who will catch us if we fall and always stand by us. Sharing problems also is a way to release stress because we can let out what we felt inside. Bottling up the tense inside is not good for our health. It will lead to depression and mental instability.
In my opinion, high stress tolerant is needed in our life. Stress can come in many forms and sometimes unexpectedly. How we manage our life will reduce the stress that we might face. Prioritize our work and follow the plan or schedule made consistently will surely save us from stress. Those who plan to hold a top post, for example as a principal need to be ready to face all the things that might stress us up. Dealing with students, teachers , staff and parents is not an easy job. This is because we are dealing with humans who are a complex being. The touch of humanistic with a tinge of firmness is said suitable when handling people. However, it all depends on the leader’s personality and wisdom to tackle the problems faced and at the same time reduce the stress level.
How about the MRSM students? From my students’ response, I can list a few factors that cause stress:
1. A lot of homework – everyday they will have to complete homework given by teachers. Their preparation time is only spent doing homework. They have to burn midnight oil and sacrifice their sleeping hours.
2. Packed schedule- not enough with the mounting homework, every day , 6 days a week , all sorts of programs are organized for the benefits of the students.
3. High expectation – students are expected to maintain the good performance made by their seniors and even expected to do better. Parents‘ expectation also is burdening the students especially those who do not perform well academically.
The stressed up students are finding ways to release the tense by breaking the school rules doing minor offense like flying ( going out from school at night ) just to eat roti canai, jamming and committing serious offense like smoking, fighting or vandalizing. The distressed students sometimes play truant just to skip certain class of certain subjects such as Add Math. The worst case that happened would be a student who refused to attend all classes or hysteria.
Every day in MRSM schedule, there is recreational time at 5 to 6.30pm. Students are supposed to play games, exercises, jog or cycle around campus to relax. Other than that students are allowed to go outing during the weekend to destress and socialize with friends. Something different about MRSM is we have one week for activities where no formal classes are carried out. This is normally done in between long academic months to give students a break and destress. Fun activities are organized by the student bodies and monitored by teachers. At the end of the year, students are looking forward to attending the grand dinner and the whole batch final camp together. These are a few events which are memorable for all students in MRSM TGB. Finally, the day when the SPM result is released. Seeing all As or 8As in the result slip will definitely erase all the trial and tribulations they had been through for two years in MRSM TGB!
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