Devils In Depth: Feeling Overwhelmed

“Devils in Depth” is a project that gets down to earth and captures the diversity of Arizona State’s student population. We engage in conversations with students in an effort to learn more about their passions and get a feel for who they really are. Then we ask them their thoughts on a central theme. This week’s theme is centered on what causes students to feel overwhelmed and how they combat those feelings.

Logan

“I usually put free time to the side to give myself that balance. Go and hang out with friends otherwise there’s no other point and you’re going to be depressed in school.”

“Otherwise your life is going to fall out of balance and you’re going to spiral into being super stressed and put yourself in a hole.”

Evanna

“When I have a lot of assignments, I make a big list and I go through and check all these things off. But no matter how many things I check off, there’s always more to be added to the list. What always overwhelms me is the feeling of mediocrity or insufficiency.”

“I live in the dorms, so I don’t have that much space in my room, but as soon as I step away and use that space for prayer, it’s like the entire room changes. It’s a completely different atmosphere, even though I’m sitting in the same exact chair. Another thing I do is I spend an outrageous amount of time making Spotify playlists — I have one for every mood and every day. So that’s another way that I cope with feeling overwhelmed.”

Alexis

“When I have 500 projects in one week. Tomorrow I have two of my biggest test and I’m a little stressed out and studying all the time, but I think I’ll do alright. You got to have confidence.”

“I just take breaks from studying and try to relax, watch Netflix and try not to worry too much.”

“Refresh so you’re not so tense all the time and I think if you over-study that’s a problem too. You want to be relaxed for your test the next day so definitely get good sleep and eat well.”

Jose

“Assignments [stress me out], man. I wish classes were staggered and finals were like one week for every class. [And] I’m a terrible procrastinator. Just yesterday, I had an eight-page paper due at midnight and I started at eight o’clock, and I was like “this is painful!” That’s the life, that’s why they call it “Hell Week.”

“I combat stress by napping. It’s weird, especially during finals week — I basically don’t sleep and just take multiple naps throughout the day. That’s one coping mechanism, playing music is good, and like Evanna said, prayer.”

Cierra

“Usually I’ll find a spot where I can bust out a lot of homework alone usually and just working on the homework and working on studying and the projects usually helps me. Just to know that I’m doing the most that I can. Also, I have faith and praying is something that I’ll do when I feel overwhelmed or stressed. That’s definitely something I go to.”

“For me, when I take that step back and look at the bigger picture that helps me realize that there are other things going on in the world that are a lot worse. Then when I think all I have to do is study for a test it helps me relax and be like, ‘even if I get a bad grade it’s not the end of the world compared to what else is going on.’”

Adam

“Socializing kind of helps take the stress away for a little bit.”

“It’s not a long term way to get rid of whatever is causing the stress but its temporary relief until you can get back into it. get back to studying or homework and working. It temporarily helps alleviate it.”