It's here, the dreaded exam week. For me this week is the busiest on my assessment calendar, with a test, or two, each day. A few things come with exam/assessment week- one of them being the huge amounts of stress and pressure. A narrative in an hour, really?
Pressure has some significant consequences on your health, and can make everything seem 10x harder than it actually is. We are constantly surrounded by pressure to succeed and be better than we were last time. But once again, no one is magically going to make the pressure go away. It's not going to magically disappear- you just have to learn to deal with it. Constant pressure leads to stress. Stress can impact your health by causing nausea, over/under-eating, changes to sleeping patterns, and some mental conditions. It is really important, especially with the way things are going, to learn to deal with pressure and stress in the best way possible. Having some strategies to ensure that you minimise the pressure on yourself to succeed will in turn make you stress less. And that is what I would love.
Pressure can come in two forms: from others and from yourself. For me, the biggest source of pressure is myself. I am constantly pushing myself to do better and be the best I can be- and sometimes that is just not possible, sometimes all I want is a break. The pressure I put on myself can sometimes be a really good thing, but other times it makes me stressed and anxious over nothing. I have tried to lessen my internal pressure (is that what it is called?) but I never seem to be able to let go of the high standards I hold for myself, especially when it comes to school.
Outward pressure can also be a good or bad thing. It can encourage you to do your best, but it can also force you to live up to unrealistic or impossible expectations. Being constantly told that you can do better is very damaging to your self esteem, sometimes you just need to be happy with what you are doing and not worry about the pressure family, teachers or friends are putting on you.
The pressure to be perfect all the time, or even at all, is generally very outward motivated. Your friends, family and teachers expect something of you and that is why you are constantly feeling the pressure to meet those expectations. People do not seem to understand that sometimes you just cannot meet those expectations, sometimes you fall down and make mistakes- and even though it happens to everyone no one seems willing to give you a break. I know how it feels to be told to do better, or be as good as you were before all the time, it is exhausting.
All I want is for someone to understand that keeping up high standards is exhausting and it is ridiculous to expect someone to turn up everyday and be at their best all the time. It is not humanly possible to meet every one's expectations, and people need to understand that. Just because you think that I should be able to do something does not mean that I necessarily can.
Pressure is sometimes known as an 'evil' word and I want you to remember that it is not, pressure can push people to do amazing things. But I also want you to remember that putting too much pressure, or having unrealistic expectations for someone is not fair and needs to stop.
Have you ever had unrealistic expectations put on you? How do you deal with stress and pressure?
