Dear Chip,

When COVID hit I wasn’t too worried about getting it and when the school shut down I was glad. Doing work from home was stressful I never wanted to do work and I had to help my brother do his work. But over the summer I started worrying about my grandparents we weren’t aloud to see them until we started back school. So went we started back school I was happy to start doing work and not being at home all the time but school started getting really stressful and I wasn’t fully understanding what the teachers were trying to teach. It was very stressful plus trying to help out a 6th grader who doesn’t like to do his work. I spent a lot of time crying and trying to get work turned in last minute. My question for you Chip is what’s the best way to deal with stress.

Sincerely, Stressed person

Dear Stressed Person,

I know that school is hard, especially now with COVID. Your situation sounds very hard, as well. Helping a sibling who already doesn’t want to work, work while also trying to balance your workload has got to be hard. Many people deal with stress in many ways. I deal with stress by listening to music or writing something. Sometimes I write poems in my free time when I’m feeling down or upset. I think there are steps to dealing with stress or a challenging situation. 1. You need to recognize the problem, which you’ve already done. 2. You need to accept that this specific situation is bothering you. I know this might not help with this problem specifically, but it could help in the future. Sometimes accepting that somethings bothering us can be challenging. 3. You need to do what you feel is going to help you (that is not harmful, of course). This could be writing it down, listening to music, hagging out with friends or people that are going to uplift you, being alone in a quiet room, reading, watching a tv show that you like and makes you happy, playing a game that helps you, etc. Finally, 4. It would help if you transferred your energy or stress into positive energy and don’t focus directly on it. I know this is hard when it’s about everywhere and there is nowhere to go to escape it but try your best not to focus on the negativity of the situation. You don’t want people to feel like you aren’t positive without trying to off that impression. You also don’t want a negative mindset as that will bring you down. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health so stay on top of it. Life isn’t always going to be easy, but I can tell you that this is the hardest job you’ll ever have. You’re working 8 hours a day without pay to earn a letter grade because you have to. Getting through grade school and graduating is going to be a huge accomplishment. Keep going; your stress is temporary.

Best, Chip