Paintball or nail polish, just live without stress

The spring semester hadn’t even started yet, but I was already worrying about the classes I… The spring semester hadn’t even started yet, but I was already worrying about the classes I was going to have to drop, which ones I had to add, the books I was going to buy and figuring out what days I had available to work. The pressure was intense, and I hadn’t even attended my first class. This is the sort of anxiety that I go through before, after and during every school semester.

It was just after I began worrying about finding some free time that I realized I am filled with anxiety over minor problems for a large part of my day. It then dawned on me that most college students probably go through the same thing.

With homework, exams, the GRE and our futures looming over our heads, we are faced with dilemmas every day. It made me wonder: When exactly did our lives turn into this uphill battle against responsibility and work? I can’t remember the last time I was able to just relax without having to worry about what was going to happen tomorrow, a week and even years from now.

At first, I thought that I was alone in this constant state of turmoil, but after talking with a few friends and classmates, I realized that this is a daily struggle for a lot of people. In fact, school and graduating were among the top concerns facing a lot of the students I talked to. After taking all of this in I started to wonder what all of this worrying is getting me, besides a headache and possibly an ulcer.

That very thought is what leads me to suggest that we should overthrow all of our cares and our worries for at least one day a week. I don’t mean going out, partying and getting drunk. If you do, chances are you won’t remember half the night, and it’s not very relaxing to have your head stuck in a toilet. What I’m suggesting is taking a break from the daily grind and doing something fun and relaxing.

The first activity you can do is to just be a kid again. Play hide and seek with a few of your friends in the William Pitt Union or have a snowball fight in the middle of Forbes Avenue. Try to think of the one thing that brought you pure joy when you were a kid and just do it.

Another thing you can try is a spa day with some friends. If you have the money, go out to a real spa where you can get facials, manicures and pedicures in one, self-pampering afternoon. For those who don’t have that extra cash lying around to splurge, stay at home. Create your own spa, complete with one friend in charge of facials and one in charge of manicures. I’d leave each person to handle her own feet.

While you’re with your friends, revert back to childhood one more time with a day full of dressing up in each other’s clothes and doing each other’s hair and makeup.

If you don’t feel like staying in and raiding your closets, take a day out with a few of your friends and play some paintball. Nothing beats the studying blues quite like shooting your friends with tiny pellets of paint.

For those with significant others, simply taking a long stroll in the park might bring you relief you from the daily stresses that can be so overbearing. If you don’t mind the cold, Pittsburgh has a large array of parks where you can take a relaxing stroll or a vigorous hike. If you prefer gliding to walking, take a short trip to Schenley Ice Rink and have a fun afternoon of slipping and sliding.

If you don’t consider falling on your butt all day relaxing you could try sled riding, if the weather permits. Nothing beats the cool air rushing against your face on the way down. The ride is so exhilarating it might even help you forget you’re going to have to lug the sled back up the hill. Don’t have a sled? Any household object, like a garbage bag, can substitute.

Whatever you choose to do on your day off, remember that we are still students. We haven’t entered official “adulthood” yet, so relax a little. I believe it was Aristotle who once said that worrying is like a sixth toe – it’s pointless. Well, maybe that wasn’t Aristotle, but the saying still has some resonance.

Jennifer bets you can’t say “sixth toe” five times fast. To prove her wrong, e-mail her at mjk18@pitt.edu.