OPINION: How to overcome October stress on campus

By Joshua Rom, a Nottingham University student, who tweets HERE.

October has been a very long and jam packed month here at the University of Nottingham for a number of reasons. This is the month where reality sets in.

You have been away from home for a while, you are most likely ill and missing your grandmother’s chicken soup, your degree is really starting to kick in and balancing the time is becoming an issue.

Nottingham JSoc has just hosted Booze for Jews. For all the grandmother’s and mother’s that may not like to believe that it is indeed what the name suggests, it is in fact one big l’chaim where all of the Jewish students of North West London and the North come together.

Everyone knows each other and in the odd case where people do not, we pretend anyway.

• If you want to contribute to the Jewish News student section, contact  jackm@thejngroup.com! 

This was a highly stressful event to organize because of the high magnitude of the event being the absolute highlight of a Jewish student’ social calendar where people from up and down the country come to Nottingham and long lost best friends are reunited.

During the organizing process I was far from perfect in fact most of the time I was a mess. There were a lot of bumps along the road in organizing the event and even though it was a great success in the end I cannot help but wonder how I actually got through it.

My mind likes to play games on me. Sometimes in large situations I feel intimidated and I do not feel confident in myself. Although I have some of the best friends a student could ask for, sometimes I become too busy with my degree, JSoc committee work and the Nottingham Student Television production and as a result I can tend to isolate myself. Even the daily phone call from the mother checking her bubalech is eating food gets stressful at times.

Because of all of this I tend to sometimes feel alone. Even though the work I do is extremely rewarding I want to tell students that keeping a good support system around you is essential to maintain happiness.

Even if you are still struggling to find your friendship group which at this point in time in Fresher’s year I really was, try and find a person that you can open up too because keeping everything in has disastrous results.

Don’t let personal insecurities get you down.

Mine have for too long and I am sick of them. Stand up to your mind and take control.

This is hard to do and much easier said than done, but doing so I feel very empowered and it allows me to make the most out of my university experience.

People do not seem to realize this, especially the siblings that have never been to university but like the TV show, University is a Challenge (sorry for the pun). It is a very tough and potentially very stressful transition. Anxiety levels become an all time high being away from home for so long. People need to realize that it is as hard for students as it is for the relatives and friends that get left behind at home.

University pushes students out of their comfort zone completely. Parents please do not put high expectations on students about making friends, It’s time for students to experience University in their own time and for students to experience university in the way they want too.

I know parents can be pushy but leave your child be.

Stop asking them “Have you seen this persons son/daughter yet? Get friendly with them!” and yes mothers don’t lie to yourselves, you have all done it!

Act as a support system for your child not as a pusher because it is their experience at the end of the day. Also for students, go, experience whatever you want but don’t make too many commitments so that you get weighed down.

I know I may sound pessimistic but really when I look back on this month I am optimistic for the months ahead because I know what to do in order to keep myself motivated focused and most importantly happy.

To fellow students I want to say that you should try to find what you love to do and do what will make feel fulfilled and happy whatever that activity/hobby may be.