Everybody hurts
Giving up fight against stress is not the answer
exactly what you’ll do when you get
out is anyone’s guess. So much time
has been spent dealing with actually
being in college that you haven’t had
time to give a thought to what's
going to go on once it’s over. If it
ever is. Graduation might be another
of those myths like the Loch Ness
monster, Bigfoot and “The Good
Life.”
It’s Friday, and a couple of your
friends are going out drinking. They
don’t ask you, and even if they did,
you just don’t have the time. There’s
school work, job work and so much
other crap, you’re going to go crazy.
There’s only a couple of people
you’re attracted to - you work with
both of them, naturally - and you
don’t know if either of them is inter
ested in you. Even if they were, you
really doubt they’d have time to fit
you into their busy lives, and even if
they did, you aren’t sure you could fit
them into yours.
You’re working two jobs, consid
ering a third, and taking 15 credit .-y...
hours. ' .• ";1|K'
In the job where you’re a grunt, ?
you hate the way the bosses treat
you. It’s getting more stressful, and
you’re not sure you can take much
more. You’d quit if only you could
afford to.
In the job where you have some
authority, the people who work
below you don’t like you, the people
above you aren’t happy with the
work you’re doing, the people in
other departments wonder how you
got put in charge, and you’re just try
ing to make ends meet.
Some people don’t show up to
work. Some people are cranky at
work. Some people want to blame
you for the problems in their lives.
Some people want to take out their
problems on you. No one wants you
to make them feel better - they’re
sure you’ll only make things worse.
So you’re stuck picking up the slack,
trying to build the Eiffel Tower from
a couple of toothpicks and bottle of
Elmer’s Glue.
You know you have an apartment,
because you keep getting bills for it,
but you’ll be damned if you know
what it looks Idee. You usually stum
ble into it with die lights off, and it
hasn’t really been worth your time to
turn die lights on anyway. You know
the route to your bed by heart,
because it’s the only path you walk in
the place. Even in die dark, though,
you can hear the damn “rose-col
ored” carpeting taunting you. They
didn’t tell you it was “rose” until die
day you were moving in, and you still
resent it at least a little.
It seems like life’s just about as
problematic as it can get. You’ve
honestly had dreams about climbing
to the top of the Capitol with a sniper
rifle and just venting some random
aggression. The worst part is that you
haven’t felt much guilt about those
dreams. Much more of this and
you’ll go crazy.
Breathe,
Fix what you can. Stop worrying
about what you can’t
If it seriously seems like you’re
going to snap (and believe me, I
know that feeling all too well), take a
deep step back, and put it all into
perspective.
Consider this my open-ended
plea to the people who, like me, are
on the verge of collapse:
My friends and my colleagues,
my columnists and my bosses, my
folks mid my cat
Topher, Lupus and Willis; Lovely
Lady Erin, Mad Man Matthew, the
Fork and foe J-Dogg; Gibs and Joe
X; Mom, Dad and even temperamen
tal little Marx.
And more than that, you, foe stu
dent who made it all foe way down
here in this column.
Each and every one of us is
stressed out, and there are only three
things we can do.
The first is to breathe.
A little relaxation will put it all
into perspective.
The second is to ask for help.
The world can’t be beaten single
handedly. Our ancestors came down
from foe trees and banded together;
for survival.
Modem life is pushing us apart.
Cling to those important to you.
Refuse to let them give up, and
they’ll do foe same for you, should
you need it. Friendship is more
important than anything else in this
world.
And most importantly, never fin
ish foe game before it’s time.
Giving up, quitting - it ain’t foe
answer, folks. Don’t let The Man get
you down.
We will survive.
CLIFF HICKS is a senior
news-editorial \ and
English major and the
Daily Nebraskan opinion
editor.
Stress isn’t incurable.
Your homework’s building up
around you. You haven’t read the 12
books for the English class, the read
ing material for the poli sci classes is
so dull you use it to put yourself to
sleep at night, and you think, maybe,
you missed a test or two somewboe
' along the hue in, say, half of your
classes. .- ' , *
The bills just keep coming. The
folks who deliver your mail have
adjusted their schedules so they can
leave mail without you seeing, so
that they don’t have to face your
wrath.
Everyone wants your money. The
cable company wants your money,
the credit card companies want your
money, the power company wants
your money, the telephone company
wants your money, your landlord
wants your money and, come to think
ofit,sodoyou.
Because you haven’t got any.
You’ve been eating ramen noo
dles and ice water for three weeks,
trying to string yourself along until
the end of the month when payday
comes, which, you hope, will be
enough to pay at least one of the bill
collectors off and buy you the next
month’s supply of ramen noodles. It’s
either that or another month of buy
ing food on your gas station credit
card.
. iour roommate is m even more
debt than you. He’s had trouble pay
ing rent over the past few months, so
you’ve been piclang up the majority
of the bills, just so you don’t get
evicted or arrested. But you’re still a
few months behind. Your roommate
must owe you almost a thousand dol
lars right now.
Your cat turned temperamental
and scratched you up pretty good last
nnik U«n UamU
** wuvn. viurru.
He hasn’t been that nice to
you lately, and you should
have taken him to die vet two
weeks ago for a shot, but
there’s that money thing
again.
Most of your friends
have meandered out of your
life, and it’s not their fault
really that they’re becoming
successful, starting relation
ships, marrying, getting laid
every night, traveling across
the country and generally
enjoying being alive.
The only friends who
aren’t loving every minntp of
their life are just about as
miserable as you are. They
don’t have time to Call, they
don’t have time to hang out,
and they can’t really spare a
minute to drop you an e
mail. They won’t let you help
them, and they don’t have
time to help you.
Your parents wonder why
you don’t return their calls.
They haven’t seen you in
months, and they’re starting
to worry that something
might have happened. At
least, that’s what Mom tells'
your answering machine.
She worries about you, she
tells you. Your mom knows
die words to the machine’s
message by heart
Sooner or later, you’re
hoping to graduate, but
' * \ v V v • v ■ ’
I
Eulliam Journalism Fellowships
Graduating college seniors are invited to apply for the" 26th annual
Pulliam Journalism Fellowships. We will grant 10-week summer
internships to 20 journalism or liberal arts majors in the August 1998
June 1999 graduating classes.
Previous internship or part-time experience at a newspaper is desired.
Winners will receive a $5,250 stipend and will work at either The
Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News or The Arizona
Republic.
Eariy-admissions application postmark deadline is Nov. 15,1998. By .
Dec. 15,1998, up to five eariy-admissions winners will be notified.
All other entries must be postmarked by March 1,1999.
To request an application packet, write: Russell B. Pulliam
Fellowships Director
The Indianapolis News
P.O. Box 145
Indianapolis, IN 46206-0145
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