Exam and Stress

Fams and actives of Read-land, my introductory question goes like this "Have you ever 'drawn a blank' during a test situation? You've studied, but when it comes time for the exam, you seem to have forgotten everything and are unable to function?"

Damnit! It happened to me again

It's not your fault at all! Sometimes our executive functioning can go "offline" when we are under stress. This is due to our brain's stress center, which is the area that compels us to fight, run, or freeze while under stress. A blank stare is frequently a sign that you are in a "freeze" state. You are not now operating at full capacity in the area of your brain that is used for planning and organizing strategies but thank goodness, I regained consciousness and was back to myself in time.

“Exams.” Stress and anxiety can even be induced by the word itself! Exams frequently have so much mystique and intrigue attached to them that they might appear to have a life of their own. Exams can be difficult since you have to remember, analyze, and synthesize information while still having a time constraint. However, it's also true that there are some very doable things we can do to help control ourselves in trying circumstances. Giiish! I hope to have written these papers in the past but all the same, it's the same body and as we say "we move".

Even sometimes, I try to put it off by telling myself stories. These stories are created in my mind by allowing my thinking flow. For instance, I could imagine myself flying to the bathroom and with magic, the shower turns on and off and I fly back to my bed... Dumb indeed. Sometimes, the stories in our own brains can make us feel stressed. Our brains are built to "fill in the blanks" in order to make sense of circumstances because they dislike uncertainty. Anxious thinking can turn small problems into huge ones. But just because you worry about something doesn't mean it really is true. Just after such so called brain exercise, I feel lazy to do things because I had already made them easy for me in my other world.

We can better comprehend how we function intellectually if we have some grasp of how our bodies and brains respond to stress on both a physiological and psychological level. By employing straightforward, useful exercises that we can perform when we are calm and then use them in stressful situations, we can also gain a better experiential understanding.

Stress increases our sympathetic nervous system, but by performing a few easy exercises, we can help our thoughts return to "online" state. For instance:

It can be beneficial to re-engage with the body by paying attention to our feet, seat, or hands.

We may learn to relax our physical, mental, and emotional systems by learning to anchor ourselves in our bodies on a daily basis. It can be quite beneficial to return our attention back to the body and deliberately experience the feelings that we discover there because we can spend so much time "in our heads" worrying about the future like the upcoming exam! that it can be difficult to do. This can aid in our mental detachment from concern.

These advice and techniques are applicable to other stressful situations in our lives besides tests, though I could be a freak sometimes. There isn't a magic bullet that will make all of our stress go away except one which is irreversible. The knowledge that there are some things we can do to help control it, though, is what is useful.

Aside from all the things I mentioned, I also use my most effective stress relief strategy which is my "happiness routine". Thanks for your time as I continue with my exams.

May I have some motivational wishes please 🥺!

Lead image was taken from unsplash.com