The power of choice for students - Tipp focus
No matter what life throws at us, we all have a superpower – that is, the power of choice. We can choose whether we react or respond
Holocaust survivor Victor Frankyl describes in his autobiography, ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, how when we are not able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Over the past year, there have been times where we could not change the situation we are in, but we can choose how we respond. Do we lose motivation and foster an unhealthy lifestyle? If so, will that serve us well? Do we invest in ourselves – our mental and physical health and support our loved ones to do the same?
Anxiety levels in Ireland have soared over the past year, increasing with each lockdown. That is not surprising. We are dealing with something we have never experienced before and life as we know it has been dramatically altered – who ever thought we couldn’t give a pen to a classmate or shake hands with a prospective employee, let alone picking something up off the ground for an elderly person who is packing their shopping into their car.
It is normal and justified to be feeling anxious, worried, sad, angry, frustrated, confused. We must accept that although there are some things that we can’t change or have no control over, we can control how we respond.
I hope that as you read this, you are taking a break from study or work, sitting down with a nice cup of tea. I invite you now to rate how you are feeling right now on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being that you are feeling quite low, you aren’t sleeping or eating well and have little interest in doing anything such as calling a friend or going for a run. 10 being that life is great, you are happy, energised, motivated and really enjoying life). If you have scored 9 or below, please accept my challenge: do something energising for 5 minutes – take a walk, play with your dog, have a game of catch with your younger siblings or dance your socks off! Now, rate yourself again. My hope would be that by you choosing to do something to lift your mood, you have in fact lifted your mood (by the way, if you scored 10 first time round, that’s awesome!).
There are times where we do need help to lift our mood and if you feel that things are too much for you, then please do talk with someone you trust and check out jigsaw.ie as they have a live chat option, group chat, or email or phone support. Dr Edith Eger claims that the opposite of depression is expression; meaning that what comes out of our body doesn’t make us ill, what stays in there does. So, if you feel like there’s too much in your mind for you to handle right now, please do reach out to someone.
Leaving Cert students – talk about an emotional rollercoaster! What a tough Senior Cycle you are going through. In the history of the State, no other exam group has experienced this level of stress and uncertainty. Bressie, co-founder of ‘A Lust for Life’ held a webinar with Leaving Cert student, Cian Costello. Bressie spoke about how tough it is for Leaving Cert students, and he had a good old vent with Cian about what you’ve been going through. It reinforced Dr Eger’s words of the importance of getting your feelings and frustrations out. I recommend you have a listen to their chat; you will most definitely.