Wellness Journalism: Surfs Up!

One of the major factors affecting your sense of emotional well-being is stress—and how you handle it.

We live in a world of “sink or swim” and it’s easy to lose sight of the shore sometimes. With busy schedules and demanding classes, we hardly have time to take a breath between deadlines, or catch up on the little things like laundry, dishes, or shaving. Often we struggle under the added weight of relationship drama, malnutrition (skipping breakfast, eating Burger King for lunch…), being hung over, or running on a sleep deficit.

How can we keep ourselves afloat as we face wave after wave of assignments, projects, and exams? Is it possible to move with grace through the hectic pace of the quarter?

When you are out in the middle of this vast ocean of existence, how do you ride the tide?

Taking the stress/wave metaphor further, let’s look at your options. Your first instinct—wired into you early on in life, perhaps—is to flinch, fight, run, resist, or otherwise avoid the impact. You perceive the wave as an enormous beast that threatens to overwhelm you, swallowing you whole in a whirl of white water. So you burn a lot of energy trying to paddle away; a turbulent, exhausting, and frightening experience. This reaction to stress creates a sense of hopeless stagnation, compounded by a fear of drowning under the pressure. And, inevitably, the wave smacks you in the head.

What a solid emotional education will teach you, however, is to surf—a sporting effort requiring an active determination to engage the wave. In other words, “going with the flow” is an athletic art. And it gives you a certain response-ability: calm and confident (and maybe even a little curious), you make a choice. You can paddle into the wave, pop up, and go for a ride—using whatever surface area is available to you—or you can swim into and duck under it, letting it wash over you. Cultivating energy in this way provides an experience of surrender and release, transforming the wave into an infinite realm of possibility; every time you go for that ride, something awesome happens.

You determine your experience. Each wave is a unique opportunity to embrace the present moment and its vital buoyancy. The practice of mindfulness allows you to make your choices actively, rather than reactively. Responding with intention, you empower yourself!

Of course, you can always benefit from friendly guidance and support. The Counseling and Psychological Services team here at UCSD offers just that. Their website provides suggestions for meditation and mindfulness exercises that broaden your board, so to speak.

Here’s one now: When you feel a wave coming (or find yourself in the middle of one), set aside a full five minutes to focus on deep, abdominal breathing. You can contract and relax your muscle groups in sequence, starting with the toes and moving up the body. This serves to reconnect your head to your feet and facilitates self-navigation.