University Stress = Mind Block

By Fatma Bujsaim (@Fatma_Bujsaim)

In the past articles from “Just Another Undergrad” column, the light was shed on how high school and university lives are very different from each other; but what we failed to see is how similar they are too. Things are not always completely different; we sometimes find threads of similarities between them.

Regardless of the stress level we go through in both stages, one thing is found in both for sure: the mind blockage we face.  If you are not familiar with the term, it is what we mean when we are out of ideas and our mind refuses to work in any possible way. We seem to fail to write papers or essays, work on projects, study for exams, and even attend the actual classes; our concentration and interest levels in anything school/university-related, in our case, falls down to zero.

We might argue that when a personal goal is very close and within hands-reach, like holidays in our desperate case as students, we stop trying to work for our goal; some of us stop working all together while others just slow down their pace. The point is, we cannot do anything; not because we do not want to, but because we cannot. There is no flow of ideas anymore. But then again, it does not necessarily have to happen because we are close to the goal. Sometimes it happens at the beginning of our journey and sometimes, halfway through, it mainly happens for no apparent reason and at the most random times. We tend to daydream a lot or plan for the future just to escape our current responsibilities. We escape because we know that if we were to face those responsibilities, we may not be able to finish them or even get started with them.

Our different attitude towards our mind blockage has, like everything else, consequences. Surrendering to the blockage and letting it get to us is one of life’s greatest failures; we end up losing a lot of things, such as grades, time, others respect, and our very own success. And because of that, we learn that we must control our thoughts.

Once our thoughts are controlled, our ideas will start to flow. The only way we can control our thoughts is if we stopped thinking about both the past and the future and start thinking of the present instead. As human beings, we keep on remembering the past and trying to build a brighter future; we forget our present, our current moment. Once we live in the “now”, our mind becomes more balanced and it becomes easier for us to focus on what is in front of us at that specific moment.

After we learn how to control our thoughts, the only thing missing is the inspiration. And this leads us to the next lesson: finding the thing or place that pushes our potentials and triggers our ideas. Whether it is sitting alone by a water-fountain or in a crowded coffee shop, or even bungee jumping for some adrenaline rush, we must find our place, our own driving force.

It is not unusual to have no flow of ideas at all and it is not degrading to have a mind blockage. But what becomes a problem is when we decide to do nothing about it. If you ever faced this matter, it is all right, we all did and it is more than normal to feel blank. The secret is finding our very own way of dealing with it and not letting it hold us behind and ruin what we worked so hard for.

This, my friends, is what I found out while I’m on campus; I wonder if that’s going to change after graduation

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Here We Start – Interview – Just Another Undergrad – Living Through The Eyes of Art
Scenes From Life – To The Point – Words, Observations, and Ramblings – Spotlights
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