Keep Calm and Plan Ahead

Last month, over 500 students participated in the Wellness @ Maryland 7 Day Stress Less Challenge and made an impressive effort to manage the stress in their lives (they logged a collective 351 hours of stress relief!) . The program was part of a year-long Keep Calm and Stress Less Campaign by Wellness @ Maryland that aims to re-write the story of stress on campus.

Each day of the challenge, we posed questions to Terps over social media about de-stressing in each of the 6 dimensions of wellness – vocational, physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual.

This is the first installment of a blog series featuring their responses.

November is Vocational Wellness Month at Maryland, so we’re kicking off the series with a question about relieving the stress of preparing for a job after college.

Vocational wellness refers to engaging in satisfying work, both paid and un-paid, that aligns with your interest, values, and skills.

It’s not a dimension often associated with stress relief, but in fact, taking charge of your career path and planning intentionally for the work life you desire can alleviate the stress and anxiety you might feel when thinking about your future.

Vocational Wellness Ways to De-Stress

• Chat with a Peer Career Educator
• Take the FOCUS 2 self-assessment
• Meet with a Career Counselor, advisor or mentor
• Spend time cleaning up your workspace and getting organized
• Make a list of what needs to get done and then prioritize
• Explore the career development process in the Career and Employment Resource Room

Nearly 50 Terps chimed in with their thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. Here’s what they had to say.

On Twitter:

@UMWellness Looking for internships and Graduate School programs!

—
Chris Hawkins (@cahawk09) October 24, 2012

@UMWellness I'm going to take a year off before applying to med school, but I'm keeping up with school and sending my resume around!

—
Starr (@sipofSTARRshine) October 24, 2012

@UMWellness I talk to as many employers as possible to build a good network and apply for anything I can :-)

—
Cooleen (@firegirl1312) October 25, 2012

@UMWellness Just making sure that I get my name out there through networking & internships bc sometimes it's not what u know but who u know!

—
[Jermaine] (@Jermaine_Knows) October 25, 2012

@UMWellness I'm celebrating the little successes- each time I finish an interview, I hang with friends and tell them how it went!

—
Kathleen Seski (@kseski1) October 25, 2012

@UMWellness Keeping my options open and exposing myself to different possibilites. I have a file of options for reference.

—
Jennifer Wivell (@j_wivell) October 25, 2012

@UMWellness Scheduling my time left at college and making sure there's room for the required things AND the important things :-)

—
Marshalle (@bubblybackflips) October 25, 2012

On Facebook (click here to go to post and read on Facebook):

Now, it’s your turn! Reply to us on Twitter (below) or leave your thoughts in the comments.

What are you doing to alleviate the stress of preparing for a job after college? #stresslessUMD

—
Wellness @ UMD (@UMDWellness) October 24, 2012

Looking forward to hearing from you!