Editor's Note 8: stress'n it

I can not possibly be any more stressed at this moment.

Between the classes, the independent study, the internship, the extracurriculars and the job search, I feel like I am steadily going crazy. Yet, this is the arduous path most seniors seem to face year after year.

We ask ourselves, "Do we study for this test or do we prepare for the interview?" If we are lucky enough to prepare ahead of time, we manage to do both-but not without stressing out for a full week and complaining to all nearby friends who will listen.

Duke is one of the few places where students can already have a 100 grand job at a top-rated bank stowed away, and they still stress about that B on their last midterm. We trick ourselves into thinking that the minor stuff really matters, that we must please this invisible force with 4.0's and distinctions.

I am also guilty of the overextension game, ripping at the metaphorical seams, but I learned that an hour a day can go a long way.

Just taking a single hour per day can make you productive and keep you from the edge. For me it has been exercise and Halo 3-nothing is more de-stressing than a good game of basketball and blasting away a few members of the Covenant. For you it may be Frisbee or television or underwater basket weaving (hey, they're your hobbies, not mine).

The rhetoric may be simple, but it is amazing how many weekdays we can go from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. without a moment to breathe (or 12 p.m. to 4 a.m. if you're my roommate).

I can not possibly be any more stressed at this moment, but I am coping with it pretty well.