GENERATIONSTRESS

[8] In Depth In Depth [9]The Network [February 2o14]

The Facts

Take a nap

The future generation: Generation Stress flourishes and flounderslaurentondl

“If you want something to get done, give it to a busy person.”Businesses, law firms and corporate offices as well as

school clubs and extracurriculars search for every hard-working, willing-to-break-her-back, busy worker to employ for that exact reason. To get something done.

For this generation, Generation Stress, that’s no longer an issue. Everyone is busy. Every young high schooler, dreaming college kid and avid grad student is “busy.” “Busy people accomplish a lot of great things,” counselor Ms. Kathy DeBoer said. “It’s very hard to have this generation reverse their mentality and take things off their plate when we keep telling them to put more things on.”

Being busy is a verb defined as “keeping occupied.” Generation Stress has no problem with that. With social media and opportu-nities left and right in school and in the workplace, it is a constant wish to be given more hours in a day. However, keeping busy means nothing if there is no value. “Our generation lives in in-stant results,” DeBoer said. “We have so much access at a quicker pace than in the past; it’s easy to have no downtime.”

When many young people are not in school, participating in a sport or club, working, engrossed in social media, or keeping occupied in some way, they feel without a purpose. They need to keep busy. This can, and usually does, lead to some kind of stress. Overloading the schedule to make the day go smoothly. Sitting around for an hour or maybe two and doing nothing is unthink-able. “So many things build up by the time students are at their max: after-school job, school, college applications, leadership positions, volunteering, time for friends and sleep. You can’t do all

of that every day,” DeBoer said.In fact, thinking about one’s schedule, and the stress in one’s

life is what stresses people out the most. I think that stress helps me not procrastinate and actually get work done, but when I’m stressed I can’t really do anything without constantly thinking about what [else] I have to get done,” freshman Gabby Haggerty said.

On the other hand, a little bit of stress in life is a good thing for any generation. The pressure of getting a good grade or meeting a deadline can push someone into performing well and produc-ing quality work if a happy medium is met between stress and rest. “Excessive stress is unhealthy; however, some stress can be utilized as a tool to help students reach for their full potential,” English teacher Mrs. Regina Lehnhoff said.

Not all stress is bad. “People always denote stress with a nega-tive connotation, and that’s not always the case,” student success coordinator Mrs. Jennifer Christen said. “Having a little bit of adrenaline and pressure to perform can benefit many people.”

Another root cause of stress, especially in adolescents, is due to pressure from parents, peers, teachers and others. “[Students feel] a lot of pressure to perform, succeed and be better than the people before them,” Christen said. “We live our lives in front of so many more people now, we feel the need to show off. It’s like we’re on a pedestal.”

This is an issue many children and young adults feel they can-not escape. “If we weren’t under as much pressure all the time to be great at everything and not be stressed out, we would do our

own best,” senior Sydney Ferrara said. It is normal for adults to want what is best for the next genera-

tion, but some go too far. “Parents have a desire for their kids to have better lives than they had,” Lehnhoff said. Another common source of pressure adults put on kids is using the generation after them to follow their dreams they were never able to achieve when they were younger. “Don’t make your personal goal into your child’s goal just because you didn’t reach it,” Christen said.

The future could turn out in a variety of ways, and many have mixed feelings about how Generation Stress will fare in the future. “When students feel compelled to achieve continuously at the highest levels, they tend to exhaust themselves and to have unbal-anced lives,” Lehnhoff said.

Some fear that the stress we put ourselves under cannot reverse and may even worsen. “I think that the stress won’t change,” Ferr-ara said. “Marian is like a college; most of us will benefit from the stress, but some of us will burn out.”

Others pose thoughts that all generations are losing sight of what’s really important in life; stress seems to bog them down. “I think that our generation is under too much stress and will become obsessed with the details instead of the big picture,” Hag-gerty said. “[We] will become obsessed with perfection.”

Adults agree that down time and leisure seem to be on the back burner. “Students and adults alike seem to close themselves off from fun things that give them downtime,” Christen said.

However, there are ways to manage the stress that seems to be in all aspects of life. “I don’t think Generation Stress is doomed,

but if you make smart choices, set your own goals and strive to be your own best, you will prosper,” Christen said.

Each generation has had their own hardships they’ve had to work through. “They’ll manage just like every other group before them,” DeBoer said. “Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or has done. Slow down and enjoy.”

As far as the next generation, that is predominantly in the hands of Generation Stress themselves. “I think our kids will be as stressed out as we are,” Ferrara said.

The stress this generation is now under very well could pass straight to their offspring, but an alternative may arise. “If I could see into the future accurately, my guess would be that, at some point, the pendulum will swing back and people will return to a more balanced life,” Lehnhoff said. “We are seeing this trend be-ginning already with young working people who put fulfillment in careers and service to others ahead of financial gain.”

Experiences that Generation Stress had in their young adult life may cause them to make their children’s lives less stressful. “The next generation of parents will encourage their children early on to really balance how they live their lives, and this advice will be a direct result of the excessive stress under which Generation Stress found themselves,” Lehnhoff said.

All stress, both negative and positive, has greatly affected this generation--enough to name them after the word itself. However, when channeled into healthy success or toned down when the go-ing gets tough, this generation is looking ahead to a bright future just like the generations before them.

44%of people ages 15-23 experience high levels of stress in their everyday lives

of people ages 24-42 experience high levels of stress in their everyday lives

of people ages 15-23 state that they are suffering from depression

of people ages 24-42 state that they are suffering from depression

of people ages 15-23 pin their overwhelming stress on schoolwork

high school students drop out each year (one student every 26 seconds) majorily due to stress

is the average stress level for an American on a 1-8 scale

15%

19%

11%

76%

1.2million

Emily Vlach ‘16

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*Based on a survey completed by 187 students

Fiona Kennedy ‘15

Listen to music

Megan Steffes ‘14, Michaela Stuart ‘14,Haylea McNeil ‘14, Megan Powell ‘14

Laugh it off

Morgan Leatherman ‘15, Meg Stahlnecker ‘15

Hug it out

Ease uP Calm DOwn Chill OUTEasy ways to combat stress according to the huffington post

APA Stress in America survey, August 2012

Student triggers

Lauren TondlA2 Newspaper Feature WritingOmaha MarianNote: Key Feature Story on Center Spread