A Stress & An Escapism

During my Phd class last week, we were discussing about the stress level among us during our period of study. Kak F who is a Bank Negara officer and was seconded to MAMPU claimed that to handle stress she likes to sleep more than before she started her Phd. While Kak Z, one of the 5 members in the class admitted that now she loves to do the housework compare to when she was working, So, my lecturer jokingly said that he should asked her wife to study too, so her wife will love to the housework. We burst into laughter when one of the students interjected that he was afraid that Prof’s wife will like to do shopping rather than housework if she trying to avoid from having stress in her study. My lecturer gave a comment if we like to do something other than usual it is some sort of escapism of studying or meet the challenges in our study. Escapism is actually a way of refocusing one’s attention on things pleasant or enjoyable, as opposed to the hard realities of our study life. Sure escapism helps us to unwind by focusing mind away from stress and anxiety factors, but that sense of relaxation is only temporal escape because at the end of the day we still have to meet the challenges.

I didn’t give any comment about the discussion since I am a new student comparing with others that have been here for few semesters (Got a paper exempted and has to join this class). However, it would be a bit of an understatement if I didn't say I am a bit stressed at the moment like other members of the class. Classes are keeping me in a constant state of work and I will have my exam in the next 1 week. There just seems to be no escape from it all.

Last night, I discovered few problems in my study. Feeling stress, I started to be bored with the unsolved problems. Then, I went to sleep and promised myself I woke up early in the morning and will solve it early in the morning. However, in the morning I was not really in the good mood, instead of finding the solution to the problems, I washed my car ( washing my car is not my favorite thing to do and felt like my neighbours looking at me because they were busy to go to work and was steadily washing my car in the morning). Then I cleaned the house until 10 a.m which I always do during weekend and not weekdays. Usually I will go to my university at 8 a.m. but at 11. a.m I still didn’t do anything to solve the problems. I felt like buang tabiat but couldn’t help to stop from doing it. In the afternoon, I felt more “susah hati” and stressful with all the unsolved problems. The matter of fact was my escapism in the morning neglected my problem solving, foolish time consumption (not really foolish lah coz I cleaned the house) and escape from my duties and responsibilities.

My escapism actually can reduce the stress and anxiety but sometimes can also suppresses it. Escapists forget real problems and challenges by escaping it by doing something else. What escapists leave undealt behind, they will have to face sooner than later. The stress is still there.

My advice is that don’t procrastinate to solve our problems or stress. Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Handling our stress and problem becomes more difficult when we procrastinate. At the end of the day we still have to solve our problems.