Now that tuition is paid, books are bought and the year is in full swing, the stress of the new semester is in the past. But before students get to kick back and Facebook the day away, they have papers to write and exams to study for, leaving limited time for much else.
When life is straining and everything is piling up, the first step to cleaning up the clutter in your mind may be to start with the clutter around you. In fact, people's living environments can influence their mood, motivation and stress levels more than they think.
"I think we all crave order and predictability," says James Afremow, an ASU counseling and consultation service professional. "When we don't have that, we feel stressed."
When students get caught up in life's concerns, it's easy to let their state of living fly under the radar, Afremow says. Not only can this add stress, but a messy dorm room or apartment can also leave students agitated and distracted.
Afremow says if a dorm room is in disarray, students have the mess in the back of their minds, which prevents focus on what needs to be done. Instead, Afremow says the dorm room should be a "student refuge" to escape from life's distractions and complete work.
"The bottom line is, are you the master of your environment or are you going to be mastered by your environment?" Afremow says. "We always have a choice."
Judith Kirk, a professional organizer, helps people sort out the clutter in their lives. In 1994, she founded Organizing Resources. Located in Plainville, Connecticut, Kirk began Organizing Resources after people began reaching out to her for help.
Kirk offers a variety of services, from in-person organization help to e-mail and telephone coaching nationwide. She teaches clients how to manage their time and resources to prevent disorganization and the stress that results from it.
"Being organized is not strictly about the physical surroundings," Kirk says in an e-mail. "It is mental as well."
When a stressed-out client calls her, Kirk's first instinct is to find out what issues in his or her life prompted the call. She says it's not just physical clutter that causes problems, but that mental clutter also influences well-being.
"My job as a professional organizer is to recognize order in the middle of chaos and help people to implement systems and routines that will provide them with freedom," Kirk says.
Since many people in college live either in a dorm or small apartment, letting messes get out of hand isn't a difficult task. A disorderly environment, along with the strain of school, can be the formula for an even more stressful situation.
"It's chaotic in a way," biology sophomore Karen Davila says. "I tend to forget things because I'm disorganized."
However, with a little tidying up, problems can be prevented before they grow. According to Kirk, even committing as little as 15 minutes a day to organization helps lessen the load for the future.
"We blame stress, when in fact it is our own lack of time management that creates our feelings of being overwhelmed," Kirk says.
Jessica Reed, an undeclared freshman, takes this to heart on a daily basis. When Reed's living space is out of control, she says it worsens an already-hectic situation. This makes it particularly difficult for her to finish everything on her plate.
Consequently, she's learned to make organization one of her priorities.
"During finals, the day before I studied, I cleaned and put everything in the right place so I could focus," Reed says. "I operated a lot better because I could fully focus on the item at hand."
Afremow and Kirk agree that one of the best ways to organize and de-stress your life is to simplify it.
As Kirk says, in a nation with so many choices, from what type of water to drink to what car to buy, people forget their true needs. Learning to alleviate an overwhelming situation, by sorting out what we need from what we want, is a skill that will help students beyond college.
"Stress is a part of life, not just for students," Kirk says. "So get over it."
