Life is exhausting. As college students, we tend to experience that firsthand. Schoolwork, employment, dating, roommates, finances, lack of sleep. All of these things can combine to form a perfect storm of stress and anxiety.

But what to do about it? Ignore our feelings, bury our heads in the sand and hope it all goes away and the problems will magically fix themselves?

Of course not.

The thing is, you don’t have to suffer alone. You don’t have to suffer at all, in fact. If you’re feeling burned out, if you feel like college has got you fighting for your life, you don’t have to give up. You have resources available to help.

The Wellness Center, located in the John W. Hart Building, room 174, is here to do just that. 

The Wellness Center

Aubrey Hess, senior and social work major, and student director at the Wellness Center said they focus on educating students on wellness.

“At the wellness center, we do a variety of things but we try to focus mainly on helping students to be educated on wellness,” said Hess. “The way that we do that is through working with students one on one. I’ve just seen this be a really, really good resource for students to use to learn how to better educate themselves on wellness.”

College life is demanding, and we all have a lot on our plates. But it is also important for us to find balance. That can often feel like juggling knives, but it’s not impossible.

The Wellness Center does offer a variety of resources, and according to senior and psychology major Kaleb Cox, the purpose of the Wellness Center is to help people get what they need.

“Our main role is to have students come in and have access to resources,” said Cox, a shift lead for the Wellness Center. “Whether that’s sitting down with a coach or getting you connected with a full-time faculty professional with whatever the area in your life you need help with is.”

On their website, The Wellness center lists five different types of wellness that we need to balance; academic, mental, physical, social and spiritual.

Academic Wellness

The Wellness Center page on academic wellness says that “BYU-Idaho is committed to help you succeed in your academic pursuits.” 

Academic stress can be one of the biggest causes of burnout. When the credits start to pile up and the work starts to get too heavy, it can be hard to find respite.

Luckily, BYUI does offer various resources to help. One of these is the Academic Advising Center, located in the Hyrum Manwaring Student Center across from the University Bookstore.

According to advising director Mindy Harris, academic wellness means that students are “able to keep up on their studies.”

Harris said that in order for students to get the most out of their classes, it is important they find the right major and career path for them.

“We help students understand if they’re in the right major or right career path,” said Harris. “Research shows that if you know the direction you want to go, you’re in the right major, you’re headed towards the right career for you, you’re more engaged in your classes.”

Not only does the advising center help students find the right direction in their major and career field, they can also point them to a host of other resources.

“We do understand a lot of the campus resources,” Harris said. “There’s tutors, there’s study buddies, there’s a GS 102 course that can help students that need help studying. Various resources depending on what the students' needs are, we can help point them to that.”

Harris said that having academic wellness entails a variety of things both in the class and as part of additional resources.

“There are…different things students can do to have academic wellness,” Harris said. “Simple things like attending class, using a tutor if you don’t understand, talking to faculty, working within your groups in the classes and those types of things to make sure that you’re understanding the content and turning in your assignments.”

For students who may find that their academic wellness is slipping, Harris advises them to, “stay connected to faculty and don’t be afraid to use a tutor.”

Mental Wellness

Another way students can maintain this balance, particularly for mental and physical wellbeing, is through Thrive.

“Thrive is a nine week program we have on campus,” said junior Gracie Robertson. “Every week we learn about different coping skills and how we can cope through stress, depression, anxiety, all that, just more focused towards college students.”

Robertson is a recreational therapy major who works for Thrive. She said that their main focus is to help people learn how they can overcome mental health issues and have hope through hard times.

“Our main focus is just to help people understand that they can overcome their mental health issue at the time,” Robertson said. “They’re not objects to be acted upon, but that they’re agents to act. They have control of the things in their life and coping through it can help them see that there is hope at the end.”

Robertson said Thrive will help students learn about things like nutrition and the importance of eating healthy and staying hydrated. Along with that, they work to apply what they've learned, such as going to Costco to try healthy and affordable foods.

“We give all these coping skills, but then they can choose which ones they want to do and what they want to apply,” Robertson said.

When it comes to mental health, Robertson said it’s important to slow down and take leisure time doing something you enjoy.

“Take a deep breath, work on your breathing. I feel like that is the number one thing, when you control what you can control first, that can help,” Robertson said. “Our main focus is also talking about leisure, finding things that you like to do, whether that is working out or doing your favorite hobby or something just to de-stress.”

Kaleb Cox said that taking time to slow down can take “willpower and grit,” but it is important to refocus your priorities and take breaks on occasion.

“If we feel like we don’t have the option to slow down, maybe we do need to look at our priorities and make sure we’re filling our cup with the most important things first,” Cox said.

Cox also mentioned some of the resources BYUI students have access to that can help with mental health, such as the Counseling Center and TAO (Therapy Assistance Online).

Aubrey Hess said that taking time to focus on one’s mental health is both important and helpful.

“Continually checking in on your mental health, I think is a really healthy, good thing to do, and recognizing it’s ok if you need some extra help, everyone struggles every once in a while,” Hess said. “So coming here, if you need that extra push, is a really great resource to start with.”

Physical Wellness

The Wellness Center website says that, “Countless studies show the connection between physical activity, academic success, and mental health. BYU-Idaho has what you need to create daily habits of healthy living that will lead to a happier, more successful YOU!”

Robertson also works with group fitness, a class that meets in Hart 234 every Monday through Friday from 5 p.m to 9 p.m.

When it comes to physical activity and wellness, Robertson stressed how important it is to stay active. 

“It’s important to move your body,” Robertson said. “We have a lot of research that when you move your body,  your dopamine, your endorphins kick in, and then you just feel a lot better after. That just helps me kind of take my mind off of things I have to worry about.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, "exercise improves your sense of health and well-being." Doing physical activity releases endorphins into your brain to make you feel good and help relieve stress.

For people who often lack motivation or feel like they don’t know what to do when it comes to exercise, Robertson advises them to start small.

“Find the things that you enjoy first, then you can build off of that and then maybe branch out and do some other things,” Robertson said.

Social Wellness

When it comes to social wellness, Cox said that it is important for people to make that a priority.

“People who prioritize sleep or prioritize social connections, according to the research, tend to do better academically, tend to do better vocationally,” Cox said. “So I would encourage a lot of people to slow down, don’t ignore those priorities but prioritize themselves first and their own well being.”

According to the National Library of Medicine, studies show a "positive correlation between friendship and academic performance." Humans are social creatures, and being social is good for us.

Cox said that it can be easy to not prioritize being social if we have too much going on, but that it is ultimately good for us.

“There is a burnout in being by ourselves too much,” Cox said. “That’s one thing the campus tries really hard to provide resources for is a lot of social events, and I think taking advantage of those opportunities are great.”

Hess agreed that it can be hard for people to find ways to balance time, and that the lack of time we as college students often have makes it difficult for us to find time to take care of ourselves. But she said the Wellness Center can help with that.

“We teach time management here and how to do self-care and prioritize your wellness, because as you prioritize your wellness you’re prioritizing your school at the same time,” Hess said. “You have to be well to do well.” 

Spiritual Wellness

The final aspect of wellbeing that Wellness Center focuses on is spiritual wellness.

According to Cox, spiritual burnout is not something we tend to think about, but it is important we focus on that as well.

“I think we kind of [have] to treat it like we’re working on our bodies too, and making sure not that we’re ignoring that aspect ever, but that we’re taking the time to let the spiritual aspects of our life influence others," Cox said.

Cox said it's important to have a healthy spiritual relationship and find ways to balance our time.

“Once the spiritual aspects of our lives become rules we have to hit or else bad things happen, I think that’s a pretty good indicator we might not have the healthiest relationship,” Cox said.

The Wellness Center website lists a few ideas on what to do to build daily habits; such as scripture study and prayer, weekly habits; sacrament meeting and devotionals, and monthly habits; ministering and temple appointments.

"Something for everyone"

“I just encourage students to come check out the wellness center,” Hess said. “There is something for everyone, I think everyone could use an extra boost here or there, and so the wellness center is a great place to start with that.”

In the April 2011 General Conference, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf told a story of a man on a cruise ship who, in an effort to stick to a meager budget, spent most of the time in his cabin. It was only when the voyage ended when he found out that he had misjudged, and that all the entertainment and offered amenities were free all along.

“It was then that the man learned that not only the farewell party but almost everything on board the cruise ship—the food, the entertainment, all the activities—had been included in the price of his ticket. Too late the man realized that he had been living far beneath his privileges,” Elder Uchtdorf said.

BYU-Idaho is the cruise ship. There are countless resources that are readily available to us all. We don’t need to be living beneath our privilege.

“I’ve actually seen this help people a lot,” Hess said. “This is a really great resource to use if you’re just needing a little extra help, if you’re trying to figure out how to manage your time or get better sleep or just learn in general. I’ve seen this be a really useful resource for students when they might be struggling in one of those areas.”

Overall, Hess said that the Wellness Center is concerned about student's success in their college career.

“We really just want to help students succeed here on campus, and taking care of your wellness and your…mind and body is the best place to start,” Hess said.