Today, when I interact with a group of people who are teachers as well as parents who have a responsibility of guiding young adults - who are going to be the future of our Country. As we look around we often hear the word from students, teachers, parents "We are stressed" In earlier times the common refrain for the student community was"Busy with studies" and now this simple term has given way to the sickly term"Stressed out" which has become almost an epidemic today, and all the three -- Students, Teachers and the Parents have fallen victims to it.
Let me begin with the fact that problem solving is at the very core of our holy scriptures like "The Holy Gita" which is essentially a dialogue between Bhagwaan Shri Krishna and Arjuna where Krishna answers the questions that arise out of the inner turmoil of Arjuna restraining him to attack his very own relatives, the very fact that Arjuna ultimately enters the war as Bhagwaan Shri Krishna satisfies his queries, stands testimony to that fact that problems are to be faced and solutions found. It is the same role that a parent has to play for his daughter/son. Is it not a dichotomy that when the world comes to us to learn "how to de-stress" we ourselves are falling victims to stress? Here is how we landed in this soup, in earlier times there were joint families where a kid could go to any family member for advice, now she/he has parents and siblings and all of them are busy with their lives so who does one go to? Apart from this apparent lack of advice a child has to tow the burden of her/his parents' aspirations, who by providing her/him all the facilities wait for the magic to happen. Who will realize that the child is feeling helpless under this stress? Luckily we have trained counselors, Psychologist who can fill this gap. Still the biggest source of inspiration and motivation for a child is his immediate family.
Come to think of it that the problem has acquired such a monstrous shape that the Prime Minister of our country has to take out two hours from his busy schedule to speak to the student's community emphasizing the need to stay stress-free for the sake of better performance. Herein lies a lesson for the Parents as well as the Teachers that the responsibility of helping our children lies with us, parents by realizing that they should not put the burden of their own aspirations on their children and Teachers should keep using the power of encouragement by constantly boosting the morale of their students.
So what is Stress and how to take care of it? I am going to be focusing on how this is leading to a more grimly term called "depression" for the student community.
