Stress- Friend or Foe?

There’s just a few hours left until that big exam you’ve prepared a month for. But there is one major problem. The preparation you went through primarily comprised of playing video games and sleeping. You look around at your classmates and can feel their worry. However you are sure they have spent hours studying, while you may have spent a total of one hour roughly reading over the material. You are stressed out of your mind. This is my typical self right before an exam.

You may think I’m crazy. Actually, I probably am crazy. However, because of the stress I go through I perform better on that exam. Believe it or not, I even perform better than if I had studied for several more hours.

Stress drives me, it’s that simple. When I’m stressed out, I enter a state that’s more focused and intense. Things start to make more sense, and my thoughts become clearer. I feel more motivated, and feel ready for the task at hand.

I’ve always been told by my friends that I perform better under stress. One day I had to play a violin piece in front of my orchestra class so I could get performance experience for when I had to play at NYSSMA. For those of you who don’t know, NYSSMA is a festival where you play a difficult piece in front of judges who give you a rating from 0 to 100. This score usually determines your placement in higher level orchestras and other musical events. Well, I’m terrified of performing, and it’s needless to say that I was dead nervous before I got up in front of the class. But once I got up in front of the class and started to play the music just flowed right out of me. Some friends of mine who I practice with approached me after the performance, and after hearing the musical piece a hundred times before told me this one was by far the best one.

I understand that in college studying is necessary and if you aren’t prepared for a test you are in trouble. However I’ll deal with that when the time comes.

Maybe I’m just insane, or weird. I have no clue. If there is anyone else out there like me just leave a comment =)

~Josh B.

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