Why get stressed when you can have the government pay someone to get stressed on your behalf?

As a student with a learning disability, I am entitled to weekly consultations with a Study Skills Specialist (SSS). This person is meant to assist me in my learning and help me improve skills in weak areas. Every now and then my SSS does help me with my uni work, however, it seems that her primary purpose is to worry about my schedule so I don’t have to.

Today we were looking over my timetable and she discovered that I have six or so deadlines in the first two weeks of March. To me, this wasn’t a huge deal. We are still in February so, provided that I pace myself correctly, I should be ok-ish when March comes around. But my SSS thought otherwise. She was like Chicken Little, in hysterics, panicking as if the sky were falling down. How on earth did the university expect me to cope with such a workload? My response to her hysteria probably didn’t help the situation. After 10 minutes of her monologing about how dire everything was, I’m not sure how she expected me to react. However, I have a feeling she wanted something slightly more than the silent nod and the short sentence replies that I gave her. This outward indifference probably caused her more reason to worry.

I can see where my SSS’s worry was coming from, but what good would have come out of me joining her in the panic? Panicking over the date of deadlines doesn’t miraculously make them change, I can’t control them. Wouldn’t my energies better be spent focused on the present? Focused on things I can do to make my life easier for when the assignments are due.

I was once taught that we have a circle of concern, which consists of things we care about, and a circle of influence, things we actually exhibit authority over. The former is always larger than the latter, so we have a tendency to focus more on that one. However, it is far more beneficial to direct our energy towards the circle of influence. Concentrate on the practical things we can do to improve the situation; or figure out ways to develop and grow in order to extend our influence so it reaches more things within our circle of concern.

While my SSS was setting up camp in the circle of concern, I was staying quiet, trying to figure out how to best use my circle of influence to avoid getting buried in work next month. Ashton Eaton (an Olympic decathlete) once said that his key to dealing with stress was to “just stay cool and stay focused.” You just need to ensure that your focus is on what you can influence.

That all being said, if you talk to me in March, I will probably be slightly stressed. But at least for now, I will let my Weekly Worrier deal with the dread and continue to enjoy life.