Saturdays With Shal, Get Involved for Stress-Relief

Hey Daniels. Today on Saturdays with Shal I wanted to add to my mini series on Time Management. I started with sleep, moved up to time management and now part III of The Shal Mini-Series (Shal that’s not a thing) is on getting involved! Yes it sounds cheesy, yes it sounds lame, but I truly mean this. Since I always refer to my own personal experiences here it goes: I’m in my fourth year of university and this is the first year I’ve ever been involved with my student union. Ever been involved with anything with the university really (except sports and intramurals, but lets be honest we saw that coming). FOUR YEARS! I hate myself for taking that long. This has been the most fun year I’ve had so far! (Sidenote: I was totally going to say funnest but thats not a word… I think?).

Back to getting involved, well what can I do Shal? You can start by many things that don’t even require you leaving the comfort of your own bed. Go like and follow our AVSSU page on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! This assures you stay up to date with events, contests, and announcements. If you're not a social media person keep up with our website! Which I’m assuming the only way you can see this is because you are on those, so yayy step one done! Next, apply for the AVSSU social commitee! Check Facebook for more info. Then, come to our events, starting with Destressor Week. I’ve heard from some students that they almost feel overwhelmed with how many events we at AVSSU throw. What? This is a great thing! We are catering to everyone’s interests, schedule, and time. Come to as many as you can. They really only take 1 or two hours of your time. Bring your friends so “you’re all in this together”, not a High School Musical reference.

​The amount of people you will meet is very important. Research by Denis Coleman et. al states that "companionship in shared leisure activity appears to provide effective relief for people as they deal with excesses of daily life stresses." (Coleman, 1993). Additionally, Coleman states that, "leisure activities influence healthy by promoting positive moods. [They] help overcome loneliness and thus contribute to people's well-being." Take it from this guy, leisure activities and getting involved will help overcome your stresses. So get involved with some events! I don’t want you guys to be like me where I’m just realizing at the end of my undergrad experience that I missed out on stuff. Start at the start! You’ll probably thank me later (or boo me off the stage). Thats all for this week, Daniels. Keep it classy out there.