The Challenges that Students Face During Pandemic — Mental Health Issue
More than two years, COVID-19 as a pandemic has been disrupting student college life. So do I, stay at my home to access and attend all ITB’s classes and colleges life virtually. We never thought that we would be ‘trapped’ in this fully uncertainty era. College students especially ITB, come from very diverse background and hometown across Indonesia. Some of them may struggle with technical issues, such as poor and unstable connection or unsupported devices and laptop, which turns to be really hard to attend the online class. Others may face unconducive study-environment, like the hectic atmosphere of their home, and eventually didn’t understand the subject and lesson. All the words that I tell above are personally what I and most of my friends experience during these tough times. Technical issue, incomprehensible lessons, unconducive study-environment, feeling social-isolated. Moreover, we can clearly say that “the tasks” of online classes are much more than the offline classes because every teachers assign the students with bunch of tasks every single day so we also spend the nights awake to finish the task. It impacts on increasing our screen time in days and nights. Nowadays, students often feel exhausted and overwhelmed physically and mentally at the same time. When the students really concern about those challenges, some of them lost their motivation and get frustrated or depressed, and now some are struggling with mental health issues.
Mental illness is increasing over a year, especially on the college students. So, I personally think that stress management is really important and essential during this time. I experienced those ‘stressed-out’ moment on early months of pandemic then I decided to join mental health supporting community for students. I also explore more about psychoeducation and information related to stress and mental health management so I can apply on my daily basis. These are some practical steps that I do as the coping stress mechanism in pandemic:
- Being honest to ourselves about what we exactly feel. “Are we sad? Are we disappointed? Are we stressed of online class and pile of assignments?”. This is the part of self-acceptance phase to let the flow of emotions.
- Take the time to calm ourselves. What I often do is giving permission to my physical and mental to have some rest from the hectic schedule and tasks. The rest duration is relative on what level of stress I deal with. This is really important step to delete the negative thoughts and emotions, so we can go ahead to think clearly and rationally.
- Take actions after calming phase. I urge myself to fill the time with spiritual and physical maintenance. And other essential thing is feed our body with healthy-eatings.
- Then, we are ready to go back to our works with clearer mind and fresh body.
Some people don’t realize the importance of ‘mental health’. Mental health is associated to physical health as both of them connect and affect each other. We don’t know when pandemic overs but the obligations as the students still should be performed. Mental health management is needed to track us so we are still on the path. Due to the pressure of virtual college life and home-learning is somehow more confusing than the offline system, it is a must for student to fill themselves with positive mindset. Therefore, every college students have to find their own coping mechanisms to release the stress and be strong together during these uncertain period. Eventually, when we are exhausted, don’t ever quit, just take a rest!
Fathiya Khairiya, Bandung Institute of Technology
