Have you ever walked into the classroom and heard the exclaims “this professor expects too much” or “I am not ready for this exam” from your friends or fellow classmates?

The fascination with complaining about coursework, professors, and exams is something we could all attest to doing at some point. But to what extent does it increase the difficulty of overcoming challenges in the classroom which includes facilitating learning and improving grades?

We hear the mantra “be positive” frequently and often do not know how to apply it. Perhaps the key lies in our attitudes day-to-day and the attitudes of those around us.

I spoke with Ed Derr, the Director of Counseling Services at Drury, and discussed positive coping mechanisms for stress and the idea of “feeding” off the energy of your classmates.

Ed Derr emphasized the idea that “misery likes company [and] negative attitudes can catch momentum when it seems like the negative is being validated.”

The energy and language you use in the classroom effects the energy and success of those around you. What can we do to help ourselves and our classmates heading into the upcoming midterms and successive finals?

Ed Derr suggested activities including deep breathing, exercise, eating healthy, fostering positivity, and having something to look forward to. These activities can be essential to fostering growth and reshaping the way you think, jumpstarting a new chain of positive thinking.

Even more than this, the importance of channeling negative thoughts with a positive spin can retrain the sub-conscious to choose the positive or optimistic thought pattern more frequently.

Despite the adversity we face in the classroom and outside Drury, being a positive thinker will allow you to face stressful situations with more confidence and help you cope more effectively. By building resilience to stressful situations and following through with changing negative thinking pathways you will be more prepared to create a solution for the adversity you are facing.

My challenge to you is the next time you walk into the classroom on test day and sit down, don’t feed into the negative loop of fear of failure, admit to yourself you’re prepared and take on the challenge. Chances are that your positive energy will give others around you a boost to tackle the test in front of them, thereby increasing confidence across the board.

Article written by Quincy Standage.