7. Stress

SLAVES ARE VICTIMS
WHO NEED HEELING OF THEIR BROKEN HEART
THEY NEED YOUR HELP
THEY WERE BORN TO ROAM
NOT TO BE IN PRISON
THEY ARE SEEKING SHELTER
BRING THEM PEACE
THEY HAVE A FLASHBACK OF THE HOLOCAUST
REMEMBERING THEY ARE WANTED
THEY LOOK FOR COMFORT IN LIFE AND IN RELATIONSHIPS
I WANT TO CHANGE THEIR LIFE
THEY CAN BE STRONGER
SO LEAVE THEM ALONE
UNLIKE DRUGS A WOMAN'S BODY CAN BE SOLD
OVER AND OVER
THEIR FUNERAL WENT FROM HURT TO HEALING
COVERING THEIR EMOTIONAL SCARS
LISTEN TO THEIR MUSIC

What I feel inside
I cannot let out.
With so much pressure
I'm having my doubts.

You give me a headache
As you watch my from behind
When you ask whats wrong
I'll lie and say i'm fine.

I want to run away

By Sally Tucker
Hartford High School, Grade 9

I want to run away
From the intense swirling judgment
From people not accepting anyone else
Not knowing any opinion but their own
I want to run away
From the disastrous news stories
Scrolling across the blinking screens
From the bickering countries' arguments
Interfering, complicating things
I want to run away
From the popularity contests
Roaming high school hallways
The media blasting into our brain
The advertisements forcing down our throats
I want to run away
From drugged up, medicated role models
Polluted rivers, global warming
Companies creating new entertainment devices
While thousands go hungry each night
From this animal eating, TV-watching culture
I want to run away
From fighting, anger and hate
From stick-thin girls thinking they are fat
Love classified as right or wrong, no in between
From teens cutting, puking, starving themselves
Drinking, smoking, ruining their bodies for fun
From dense, impenetrable, dim judgment
I want to run away

Why me? What have I ever done to deserve this? I thought I was good, but I guess not, because I was hurt…

Now I am here regretting what I have done I hurt myself, to maybe make me feel better. But it doesn’t. If I was only free! Free to run; free to do whatever I want! But I’m not.

Have you ever felt a pull do hard you collapse? Well, let me explain what I mean. You are sitting in class listening to a very boring speech and your mind wanders off. Then you start having very frightening flashbacks. You break down, but don’t cry. You just sit there and think about it, and it doesn’t go away.

Stress

By Jackie Potter
Rochester High School, Grade 10

Oh you poor, poor soul. You have to make a decision; what a shame. It’s not so easy is it? But when has anything ever been simple? You just expect the answer to fall right into your lap. Whoops. I guess you were wrong there.

Funny. I don’t recall you ever being wrong.

Stress all around me, in school, at home, and with friends. They way I escape is by riding my horse. All my thoughts get lost in my riding. All my energy, all my focus is put into my riding. If im stressed or something is on my mind, I go on a gallop. Through the woods or on the road, there is nothing like going faster than you thought you could go, and letting my mind run free of everything.

Stress…
Mistakes
Bitter moments
Confusion
Manipulation
Wounded feelings
Expectations
Consequences
Blame
Stress…

What ultimately stresses me out is stress. All the things that need to be done do not cause me stress but add to the problem. I’m always stressed but at different levels of intensity. Sometimes it’s only a little bit of stress like I’m tired but still have to go to school. But other times it’s a much bigger headache.

What is Stress?

By Meredith Cross
Charlotte Central School, Grade 8

Stress is when you wake up 30 minutes late.
Stress is when you forget your homework at home.
Stress is when there is one more second on the clock in the championship basketball game, your team is one point behind, and you have the ball.

"Shut up," he yelled, but nobody was there to hear it. He stood driving his fingernails into his palm. The air was still and quiet as he madly panted. He could feel the sweat run down his wrinkled forehead. He could not remember what he just did three minutes ago.

Stress

By Alicia Cerasoli
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

Stress.
The word says it all.
A disease I am diagnosed with…
Everyday.
A headache,
The pile of work,
What else could go wrong?
Like a simple cold,
It won’t go away.
Stress haunts me,
Day and night.
Stress,
When will it go away?

Stress

By Laura Voelker-Hebert
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

I stare off into the sky,
Hands all fisted up,
Just wishing I could forget everything and start out new.
I stand up to calm down
Turn around and run,
Running and screaming to get it all out
Slowly tearing up
As I force it to stay in.
I fall to the ground
And cry,
Cry it all away

Back Against the Wall

By Briana Spangler
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

back against the wall
the rage, the anger
everywhere it grasps you tight
that feeling that you are so small and so vulnerable
well, that feeling holds you strong
back against the wall
you give in
break down

Stress.
The weight on your shoulders,
A force holding you back.
You have so much work to do,
The game depends on you.
The stress of it all is burdening
The feeling that you can’t move an inch.
You have to finish the job,
But you can’t.
It’s too stressful.

I am stressed. Too stressed. I need help, therapy is stupid though. How do I fix this?

Stress: A Middle School Moment

By Brittany Rathburn
Hartford Memorial Middle School, Grade 8

“Molly, would you like to be next?”
What is he thinking! Me?! No! Never! Not Now! Please don’t make me. I haven’t finished. I know that you know that I haven’t finished yet. I can tell by the “X-ray vision” way you stare me down.

Stress is something that propels you towards a cliff
And before you know it, you are tumbling farther and farther
Right before you hit rock bottom you explode destroying everything around
Sometimes there is a small ledge you can land on before you explode
Carefully you can try to climb back up the mountain
But stress has no safety net
Hopefully you don’t explode

Home is stressful.
School is stressful.
War is stressful.
At home there’s chores.
At School there’s class.
At war there’s death.
Parents at home,
Teachers at School,
Sergeants at war.
Every day we work hard
And follow orders.
Maybe war, school, and
home, aren’t very alike
but are they all that different?
We listen to our higher ranks,
We push ourselves,

Really if you think about it, our stress is nothing compared to some people’s. We stress about projects, work and even winning a football game but if people took time to realize that all of this really doesn’t matter, they could think about how much other people are suffering.

Urg! I can’t stand this! Project after project, assignment after assignment. And now this. This new stupid rule. I don’t know if I can take it! School isn’t supposed to be this bad.
I reread the announcements. This has got to be a typo.

Alarm, wake-up, mom & dad fighting
Wake-up, mom & dad fighting, again
Mom & dad fighting, again, school
Again, school, bad grades
School, bad grades, bully
Bad grades, bully, test (that you didn’t study for)
Bully, test (that you didn’t study for), cliques
Test (that you didn’t study for), cliques, adolescents
Cliques, adolescents, stress.

Stress. The feeling created when we react to certain things. Let’s face it, everyone has been stressed out at least in some point of their life. If not, then where have you been?

Stressed?

By Gianna Carchia
Woodstock Union High School, Grade 10

Meditate
When there is too much homework
Meditate
When there is trouble at school
Meditate
When it is too much to handle
Meditate
When you are looking for an answer
Meditate
When you feel like the maid
Meditate
When your friends treat you badly
Meditate
When it feels like the end
Meditate
To get rid of stress
Meditate
And just let it all go

Stress

By John-Paul Dubuque
Mount Mansfield Union High School, Grade 11

After many years of trying times,
It all adds up, and redefines
My life as I know it.
I've finally learned how to cope.

I've sat in my room, for hours a day,
Trying to get away from all that is made
To make my life harder.
But all of these things will make me stronger.

With the stereo blasting, I whisk myself away,
To a place in my mind called Lullaby Bay

Stress hits harder now,
Every descision matters now,
Music calms me down.

There is not very much stress in my life. I have never been really stressed out about anything except when I am in trouble or when I have a big homework assignment. When I get stressed I play sports. I play all contact sports so I can just take out my stress on the field or on the ice. When ever I get stressed it never lasts long. I have never had much trouble with stress.

It keepS building up
SporTs, homewoRk, school, and much morE
No Sleeping thiS night.

Papers, projects, homework AH!
Piling, Piling higher still
Almost to the window sill
What to do, when to do it
Better start and get to it!

Tests, Quests, Quizzes, EH!
Study, study harder now
If I want to ace them with a pow
Review the homework, read the notes
If only tests were up to my vote!

The time, The time, The time
Where does it go?
How I need it, need it so