Dear Editor,
I couldn’t agree more with Valeria Ryrak’s letter about university stress from last week. I graduated a year ago and nothing prepared me for the immense mental stress I endured during my period of unemployment.
I was unemployed for six months and underemployed for two before I found something nice. I had coping strategies in the form of working out, but sometimes it just wasn’t enough. One of the reasons was I was going through a rocky phase with my mom and I had a perverse habit of internalizing my stress as opposed to talking about it with my support (friends and family).
I am telling this story because I’ve gone through it and I’m sure others have as well. I just hope that what one takes away from it is the importance of one’s support group and that you can and should turn to them when the stress is just too much.
Carl Ewen-Lewis
UTM alumnus