Stress and Anxiety making me want to Quit...any helpful advice?

[Scuba_NurseBSN]

Hi I am a junior nursing student working towards my BSN. I am currently taking community nursing and med surg. Originally community nursing was meant to only be a 7 week clinical they now changed it to go all semester long including saturdays...and every saturday clinical is scheduled is a saturday I have to work..so therefor clinical all day and work all night. I have group projects and presentations due every week. I live 45 mins from campus and 45-1hr from my community clinical site. I am so over stressed with all this work I almost want to drop out. I work every friday and every other weekend. I am so stressed out I can't sleep at night, I can't eat and I am always on the brink of tears and a nervous breakdown. I think this semester will kill me. To top it off I am not going to have a break over spring break because I signed up for a medical mission trip to Mexico which I think will be a great experience and look great on a resume. How do you deal with stress and anxiety? How do you manage all the work on top of school and other life stresses? I really need some advice because I am at my wicks end. I don't know how much longer I can live with this stress.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I used to work 30 hours a week and had community health during the summer; We had epidemiolgy reports, presentations, as well as clinic teaching as well.

I would work all day and go to class in the evening; had clinicals during the week and on the weekends, as well as a university required course that required a lot of time, analysis, a major paper and discussion requirements to fill.

I was truly exhausted from that summer, and to top it off, I had Critical Care Case studies to have prepared on my first day of my final semester for my Acute Care nursing class.

What kept me grounded was as soon as the projects were presented to start doing the work ASAP; be prepared as to what was due, as well as well as keep myself hydrated, eat lots of protein and also did a lot of relaxation techniques before I did anything-deep breathing and guided imagery, etc.; there are relaxation apps available on smartphones to help.

Also-STAY organized; with work and with school and plug away at the material...you can do this, even if it means you may have to revise your schedule for your more open days, or bite the billet and take days off to get the work done: it will be totally up to you.

Best wishes.