Texas Tech University - La Ventana Yearbook (Lubbock, TX)

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It ' s the terror of know- ing what this world is about, Watching some good friend scream ' let me out ' . . . This is ourself under pressure • • . — Queen, David Bowie How to cope when your candle is burnt at both ends If more Tech students followed the Zen philosophy of flowing with the stream, they might be under less stress, or so says Rolf Gord- hamer, director of the Univer- sity Counseling Center. College men and women are not established in life yet. They want to know what they ' re going to do when they get out, Gordhamer said. They lived at home in a cocoon and college is another cocoon. After college, there are no more cocoons. Male and female college students tend to worry about academic performance, finances, living conditions and their self-images, Gordhamer said. It is the worrying that has adverse effects on the stu- dent. Your reality changes under stress, he said. But, how do you know when you ' re under stress? Thinking negatively, eating too much or too little, sleep — in excess or not sleeping at all are some of the warning signals. Also, short breathing, withdrawing from people or having no privacy, avoiding classes and being at odds with people that you used to get along with are other clues which may indicate stress. Turning to alcohol or drugs could also indicate stress. About 99 percent of the peo- ple who use drugs and alcohol do so to relax and beat tension, he said. Gordhamer says coping with stress is a two-pronged project — keeping it from coming and getting rid of it. The University Counseling Center sponsors manage- ment and stress reduction classes for students. The center helps students look at their own program. You get to the point where you ' re burning the candle at both ends and in the middle, Gordhamer said. The stress reduction group teaches students breathing and muscle tightening techniques. We teach people how to be relaxed. After we teach them how to cope with stress, they start to demand for themselves more often that state of relaxation. What they do with their environment is what is really important. Gordhamer recommends deep breathing and walking as ways to cope with stress. Focusing on enjoyment rather than what a person is going to ward off is the key, Gordhamer said. Life is here to be en- joyed, he said. — Jerri McCrar] Coping — 13

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12 — Coping

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The great escape Now everybody ' s USA. Substitute skiing or backpacking or sitting around watching TV for surfing in the Beach Boys ' tribute to carefree living, and you might have an accurate description of spring break as experienced by Tech students. The traditional road trip to South Padre Island or Port Aransas was again among the favorite activities of Tech students during the class break, which lasted from March 13-21. I could live here forever, said Tech student Doug Brewer while sipping a beer on the hood of his brother ' s Corvette at Port Aransas. We came out here with a car, a tent and six cases of Michelob and we ' ve just been taking it easy. Too bad it ' s gotta end. The normally picturesque beaches became gutted with gone surfing, surfing — The Beach Boys tire tracks as they became superhighways for the thousands of visiting cars, trucks and motorcycles. By the week ' s end, the beaches were covered with empty beer cans, liquor bottles and discarded hamburger wrappers. Sure, we ' re glad to have all the college kids come down, said Lois Wright, owner of a Tshirt souvenir shop in Aransas Pass. Sometimes kids are so destructive, though. The same thing happens every year. They ' ve always got to go and tear up the facilities and light fires, and they always leave the beach a mess. A trip to the mountains of New Mexico or Colorado gave ski buffs the oportunity to satifsfy cravings for the snow and slopes. A four-hour drive is all that separates Downhill racer Tech student David Craig (left) com- petes In the Lubbock Ski Cup com- petition at Sierra Blanca Craig was one of many Raiders who made fre quent trips to the slopes Mark Rcxjtti Breaking camp In the Interior of the Grand Canyon, part of the Tech ROTC group prepares to break camp During spring break the group backpacked through much of the canyon ' s length Lubbock from the ski resorts of Eagle Creek and Sierra Blanca near Ruldoso, and Tech students made the ex- cursion in droves. Spring break gives us a big shot in the arm, said Ron Johnston of Ski West, a ski equipment sales and rental shop in Ruidoso. By March, a lot of the people have stop- ped coming here, and it helps to get a big crowd of students here who really like to ski. Most of them don ' t own their own ski equipment, so we do well in rentals as well as in sales. If it felt good, students did it during spring break Students not partial to skiing or sunbathing enjoyed ac- tivities ranging from backpacking the Interior ol the Grand Canyon to plop ' ping down In front of the tube and watching soap operas oij game shows or re-runs The Brady Bunch . The Beverly Hillbillies. Just getting away from the| dusty Lubbock climate madcl spring break worthwhile. Tb break may have lasted only i week, but what a week i was. — Jeff Tinnell 1 J 4 — The Great Escape