O’Neill Kinesiology College Blog

We all have strategies to cope with stress. Some are conscious efforts while others are ones we engage in subconsciously.   How do you deal with stress? Going for a walk? Watching TV? Talking it over with someone? Or wallowing in repetitive thinking until you overwhelm yourself and eventually get too tired to care? A large-scale study by the Australian Psychological Association found that the most common ways to deal with stress are: Eating = 75% of Australians Browsing ...

It’s often said that stress is bad, but this isn’t entirely true. Some stress is actually useful because it can motivate us, help us meet deadlines, or escape alarming situations. In fact, when we experience moderate stress, this is when our performance is actually at its peak. So what happens when stress is ‘bad’? Let’s first look at what is happening inside the brain when we experience stress. The emotional processing part of the brain, the amygdala, receives information from t...

Today is R U OK? Day. I want to tell my story in the hope that it will help you break out of the stress and depression cycle. Unless you’re remarkably lucky, running your own business is stressful. Although I expected this before I took over O’Neill Kinesiology College, I didn’t expect it would take such a massive toll. For someone who had never really struggled (I always had things under control, was very organised and had plenty of life goals) it was a shock and a surprise to realise th...

It’s so common that it’s actually become a cliché: mums put themselves last. Even though Western society is far more equal than it used to be, some things haven’t changed that much. The statistics speak volumes. Women spend nearly twice as long in unpaid work like domestic chores and childcare than men, and more women than men say they feel rushed or pressed for time. The reasons cited for the latter include trying to balance work and family responsibilities and having too many demands...

Congratulations on your decision to return to study. This will be an amazing and rewarding road ahead. However, there may be a few challenges to face if you haven’t been in school for years, you’re returning to study after raising children, or you’re swapping careers. If you understand these challenges before they crop up, you can deal with them more effectively. Unrealistic expectations This is something that is incredibly common and one of the main reasons mature-age students drop out,...