To be happier and more successful, students can adopt the “four Cs,” according to an adjunct instructor who teaches parenting skills: clarity, communication, consistency and community.

Joseph Van Deuren told a virtual audience last week that honing those skills can help reduce stress.

“There’s a Buddhist saying about meditation that says that if someone says that they don’t have 10 minutes to meditate, then they really need to meditate for 20 minutes,” Deuren said. “We need to take time for ourselves.”

Deuren also stressed the importance of avoiding perfectionism.

“Trying to give 105% to every project or assignment can actually lead to low self-esteem and anxiety and depression,” Van Deuren said. “And it can actually cause us to procrastinate, because of a lack of motivation or fear.”

Lakeyia Parker, a second-year nursing student who attended the workshop, said she would try to communicate better with her family and friends.

“I think as long as everybody’s on the same page [and] we all have the same end goal, they will know how to support me,” Parker said. “And then I would know how to support them in the little time that I do have.”

Second-year transfer studies student Grace Banh said the meeting was a good reminder.

“Coming from a professor, you know, it’s just they speak better,” Banh said. “[It’s] just … more persuasive, even though all that stuff I kind of already know.”