Imagine this: you wake up in the morning with this vague uneasiness in the back of your mind. It seems like nothing at first, just a small seed of an idea. But that seed is planted in fertile ground. A mind is a place of what ifs and infinite outcomes. Scenarios start playing over and over in your head, each with a different ending, each feeding the little seed of worry. The seed might grow a little or a lot depending on the environment and different stressors that surround it. Sometimes you might wake up and the worry isn't even there, but other times it's already a fully blossomed flower.
This is how I can best describe how I experience anxiety, and for some people, this is what anxiety can be like. It can be experienced in many different ways by many different people. Personally, my anxiety is heightened by change, and I just recently went through a very big change. I moved into a college dorm.
The first few days were rough and discouraging. I'd wake up in a place where I hardly knew where anything was, a place away from my family and friends. Fortunately, as I mentioned before, the mind is a prime place for ideas to grow. This means that though the blossoming anxiety might remain, I could grow a garden of positivity around it to cope with it. But how?
For starters, I got out of the dorm.
Sitting around in the morning didn't do me much good. I found that the longer I waited to go out, the more idle time my mind had. and my mind would fill that idle time with little worries. Once I got out of my dorm I could see that it was a beautiful day, on a beautiful campus with beautiful people.
Then I put on some music.
It can be soothing to listen to some music that you enjoy between classes. I invested in a cheap pair of ear buds so that I could listen to Queen and my other music. It also helps if you know the words to the music, so you can think about those instead of your anxious feelings.
I talked to some friends.
Friends are another great distraction from worry. The more that I spoke with people that I was already comfortable with, the more I felt like I was ready to talk with people I wasn't comfortable with yet. And the less I overthought about things.
I took a deep breath.
I know it sounds cliche, but focusing on the way that I breathe helps me to calm down. I either do some of the singing exercises that I know related to breathing, or I go on youtube and look up how to breathe (a lot of them are breathing for meditation/relaxation).
I colored in the margins.
If I got stressed in class I'd scribble in the margins and hum to myself. It is both calming and distracting for me. I just need to make sure that I'm taking notes too!
I explored.
A lot of the fear that comes with being in a new place is getting lost, both literally and metaphorically. I have been wandering out a little at a time, discovering new places on campus, and asking for help when I can't find my way. You may get lost, at some point or another, and in fact, it is probably inevitable. But we will all find our way again. There are always resources like counseling, especially on college campuses if things get to be too much. Have patience, take a few small chances at a time, and don't be afraid to reach out to people. The garden in your mind will only grow the most beautiful flowers, and the anxiety will be all but lost among them.
