Going to college and dealing with all of the stressors that come with it and being involved with organizations or clubs can be stressful for anyone. The stress and the pressure of school and all of the demands become extremely amplified when you have anxiety.
Originally, I was in denial about having anxiety. I saw it as something to be ashamed of, a weakness. Looking back on this, I realized that it isn't a weakness at all, but rather helps play into one of my strengths. I am a very cautious person, and my anxiety helps reinforce that since I have a fear of getting disappointed or hurt.
The problem that I had with college was that since I was overly ambitious, I wanted to try to be the best that I could be in the most amount of organizations and classes as possible. But when it came down to actually implementing everything that I needed to into my lifestyle, it became a bit of a struggle. I would spend almost every night up doing homework until about 3 or 4 a.m., not really leaving me with time to sleep.
There are times when I have bad anxiety days and I can't handle everything that is on my plate at that point. When I reach this point, I need to remind myself to step back and look at the bigger picture. I am ultimately here for my education and the things that I do outside of class are supposed to be both beneficial to me and something that I enjoy.
Sophomore year I decided to start making cuts in the things that I was involved with. I took away the things that didn't really make me happy and I can tell you that I feel so much better about what I am involved with come junior year.
My advice for people who are in college or university, no matter what year you are, is to do things that you love and take a look at how many classes you are planning on taking during one semester. Classes are stressful and demanding, so when you have things outside of class that you enjoy doing, your life and your schedule don't seem so chaotic.
Another piece of advice I have for college students with anxiety is to not be afraid to reach out to others when you need help. That help can be from your professor, a therapist, or the help of your friends or family. Another thing that you can do to help you out is starting to take anxiety medicine. Take this one with a grain of salt. Not everyone should be taking anxiety medicine just because they have anxiety - it should be limited to extreme cases where your anxiety is all-consuming like mine was. I only got on my anxiety medicine this summer - and this is what I was like before I got on my medication.
Overall, there is no perfect, concise, and definitive way to handle anxiety. It is all about doing what makes you feel better when you are in a place where you feel anxious or nervous about schoolwork and the high demands of college and life.
