School has only been in session for a week and a half, but the professors didn’t waste any time getting into full swing. Lectures began and homework was assigned on the very first day. Talk about diving in! Most days, it feels like there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish what is expected of you. Trust me, I understand the struggles of trying to be a successful adult while being a successful student at the same time. Sometimes, work conflicts with study time, and then you’re left with trying to balance financial stability with the desire for straight A’s…not to mention the ~50-page chapters that three different professors assigned for the next time class meets. When anxiety gets thrown into the mix, it feels like one big mental breakdown waiting to happen.

Let me backtrack for just a second. I have anxiety. Not the “Oh, I’m feeling a little anxious about this test” kind, but the diagnosable, feels-like-you’re-drowning, panic-attack-having kind. The kind that makes you feel like nothing you do is or ever will be good enough. The kind that steals your peace and makes you want to quit before you even start. When life starts throwing everything it has at me, my initial reaction is to be overwhelmed and think that I can’t do it, especially when stress is already piled high. However, what I have come to learn is that it really boils down to a matter of head vs. heart, and choosing which one you’re going to believe.

I think that it takes a while, sometimes a long while, to really know yourself and to be able to recognize when your reactions aren’t reasonable. At least, that was the case for me. Anxiety used to be who I was. When even the tiniest amount of stress came my way, I went from zero to wreck in 3.5 seconds or less. Now, I realize that it’s because my head was winning the battle with my heart. My head tells me that it’s all too much, that I should just go take a nap and ignore my problems because there’s no way that I can accomplish everything that needs to be done in a day. But my heart tells me that I am loved and supported by those around me, that I am smart and capable, and that it’s OK that I can’t be perfect because no one is expecting that except me. All of the things that my heart tells me come from the fact that it is consumed by the one who dwells there. I am not defined by what my head tells me is impossible, but by who God says that I am.

Whether you have anxiety or not, life can be overwhelming at times. I wish that I could tell you that I have stress management down to an art form, that there is an exact formula for dealing with all of life’s struggles in a healthy way. But I don’t, and there isn’t one. What I can tell you is that you can do it, whatever “it” is. You can get the grades you want, you can become what and who you want to become, and you can do it all without being perfect. Set your heart on God and His plans for you, and then let your heart win.