Many people often overlook the shaking hands and shifting gazes of many young adults. They write it off as nerves but for just under 20% of the population, the fatigue and restlessness they feel cannot be eased by a simple introduction. Anxiety is a mental disorder that is excessive and irrational apprehension or unease that can be triggered by events that are looming in the far off future. Naturally, it is common for teenagers to undergo some stage of anxiety even if not medically diagnosed.

It's not uncommon for teenagers to feel a sense of dread fill their bodies when they hear a teacher call for homework to be collected that they forgot to do. A girl might feel weak in the knees at her first dance. Boys might feel their throat closing when having to present something in front of the class. And let's all not forget that anxiety can come with puberty.

Above all, most teenagers go through the same painful and stressful event in their lives. College.

College is an overall mystery to many. Being the first child only heightens the intense fear. At least, that’s what I feel. Pitted against myself, I have bottled everything up in order to hide what I’m truly feeling. It’s not what many think it is. Since early October, I have been accepted to the college of my dreams- Florida Southern College. The anxiety should have subsided there, I had been accepted to the college I will be attending this upcoming semester, all I had to do was not mess up. Not mess up. Mess up.

Living with anxiety is something that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. From the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, the worry and fear fill your gut and apprehension fills your mind. I constantly fear that I make the wrong decision when being presented with a decision to make. There have been numerous times where the anxiety spikes upward into minutes long of intense dread and fear- a panic attack. In these moments, tears fall and I am left gasping for breath as I shake. The most humiliating part is when it happens outside of the comfort of the four walls of my bedroom.

Learning how to deal with anxiety is certainly a challenge that not everyone succeeds in. Some use medicine treatments, others go to therapy. And yet there is still some of the population that has no one. No one to hold onto for help, no one who knows. The best thing to do is to reach out and connect with everyone you know in order to make sure that they are okay.