Hi everyone, I am opening this thread so that people can comment about their experience with anxiety in high school and help others. I feel that so many of us in high school have anxiety, especially those of us that are college-bound because we feel the need to be perfect all the time. I’ll begin with my experience below
My experience with anxiety began in 5th grade, and I was lucky enough to be able to work past it. However, this year - my junior year, it’s starting to show up again. I am taking 3 AP classes and 1 honors, and I devote most of my time to maintaining straight A’s and participating in extracurriculars. However, I cry up to 3 times a day worried that I’ll get a B on a test and ruin everything, I have test anxiety, and I start to cry and shake during day or night worried that I’m not doing enough and that I can’t do anything correctly. Comment below so we can work through this together!
Talk with your parents. Try to calm down about perfection…you don’t need to be perfect. If needed, try counseling and/or meds. You will not make it through life as a perfect person. We learn from our mistakes and the times we fall on our butts are some of our most important moments of insight. Not saying not to try hard and do your best…but I am saying not to be so terrified of failure. Failure is ok. It tests your character and teaches you that you CAN get up…you CAN recover. I totally get what you’re saying in your post…but seriously, go easier on yourself. Sleep enough, get good nutrition and exercise…enjoy being young a little:) Most stressy highschool kids turn into seriously stressed college students because there’s so much more on your plate. Contact student mental health soon after you arrive and see if they have any support groups for kids with anxiety. Some schools have meditation classes and groups specifically for kids suffering a lot of anxiety. Can’t hurt to check it out.
