Take Care of Your Mind Too by Patricia

Take Care of Your Mind Too by Patricia - August 2018 Scholarship Essay

As a an upcoming sophomore in college, haven gone through years of school, I know that one key aspect in succeeding in school is one’s mental health. Being someone that struggles with anxiety, school work gets to be too much sometimes and my anxiety reaches its peak. Persistent thoughts of “you have three tests coming up”, “you have a six page paper to write” and a constant feeling of “I will not be able to manage all of this”, “You are incompetent” leaves me feeling very discouraged, hopeless and beaten down.

My podcast would be about how it is okay to take a step back and breathe. I would touch upon various ways one can fight the constant feeling of worry and nervousness. Having a clouded head, makes it hard to learn, retain information, and excel. Success comes from within. If you are someone who likes to exercise, it is okay to go to that yoga class Wednesday nights. Go for a run, kick a ball, go play catch. Being active is probably the last thing that you want to do when your mind is in overdrive, but it is one of the best natural solutions for anxiety. Let your mind rest, put your body to work.

It is okay to go and talk to someone about how it is all becoming too much. Your own thoughts might try to belittle the situation, you may feel that many other people are going through the same thing and that it is not important. But it is important and one should seek help. Not being able to quiet your thoughts gets to be exhausting. Talking about things makes me feel a lot better, makes me feel a little bit more free. Colleges usually offers resources such as this, counseling or programs to help fight anxiety and stress, utilize them!

In my podcast, I would talk about the Impostor Syndrome. People who suffer from this feel as if they are incompetent and unintelligent, they tend to downplay their accomplishments. A common symptom is negative self-talk, downgrading thoughts of oneself. You are your own worst enemy. Fighting the Impostor Syndrome is not easy, and it may seem silly but training your thoughts has a lot to do with it. Easier said than done because it is hard to believe in yourself when you never learned how to. So it is important that students remind themselves of their progress, tell themselves everyday that they are capable and qualified. Applaud themselves for acing the test and for the presentation they did. An accomplishment, no matter how small, matters. Write positive messages on their mirror so they can see it everyday and remind themselves that they can do it, that they are capable of much more than what your mind makes it seem.

Sometimes, taking a couple seconds to breathe might help you feel better, but other times a little more effort is required to fight the feeling of anxiety. But it is hard to be in the moment when it all seems to be too much and it feels like you are drowning in your thoughts. That was is why as a student, one has to actively remind themselves to practice these habits. That even though it is going to take your all to get up and do something to make you better, feeling better at the end, even in the slightest, makes it worth it.

Being a student, is one of the top anxiety inducing things for me. I know that many other students may struggle with is as well. That is why I would make an education podcast about how taking care of one’s mind is as important as getting good grades and making Dean’s List. Hot having good mental health might be the reason why one does not succeed in school.