May is Mental Health Awareness Month. According to the World Health Organization, one in four people worldwide are affected by a mental health disorder such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and many other illnesses.
Specifically, generalized anxiety disorder plagues over 3 million American adults. That's 3 million people unable to attend to their daily activities because of panic attack, constant feelings of dread and fear, and limited coping mechanisms to handle everyday stressors. For American adults who have never suffered from this disease, it may be easy to just tell those who are suffering to "just calm down" or to "not take things so seriously." Unfortunately for many, this is harder than it sounds.
This is a day in the life of a college student suffering from severe anxiety.
Warning: this article may hit close to home for those suffering from anxiety and thus may serve as a trigger.
1. Waking up is harder than it seems.
Your alarm starts blaring. You roll over and press the snooze button and lie awake thinking about what you need to accomplish today. Class at 9:30, lab at 11, class again at 1, and work at 2. While you're at it, you remember that you need to meet with your professor about that paper you wrote. "Ugh," you think to yourself, "but that professor hates me. She probably hated my paper and probably thinks I'm an idiot." Do you have any reason this think this? Probably not. Anxiety has a good friend named paranoia, and it sucks.
Your alarm goes off again. You muster up the energy to get out of bed and face the grueling tasks ahead of you.
2. Going to class
This should be easy enough, right? Just sit in a desk for 50 minutes and listen to your professor talk. You're confident you can make it... until your professor asks you to meet with her after class. She says it's nothing bad, but you rack your brain trying to figure out what you did wrong. After all, that's the only logical reason someone would call you out. You immediately assume that you failed the last test. Your college career is out the window. After freaking out over this for 20 minutes, you realize you've missed everything she had to say about taking derivatives. If you weren't a screwed before, you sure are now. By the way, when you meet with her after class, it turns out she just wanted to make sure it was okay that she added a student to your group for the next project. You spent 20 minutes panicking for nothing.
3. Taking criticism... AKA everyone hates you
It's time to figure out this paper. You walk up to your professor's office and notice that she's talking to another professor. You aren't sure if they're just casually chatting or if it's serious. Do you interrupt? No, you'll look like a jerk. But what if they're just hanging out, and you're waiting outside her office for nothing? You might end up late for lab. You finally find the courage to knock on the door. After all, you've set up an appointment. She waves the other professor out of her office and pulls out your paper, adorned with red ink. "Great," you think, "she really does hate me." She begins going over the red scribbles with you, and every piece of criticism feels so personal. You just want to run away to your room, crawl back into bed, and cry. You don't know how to take a derivative, and now you can't event write an essay. You're definitely going to fail out of school.
4. Unexpected events
You finally make it through all your responsibilities for the day. You're ready to crawl back into bed, when your best friend storms into the room saying she matched with a guy on Tinder and she's going to meet him. She's too nervous to go alone, though, and made sure he had a hot friend for you so that you can join her. You're not emotionally prepared to go out tonight, much less with a guy. But if you say no, you'll ruin her date, and you assume she'll never be able to forgive you. She leaves the room to start getting ready, and you think of all that could go wrong tonight. What if he's creepy? What if they stand you up? What if he's not your type? What are you supposed to talk about? Your heart rate speeds up, and you feel like you can't breathe. "Not again," you think. This is the third panic attack you've had this week. You lie down and try to control your breathing. After a few minutes, your lungs finally seems to open up.
5. Not ready for another day
You survived that date. You wipe the makeup off of your face and get into bed. You lie awake for a few hours, thinking of all you have to do tomorrow and all that can go wrong. You dread another anxiety-ridden day.
If you think you or someone you love are suffering from generalized anxiety disorder or any other mental illness, please call a doctor. At the very least, tell a trusted friend, family member, or teacher. These illnesses are serious and should be treated medically, not with alcohol or simply ignoring it altogether. No one should have to live days like the day I've described.
