1.Recognize that depression and anxiety are indeed real.

The challenges of college can lead to struggles with depression and anxiety for many. You're suddenly solely responsible for making sure you're sleeping well, eating right, and making sure your life doesn't implode. Not to mention the sense of being overwhelmed and stress that come along with college.

However, just because mental health and emotional issues are common on campus, though, doesn't mean you should have to suffer through it

2.Recognize that your mental health is important

Often people tend to place grades and then their social life as their only responsibilities in college. But it is so important to recognize that your mental well being requires work too.

3.Stop making comparisons

Comparison truly is the thief of joy. It is so easy to look at the people around you and compare yourself to them. But this should not be done because you never know how they are truly feeling. Your comparisons are rather your own interpretations of the emotions and expressions they are showing. Also do not take the pictures people post on social media for face value, they only show a persons expression for a few seconds out of a long twenty-four hour day.

4.Know what resources are available to you

Most college campuses have mental health facilities. Even if you do not think you will ever use it, there is no harm in familiarizing yourself with where it is and knowing what it offers — that way, if you find yourself needing it, it's one less difficult thing to deal with during an already tough time.

5.Make time for self care

Know that you do not have to go out every time your friends are. When you do not feel up for it, do not go. Instead take time for yourself. If you know you need to catch up on sleep do it. Do whatever you need in order to relieve some of the tension within you.

6.Find ways to reduce stress

These will be different for each and every person and will take time to discover. Maybe this is something you can do when you opt to take some time for yourself. Personally, I love going to take classes at the Rec Center or to walk around campus and find new spaces in which I feel at peace. One thing I think almost anyone can agree on is removing yourself from your source of stress ,maybe the work piled on your desk in your room, for a break is beneficial.

7.Self-evaluate

Make sure to take the time to evaluate how your truly doing. While this may not take as long it is still equally important. Are you feeling as if you are just barely making it? Are you feeling that the ways you have incorporated into your life to reduce stress are truly working? The answers to these questions and those similar should serve as an indicator of what your next step should be.