Exhale. Did you feel that? The calm sweeping over you as the last final exam slips from your fingertips onto your professor’s desk. Another semester over. The ever tornado-ing drain, sucking us into the black hole that encompasses finals week rests in a cloud of dust.
As we ride off into the sunset of our seasonal freedom, school and all it included becomes more and more of a distant, unwelcome memory. Our over-scheduled, under-prepared selves that consumed the Spring semester fade away.
Now what?
If you feel that similar, tense sensation sweeping over your mind and body, a feeling that should be gone until autumn, know you are not the only one. Anxiety rears its ugly head and presents itself when we least expect it. But why now? Why after all the struggle and pain of deadlines and commitments do we still feel the tightening of our gut and the tumult of our minds? This abrupt halt we all come to at the end of a semester does not always welcome us with a loving embrace. The constant stimulation and packed calendar we grow so accustomed to acts as a type of security blanket.
You are not the only one feeling this way. I have suffered the perils of anxiety for close to a decade. As a returning college student rapidly approaching my 30th birthday I’ve been around the anxiety attack block quite a few times. My personal accounts don’t make me an all-knowing sage, however, with experience I’ve created a vault of ideas in dealing with panic and anxiety attacks.
Run. No, I’m not suggesting to choose “flight” in the sense of “fight or flight.” Quite literally: run. Get outside, exercise. It seems like such a no-brainer, but it took me years to figure out that natural endorphins actually work. “It’s too hot in the valley to do that over summer,” you say - and you’re right. Griffith Park and the Santa Monica Mountains, both short drives away, have a great selection of shaded trails to visit this summer. Pack your sunscreen, plenty of water, throw a hat on, and head to Escondido Falls; a moderately shaded trail with the reward of a stunning waterfall at the end. When you reach the waterfall: don’t forget to breathe.
Read a book. Gasp! A book that isn’t attached to a graded paper? Relax. I’m not suggesting you take on The Fountainhead this summer, but rather a book you can actually sit down and enjoy. Pick up a copy of Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel, The Night Circus and escape reality while traveling through a world of magic and romance with an enchanted circus.
Finally: remember to have fun. Sometimes the best way to get out of your head is simply getting out of doors. So ditch the phone and the laptop for a day and get outside!
