When you stop looking for reasons why the world is against you, sunrises become the most beautiful part of life. College is stressful; no one in their right mind is going to disagree with you, but the biggest thing about success is taking the stress one stride at time. You must allow yourself time to process the changes before you declare that they are ruining your life.
I am the queen of overthinking all parts of my life, from the outfit I am wearing, to the assignments I turn in. Over the years I have developed the ability to think myself into a bad mood, and that was the worst habit I have ever made!
When you start looking at life through a half empty mindset you are now forced to look at everything through a grey film; a cloudy vision of what is really in front of you. No matter the situation, you must remember you can get through the struggle and that the problem is just temporary.
When you look at everything with sad eyes you find yourself hitting a wall. At the start of sophomore year, I found myself looking at everything as if the world was crumbling around me and I let myself stay in this mindset for years before I decided I was worth more than that. I spent two years in a depressing haze. I had managed to talk myself into the fact that I was not good enough and that no one really liked me. My anxiety was ruining all relationships I had and at the time I couldn’t see the truth.
I spent years talking down to myself and that was all I knew how to do. I didn’t notice how bad my anxiety got until the start of senior year that I finally decided it was time to seek help. This was the hardest thing I could have done, but it was the first step in coming to terms with the fact that I am not alone or by myself. After asking for help, I found it easier to talk about my anxiety with my youth kids at my internship and helping people make the same steps that I had to.
In life things seem terrible, as if there is nothing you can do to be happy. But the thing people don’t realize is that life isn’t supposed to suck this much. You are not meant to walk around in darkness and you do not have to feel as though you are by yourself, EVER.
We’ve grown up in an era where mental health is so wildly talked about, yet you can never find a solution to your struggle. With the fact that so many people are now open with their mental health it is easy to be mistaken as normal, that you are supposed to be sad all the time, or that anxiety attacks are just a part of college when they aren’t. Life is not supposed to be as hard as it is and you are able to seek help; whether for you that means just talking to someone, giving and taking some of the weight off your shoulders, or to consider medication to help balance out chemicals.
When you decide to take the step in the direction of self-love, you must always remember that this is your recovery, your journey, and your mental health. You are cannot compare your mental health needs to those of someone else; you are unique, and you have different needs.
Before I sign off, I want to remind you that when you start your journey it is not going to be easy, but do not give up. When looking for help, don’t be set on the first solution. When working towards a better mindset, there are more than a hundred plans you can try; be willing to try more than one .You have so many plans of attack, so if one doesn’t work, just try another. You deserve to be happy and you should fight for your happiness.
XOXO
