Introduction

I am a young person that suffers from severe anxiety. My anxiety is worse when going to school or thinking about going to school. Some days I can’t go to school because my anxiety is so high. This becomes a problem because I have plans for the future and what I want to achieve them. This means I really need to go to school. However, knowing this can make my anxiety worse.

This summer I’ve been thinking about how to help with my own anxiety surrounding going back to school and thought it might be helpful to share my tips with others. Here are my tips for dealith with back to school anxiety.

Many People get very anxious over going back to school so I hope I can help some of you with these tips:

Reassure Yourself

Try to reassure yourself that everything will be okay. Try to remember what it was like when you were actually at school. It probably isn’t as bad as your anxiety leads you to believe.

Apps

There are some great apps out there that are worth looking into. Headspace is a good one to use before going to sleep or just in general. It can help to clear your mind and prevent or numb the anxiety.

Audiobooks

Audiobooks can be a really helpful distraction. You can use them to help calm your anxiety and to help with sleeping. Reading books can take you to another world and give you a break from the anxiety you have been feeling. I find audiobooks really calming.

Sleep

If you struggle to sleep the best way to deal with this is by using a distraction. People often say you shouldn’t use blue screens before bed, what I did was add a filter so that my screen is no longer admitting blue light that will affect my sleep. I distract myself by watching videos, reading, listening to music, audiobooks and calming apps. When I am really anxious this is the only way I can clear my mind enough to be able to get any sleep. I find it is better to keep myself distracted until I fall asleep rather than lying in bed for hours worrying and still not being able to sleep.

Conclusion

Anxiety can be a big issue, especially when going back to school. With only weeks to go until I go back myself, I am already starting to feel the anxiety build up. So I have started to use these strategies and hope they will help you too. Anxiety is nothing to be ashamed of so if you need to talk to someone please don’t be afraid. You will feel better once you have spoken to someone I promise. There are lots of online services you can use if you don’t want to speak to someone face to face.

Good Luck with going back to school … we can do this!

Here are some links you might find helpful

Kooth

Young Minds

Samaritans

Papyrus