There’s a rush through your body as you freeze in place. Your chest is tight, and you can’t breathe. Your mind takes over, and you begin to overthink. You start to cry and panic. You attempt to find a way out, but it only gets worse. 

“There’s no strategy out of panic.” you think. 

“I can’t get out.” 

“Everything makes it worse.” 

I’ve been there. Many have. So many struggle with anxiety. Whether it’s school-related or personal, I find that there have been times when life has taken over my brain, and begins to over-analyze everything. 

Anxiety comes from stress. School is stressful in many ways. We believe that we are not good enough if we get a lousy grade. We think ahead of time—tests to presentations. 

It all comes down to the people at our school. 

“I’m not good enough.” 

“I don’t act or look like any of the other kids.” 

“There’s no way I’m going to find friends.” 

Our minds trick us into thinking that we should act and dress like everyone else so that we can fit in with the rest. We have to find the perfect group of friends. We have to be popular. Boys and girls have to like us.   

We are all trapped into believing too many of the stereotypes. 

Overthinking always ends up in panic. We overthink our test that is tomorrow, and we end up in a panic. Maybe we didn’t study enough. Then we fear that our mom is going to be mad that we failed. If we fail, we worry that our grade will go down. 

It all ends up in a big mess—a meltdown. Piling these situations up is when it feels as though we are trapped. 

Focusing too much on what we think is going to happen in the future is not worth it. Calm down. Think of now. Don’t panic because you didn’t study. Don’t think of what your mom will do. Don’t think of your grade going down. 

Believing these worries within you are actual situations that are going to happen will only make it worse. In reality, the test’s content may instead be forgotten due to the overabundance of concern. Worrying about things that we can’t control only makes a chain to more worrying… a chain to more anxiety.