Mental Health 101: How to End School Anxiety

 

One way or another, most of us spend a good deal of our lives at school, dealing with it in multiple dimensions. It impacts our relationships with our friends and families, not to mention our-very-selves. If not properly addressed, the fear of failure that often manifests itself around exam periods might turn into a constant state of anxiety and continue to haunt us day and night even beyond formal education years. 

Knowing how to overcome it, therefore, has an enormous potential to improve how much we make out of our most valued treasure in this life -- our time. I suggest you spare the next couple of minutes and read on to start the change today.

Prioritize Education and Learning, Not The School Itself

Answer me one thing first: Why do you go to school?

As small kids, we started doing so because our families or caretakers wanted us to. And because everyone did the same, we never questioned, at least not initially, why we became a student all of a sudden. Those were the years when we did not have much of a choice. Now, however, we do have that choice. It is in our power to decide continuing or dropping out but it is best to make that decision based on a pure cost & benefit analysis and always in relation to the alternatives we might turn to. 

So, why do you still go to school? You must only do so because it is good for you, a fine way to have a decent life both today and in the future. Let's be clear; the primary mechanism with which school makes that possible is education and training and we should always maintain our focus on learning outcomes, and certainly not on a school building or a computer screen. That is, going to school, whether in person or as part of a distant scheme, is pointless if we do not learn new and exciting and valuable things. But if we do learn them and build solid skills -- and you know you could even if you may sometimes feel like you don't -- and get better in time, then the right thing to do is to be patient for the rewards to materialize. And they will!

Be Mindful of What You Want to Learn

But perhaps you are studying in a field that is just not for you. Maybe, as someone who could be a world-renowned lawyer, you are studying chemistry and that is precisely why you perform so poorly and are now bored to your guts. Don't get me wrong; the opposite may equally be true for other people. I am sure most chemists, as perfectly talented as they may be at what they do, find it deeply depressing to read books on commercial law as thick as a brick. So, if such a mismatch applies to you, then it is time you do the necessary switch long overdue. Only then could you find joy in education. Only then will you start to grow impatient for the next lecture or the opportunity to learn more. Believe me I know how that feels; I started medical school at 37.   

Consider Exams As Means to Giant Leaps

Some of you might now say "School is okay. It is the exams that suck!" Well, there is some truth to that statement. Most students grow extremely anxious as the exam periods draw closer. Besides, not every school or instructor does a great job in measuring how much we have learned. Nevertheless, we, human beings, tend to grow lazy if we are allowed no interventions to our comfort zones. The truth is, without those exams, however imperfect they may be, most of us would not study as hard and learn as much. If you think about it, exams are in fact great opportunities in the sense that they discipline our natural tendencies and make us spend more time on our chosen area of study. Accordingly, the more we engage our subjects, the more our brains will be stimulated to retain the relevant knowledge and build on it by discovering new connections. The result of such intensity in learning is often giant steps forward on the paths we have conscientiously chosen to take. Even grades will, then, become irrelevant and you will truly  enjoy being a student.