School time is getting closer and closer and I know that anxious feeling when you start to panic because you’re about to start a new grade, new university year, or even repeating a year (we don’t judge). But whatever the case may be I am here to guide you through that feeling and hopefully help you to realise that everything will be alright.

Firstly, it’s important to realise that having anxiety is not always a bad thing because it’s a way of your body alerting you to impending dangers or issues that need to be dealt with. So the feeling of anxiety is not to be seen as something bad; but if you don’t address that feeling or the issue that you are stressing about then it could lead to serious depression and that is what we are trying to avoid in this blog.

Without saying too much, here are some tips that you can use to cope with the feeling of anxiousness.

When you’re feeling anxious or stressed try as much as possible to take your mind off whatever is stressing you. Listen to some music, go for a walk, exercise or write in your dairy. This helps your mind to focus its energy on another task and therefore forcing you to get rid of some tension that you might have been experiencing while stressed.

Learn to get enough sleep and eat well-balanced meals because these two things alone will make a world of difference to your body and mind. If you are stressed about school that is slowly coming around the corner and all you can think about is how tough the year is going to be, try and give your body enough rest. Yes this school year might end up being hard, but you have yet to start it, so why are you so worried about what you can’t fix?

Eating well-balanced meals means no skipping meals, and it also means eating good healthy foods that will sustain you throughout the day. Some people like to “stress eat”, and they end up eating junk and lots of sugar; that will not help your body at all. Instead it will create more problems later on like obesity. So try for as much as possible to eat your veggies and grains as that helps your mind restore more energy to deal with your anxious feelings.

Try as much as possible to limit alcohol and caffeine consumption because in as much as people say that it helps, it actually does more harm than good. Drinking alcohol or coffee while stressed makes it worse and can actually cause you to have a panic attack. So rather drink some water instead of caffeine.

Now, for a few quick tricks to do when you really can’t deal with that anxious feeling:

Take deep breaths, inhale and exhale slowly and then start to count from 1 to 10 slowly and repeat this process until you start to feel the tension lifting slowly.

Remember the saying laughter is medicine to the soul, well it’s true. If you are feeling very stressed or anxious about school starting turn on the TV or Radio and listen to something funny. You will start to feel so much better in no time. If you don’t like TV’s then ask your friends to tell you some jokes, laughing will make you feel so much better.

Always remember that not everything you do will turn out the way you intend, meaning you don’t have control of all your situations. Yes school is starting soon and No you can’t slow down the time, but you can make the most out of the last few days of holidays that you have. So go out and have some fun. Be happy with the time you still have and when the school starts stay positive and do your best the rest will naturally flow as it was meant to.

Lastly, if you truly struggle with anxiety and feel that you have tried all these tips but you still need assistance, then don’t suffer in silence, consult a doctor or therapist. Remember people suffer from anxiety due to many issues that affect them, issues that can sometimes lead to depression and even suicide, so don’t hold it in if it is a serious issue you think you have, seek some help and speak to someone. (Here is a link to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group – www.sadag.org)

I hope you have all learnt something new with this blog and don’t be afraid to speak up about your challenges with someone you can trust, it helps. Also, I wish you all a wonderful year ahead and trust me school isn’t so bad, there is a whole world outside of school waiting for you, so do your best and work hard, but stress less. #StayTrendi

Written by Phoebe Sibomana

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