College is hard. The transition from high school to college or even college to college can be even harder. As you’re transitioning, you’re also learning about yourself and things can get weird. You may start freaking out a little more or you probably find yourself getting angry a lot faster than the usual and you know it’s not okay. But everyone around you seems to be doing fine. So then you think it’s just you. You start to get lazy, you no longer feel motivated and you decide to stay home–because being home is a lot easier than making an effort. And this is not okay.
Over 64 percent of young adults are no longer in college due to a reason regarding mental illness. I, once, could’ve been a part of that 64% because let’s face it: college isn’t easy. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety my sophomore year of college because, at first, I didn’t think it was necessary to go see someone. I thought my laziness was just me being tired, my emotions were me being normal, and my mental state was just a phase. But it takes a toll on you, and there was a point when I couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore. Then, finally, with the encouragement of people that I love, I finally went to the counseling services my campus provides and my life has changed. You have your rigorous schoolwork, social life and family life, then somehow you still need to find yourself all the while getting 8 hours of sleep. But being able to recognize you’re not okay is the first step.
It’s okay to admit to yourself–the most important person, that you can’t handle certain things. It’s okay to tell yourself that you deserve a mental break from an assignment or from people so you can keep your mental sanity. But it’s also okay to seek help from a professional who can help you balance your life in ways that you couldn’t even imagine. Just a simple session can single handedly make you look deeper into yourself and find the roots of your problems. Once you get to that point where you figure out what’s wrong, you’ll see that your life will slowly start to align itself.
No one has an easy start. Not everyone has an easy home life or transition into college. But what you make out of those hardships is what’s going to slowly drive you into being the better version of yourself that you know you can be.
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