My Experience With High School Anxiety

During my life so far, I’ve experienced countless challenges from tough classes, to changing friend groups, to figuring out who I want to become. However, none compare to the arduous struggle to jump out of my comfort zone and conquer my elementary anxiety on which I determined my place among my peers and began the definition of who I was. Starting elementary school, I was cripplingly anxious, not simply the occasional bout of nervousness most people get, but I was truly terrified of what others thought of me and incessantly put an incredible amount of stress on myself for only being in first grade. I couldn’t seem to grasp the concept that it was okay if I messed up, and that perfectionist stress shadowed me for eight more exasperating years. …show more content…
Outside of school I was a happy-go-lucky kid without a care in the world, but as soon as I stepped on the school bus, my anxiety kicked into high gear. I was so incredibly shy that I had to have a bathroom buddy, but never went to the bathroom because I didn’t want to inconvenience the other student. I would have near panic attacks if I got on the wrong bus, not because I didn’t know where to go, but because I didn’t want anyone to know I had messed up. I would never miss school, because if I did, I would have to ask the teacher for my missing work. I consumed myself with worry about what to do and where to go next, trapping myself in an eternal cycle of