Managing Anxiety as a Returning College Student

 
 

College students all around America have become accustomed to online lectures for the past year and a half due to the pandemic. But as vaccine dispersal has become more widespread in this country, venues, restaurants and universities have all tried to return back to “normal” with not much hesitation. Some people have been excited to return to participating in packed indoor spaces while some are anxious about it. For people that already had anxiety prior to the pandemic, it has only added new triggers associated with the fear of getting COVID-19.

There are always a few online options for a few courses at a university, but the majority of them are generally being held in-person. So how can a person who is triggered by in-person school manage their anxiety during another surge in cases in the pandemic?

One thing to consider is your Locus of Control. Locus of Control refers to how in control you feel about various aspects in your life. Some people have a more internal locus of control (“everything is my fault”) while others have a more external locus of control (“It’s out of my hands’). In order to analyze your thoughts on your locus of control, utilize a “Circle of Control” worksheet like this worksheet or this worksheet.

Most worksheets have 3 circles: the smallest inner circle says, “most control,” the middle circle says, “some control” and the outer circle says, “least control.” The goal of the worksheet is to think about things that stress you out and rank them from most control to least control.

When I completed this worksheet I found that COVID-19 was in the “least control” ring but “whether or not I get COVID-19” was in the “some control” ring. It’s important to understand that there is not much you can do about COVID-19 other than taking measures to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Other tools to help manage both general and COVID-19 related anxiety include the “art of de-catastrophizing”. Catastrophizing is a type of cognitive distortion where the worst case scenario is thought to be true and or a problem is given more importance than it should.

De-catastrophizing is the act of analyzing those cognitive distortions and calming yourself by realizing that the problem is not as severe as you thought. That could be difficult to do in regards to COVID-19, but again if you are taking measures to protect yourself and others, the worst case scenario is unlikely to happen to you. Likewise, you can apply the same thoughts to what could happen versus what will happen.

Lastly, if you have found things in the past that helped you manage your anxiety, you can try to slowly incorporate them into your life again. For example, yoga, guided meditation, and journaling are helpful outlets for many people working to manage their anxiety.

In conclusion, go through the above tools and think about some tools from your past and figure out what works for you. Remember, COVID-19 is out of your hands so just do what you can to protect yourself and your loved one and others. Your best is good enough.

~Divine Ikpe

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