How to Manage Back to School Anxiety: A Teenager's Perspective

By: Molly Maguire, 10th grade student in Southern Maryland

As the back-to-school season approaches, I always catch myself feeling anxious. The anxiety could be due to sport tryouts, wondering whether I have classes with friends, or even just general anxiety about a new school year. I have also experienced this feeling of anxiety due to starting a new year at a brand-new school. Growing up as an “Air Force Brat” comes with a lot of challenges, and one of those is the constant moving and starting over at new schools.

In my fifteen (long) years of living, I have been a student at six different schools, meaning I have had to make brand new friends six times at a variety of ages. Trust me, if anyone knows about being anxious to make new friends, it’s me. I have also noticed that I tend to ignore or distract myself from these anxious back-to-school nerves through sports and keeping myself busy. Does it work? Sometimes. Is it the best choice? No, not really.

I have learned that talking to someone as simple as my mom, or a professional (like a therapist) really helps. If talking to a parent or therapist doesn’t seem like an option, here are some others:

Personally, when I am starting at a new school or when it is back-to-school season, I do some research. Basically, I get all the information I can on the school. For example: a map of the school, or how to sign up for tryouts. Doing this can help reduce my anxiety on what I like to call the “unknown.”

The “unknown” is what freaks me out about the back-to-school season because I simply just don’t know all the information I think I may need for a successful start. If you are like me, you tend to over-prepare, and trust me, there’s nothing wrong with that… but stressing and getting very anxious for the back-to-school season is not very healthy.

So, to help mitigate these anxious feelings, we can figure out what’s in our control and get the information we need. I also have to remind myself that it’s the first day of school for everyone, so I won’t be alone.

Another thing you can do is talk to someone trusted. If there is a reason your not able to take the professional route and talk to a therapist, just talking with friends, guardians, or siblings may help. One thing I like to do is Facetime my friends the night before the first day of school, and they help me realize I’m not the only one who is anxious, and sometimes they even make me excited (which is crazy consider going back to school isn’t a typical fifteen year olds favorite thing.)

I have also noticed a trend when talking to someone older (someone who has been through it before, and had those same anxious feelings). They will tell you the same thing: you are not alone! No one is alone in experiencing the first day of school or the back-to-school season… I mean, you're literally going into a building with hundreds to thousands of other anxious teenagers, what could go wrong?

I’m mostly joking around, but to be serious, you really are not alone. Everyone isn’t going to automatically know where their classes are, or where tryouts or practice are. Everyone (even the people who don’t show it) has some level of uncertainty about everything that is going on during back-to-school.

So, if you find yourself feeling anxious or even stressed during back-to-school season, take a deep breath and just remember you’re not alone. Everyone else is trying to figure it out too, so do what you can to try and help calm those nerves.

If you decide that speaking with a professional could be helpful, and you are a resident of Southern Maryland, appointments at Hope and Healing Therapy and Wellness are available! To schedule an appointment, give us a call at (301) 690-8404 or check out our website at www.hopehealingtherapy.com.