HELP ME PLEASE

Well, this reply may fall woefully short in terms of helping with your anxiety but I still think it might be worth a shot. So, I guess I should just tell you right out the gate that although the first few semesters of college can be pretty intimidating, scary, very difficult, or even depressing since it’s usually our first time living away from home all by ourselves with little to no adult supervision, eventually, slowly, things will get better and it will bother you less and less. As someone who has graduated from college and who is now a graduate student I feel confident in my experience enough to say that despite the uncertainty, the anxiety, and the stress that comes with living away from home for the first time and being fully responsible for your own academic performance, dorm/apartment life, getting meals, etc. if you remain open and tell yourself that you can do this then you will be able to push through and shrug off the “what if’s” that come to mind because at the end of the day all of the thoughts that we have are in our heads. Our thoughts are pretty much intangible abstract things that have no permeance on the world until we act upon them, so in that sense they are powerless until you give them power over you. I would encourage you take the power back from them, if you can. If not then that’s fine too, just know that we are never truly alone.

Furthermore, regarding the whole death thing, yeah it’s true that we will all likely pass from this world one day, but I’ve found that the true meaning of life is enjoying the time that you have on this earth with the ones that you love, usually family of course but partners as well I would assume. Also, trust me, having a beloved pet pass is never easy, I also had a cat named Gary that I spent almost half my life with. But it’s been a few years now since then and things have gotten better, I’ve graduated since then and I’ve gotten a part time job while going to grad school. So just know that while you will never forget your dog, eventually the pain from the loss gets a little less painful over time. Hopefully, that brings at least some comfort. If not then I apologize. Regardless, I hope all this helps and I hope that you have a nice rest of the week. 🙂

P.S. I also suffered from bouts of insomnia in college, usually due to anxiety and stress about school, so just know that it’s perfectly normal to have sleepless nights. Even if they always suck to deal with.

I grew up constantly worrying about the people I loved - if they were okay throughout the day, if I’d die, if they would, etc. I was always exhausted from school, but so happy everyone made it home at the end of the school/work day. I always thought it was anxiety and just the world being a frankly unpredictable place where violence is prevalent. I think the latter remains true, unfortunately. We cannot pause life to predict what could lead to our or others’ death. Things are out of our control, and being at college is a great way to grow as a person. I got more scared my first semester away as well. I also know that at the end of the day, the people I love want the best for me as much as I want the best for them. Being in different places is a part of growing and experiencing life. I realized that it scared me to be away because being in close proximity to my loved ones always gave me this false perception that it’d be more in my control if something bad were to happen. That isn’t true. Things are unpredictable, but we have to trust that if something happens we have the ability to use our resources to get through it. Having a routine of texting/calling my loved ones helped me a lot. I hope this helped some. I still struggle with a lot of fear about the world and uncertainty right now - you’re not alone.