A student is walking down the hallway when, suddenly, anxiety washes over them. They quickly dart to their favorite teacher’s classroom to settle down before class. Unfortunately, they see that the teacher is not there, and they are forced to use the techniques they’ve learned from their counselor to help them get through this sudden wave of panic. 

Teens deal with anxiety in several ways in today’s social environment:  breathing exercises, grounding exercises, and being outside.

 “Anxiety is usually either worrying about the future or worrying about the past,” counselor Jocelyn Wright-Newman said. “One of the best ways to deal with anxiety in the moment is to focus on the present.”

Moreover, focusing on what’s happening now can help us with upsetting thoughts. According to the Calm Blog, keeping fixed on what is going on at the moment can keep people grounded and lower their stress levels.

Wright-Newman also believes that having a strong support system helps ease anxiety.

“One of the biggest things that helps with anxiety is relationships, knowing that there is somebody there to talk to, to listen to, that wants you to be successful,” Wright-Newman said. 

Hence, when you have people who are there to get you through tough times, they are the ones who can help you with your anxiety and help you realize that nobody is perfect. Wright-Newman suggests that if students do not have a specific person to talk to, they could start a bond with a trusted adult by talking about easy things at first. The article School and Teen Anxiety: FAQs, by Dina Nunziato, states that if parents talk with their children, it will help them create a safe space to communicate their feelings.

“Teachers understand that kids don’t work like adults. We need more time sometimes, and stressing us out is not helpful,” freshman Eleanor Pittelko said.

Furthermore, teachers adding load after load of homework or assignments also increases students’ stress. So, understanding that kids don’t solve or deal with problems like adults do could help students nowadays. 

 “Talking to a person is just helpful, get out whatever I’m thinking about, and it’s natural it’s just something to get my mind off my struggles,” Pittelko said.

With the complications and stresses of life, having techniques to cope with anxiety can improve and make a difference in students’ daily lives.

Here are some alternate techniques to deal with anxiety:

• 5-4-3-2-1 method (5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste)
• Grounding method
• Meditating 
• Taking a walk