Dear Mentally Ill Freshman: a guidepost to high school
as of may this year, i graduated from high school (thank god) and freshman year was definitely my hardest year. here’s a few tips that will hopefully help other mentally ill kids like me struggling to come to freshman year.
Don’t bite more than you can chew. i can’t stress this enough. if you wholeheartedly believe you can handle a bunch of ap classes, go for it. but what REALLY ruined me my freshman year is that i took too many upper level classes.
Take mental illness “break” days if you need. this doesn’t work for everyone, but for those it does work, it’s really useful. contact your teachers and ask what you missed in class, they’ll be glad to send the work or powerpoints so you can do/read it at home.
Take upperclasmens’ advice. really do try to make friends with upperclassmen. they went thru everything ur going thru currently, and they probably have tips to deal with school.
Take time to understand yourself. self discovery is a big part of high school. the better you learn why you do things, the easier it is to control the things you do.
Block people out of your lives. seriously. if someone is causing damage in your life (online or irl), block them out of it. unfriend them. stop talking to them. it’s YOUR time and energy you’re giving them, and if they don’t appreciate it, it’s not worth giving.
Get to know your classmates. you don’t have to make friends with them by ANY means, but just get to know some at least. it’s such a god given help when you can ask someone for the homework and when you have someone to be your partner for a group project. i ALWAYS got to know my seat neighbors in most every class.
Take extracurricular classes you like! doing extracurricular that you don’t like can be REALLY boring, draining, and time-wasting. if you have nothing that interests you, get into something! you might be surprised. there’s bound to at least a club that you like.
Have a fallback. have something or multiple things that will calm you down in case of an anxiety attack. i’ve had multiple anxiety relief games bookmarked since 9th grade that have stopped my panic attacks beyond count.
these points are most important to me in surviving high school. absolutely feel free to add some of your own!!
