A mental health crisis is occurring on college campuses, and two months into my first semester of college, I have come to see why.
Going to college is one of the most significant changes a person will experience in their entire life. It’s a new place with a whole new group of people, an opportunity to reset yourself.
With more complex classes than ever and too many opportunities to choose from, there is pressure on students to succeed and make the right choices. Your achievements at the collegiate level will likely determine your immediate post-graduate success and ascendancy into a chosen field of labor.
Being tasked with building your resume on top of maintaining a high GPA is a stressful experience. To be away from home also means you often will not have your parents as a shoulder to lean on.
As a college freshman living five hours away from home, the first two months of college have been more challenging mentally than academically.
This summer, I started taking medication and attending social anxiety therapy. I have struggled with this for a long time, but it got worse as I approached the end of my high school career due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The medication and therapy appointments helped, but moving so far away from home meant I could no longer meet with my therapist.
While there are mental health resources here at UNC, meeting with a whole new therapist and telling them about my life story and my life problems felt awkward. I didn’t want to feel like I was taking a step backward, so I decided against it.
Despite applying the practices I learned over the summer, I found making friends in a new place to be rather challenging.
On a big campus with nearly 20,000 undergraduate students, finding close friends who share your interests can be tough. It is not as easy to develop a social circle as it was in high school, despite the abundance of people.
Over these first eight weeks, I’ve come to understand that I am not alone in feeling anxious about the college experience. And despite how it appears, it is perfectly fine not to have your social circle set in stone.
I’ve learned that helping others has helped myself. I have begun introducing myself to new people in my new classes and the dining hall.
You never know what little interaction can make a person’s day or what someone is going through. Having someone to talk to or having someone compliment something about you can change your mood entirely.
As college students, we must be there for one another. This past year’s student suicides here at UNC were preventable. Reaching out to your friends when they need it is a responsibility we should adopt. Sitting next to someone who sits alone can go a long way.
This is something I know myself: As students, we can make UNC a better place by being respectful and kind to each other. Our mental health is essential to our well-being in college. Please, pay attention to your mental health and the mental health of others, and reach out when you need help.
