You’re in class, and the teacher calls you up to present your project. You begin to feel nervous, your palms start sweating, your heart is racing, and it begins to get difficult to breathe. At that very moment, you know that you’re having an anxiety attack.

Anxiety, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), involves more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships.

Helpful Tips

According to the article, “Generalized Anxiety Disorder”, posted on the Mayo Clinic website, the main treatments for generalized anxiety disorder are psychotherapy and medications, but people at Miami High have their own different methods for helping somebody deal with anxiety.

Counselor Joni Duenas said, “I would talk to them, since sometimes we keep our anxieties inside, and it’s nice to voice them. There is also a bunch of anxiety-reducing techniques that I know, that I can help with such as breathing exercises, grounding exercises, or muscle-relaxation exercises.”

Senior Elizabeth Davila says, “When I see somebody dealing with anxiety or feeling anxious, I would help them by listening to their problems and just being there for them, because they might get misunderstood a lot by people who don’t know what people with anxiety have to go through.”

What Causes it?

Some students in Miami High have experienced anxiety first hand. “I’ve learned to deal with my anxiety for a few years already,” said senior Elizabeth Davila.

So what triggers someone’s anxiety? What makes someone feel anxious? Sophomore Karol Maldonado says she feels nervous when she’s in class and the teacher picks her to answer a question.

Freshman Andrea Crespo says, “Talking or partnering up with someone I don’t know, having to talk in public, doing a problem up on the board. The list goes on, but these are the main ones.”

People often experience anxiety in different ways. Freshman Dominique Teal says, “When people are looking at me, I think about how I probably look weird and how they keep staring at me.”

Freshman Amanda Fernandez added, “When I’m dealing with anxiety, my thoughts differ depending on the situation. For example, being forced to say something out loud, you kind of just draw blanks. You lose everything that you were planning to say, and all you can think about is how people are listening to you, probably thinking about how you can’t do a single thing. It’s a feeling of hopelessness. Usually that’s when I think, ‘I can’t do this.’”

Reaching Out for Help

Many students see their school counselor when they feel anxiety. “I think nervousness and anxiety are a natural part of the human condition,” said Miami High counselor Ms. Joni Duenas. “Sometimes, it just gets overwhelming and we don’t know how to manage it. But I think everyone has felt anxious at one point in their life.”

With anxiety, getting through some days is difficult, because you’re filled with doubt and fear, or it gets so awful people reach their breaking point. Counselor Joni Duenas wants to let people who deal with anxiety to know, “You’re not alone; everyone has anxiety. If you feel like you can’t over-come it, it’s just because you’re not really using all of your resources quite yet, or opening up to your trusted friends and family, and you should be able to. If you’re comfortable with them, go ahead and reduce that anxiety because it becomes crazy when we keep it to ourselves.”

When dealing with anxiety, people always try to calm themselves down, and there are various methods as to how someone can try to relax. Senior Bryan Avila tells himself, “You got this, you got this, keep it calm. It’s just going to take a few minutes, breathe in and out.” Senior Vannesa Jaime says, when she’s really stressed, she’ll sit down and draw, since it really calms her down.

Dealing with anxiety or having an anxiety disorder is more difficult than it sounds or seems. Even when anxiety can get people to their lowest point, that doesn’t stop them from trying to over-come their anxiety. Freshman Amanda Fernandez goes to a motivational coach at school with another group of kids, and it’s really helped her when she hears others out and realizes she’s not alone.

Dominique Teal, a freshman, says, “I would tell myself some things to keep me hopeful such as, ‘no amount of regret can change the past, and no amount of anxiety will change my future. That I can’t start the next chapter if I don’t stop re-reading the last one.’”

Bryan Avila, senior, says “If you don’t set your mind so that you can do it and that you can succeed, you’re always going to have that barrier that detains you from achieving more than what you’re capable of.”

Andrea Crespo, a freshman, adds, “Always remember, you’re in control of your life. Never think otherwise just because it may seem that anxiety is taking control. Stay positive, and you’ll be fine.”