Jo Has The Word - My First Week of Classes with Anxiety Disorder

My First Week of Classes with Anxiety Disorder Johanna - Saturday, August 30, 2025, 7:09 pm

Hello,

So I am in collage and have been part-time for two years while working a full-time job. It definitely has its challenges but I am very lucky to say that I have three hours in between classes.

You're probly thinking "that is way too much time" but I have learned how to use my time "productively".

I don't believe that you need to be doing something meaningful every second of the day, if you did you would burn out so fast.

I spend about an hour rewriting notes and listening to a YouTube video to drown out the noise of other students. Then when I am finished with that and or any projects then I go for a walk and eat snacks.

My walks take about two - one and a half hours.

I do both woods walks as well as paved paths depending on how much and if it rained.

I am planning on using rainy days or snowy days as rest days, but if the ground is wet and it's not dangerously cold and the paths are clear, then I'll take a short walk.

Walking has calmed down my anxiety a lot recently.

I get heart palpitations and get shaky from anxiety attacks, so walking has seemed to work as a coping mechanism whenever I have the ability to.

If I do not have access to walking at the moment, then my second plan is my stress toy bin.

I have this plastic tub filled with squishy toys that some of my amazing coworkers have given me over the years, I have seemed to be known as the most anxious one out of our team.

My favorite toy so far is called the squeeze cheese, something you can get on Amazon. It's a giant squishy Swiss cheese cube that is malleable and then returns to the same shape when you are finished with it. It's so fun that my friends play with it too! It reminds me of in 2018 there was this trend of foam "squishy toys" that would come in the shape of a cat hamburger and cakes. I personally had the cat hamburger if you couldn't tell.

Though I also have anxiety when I sleep whether it is school or work related. A weird white noise I listen to is both trains in a distance as well as dryer sounds. So why do I listen to those in particular? Well, my parents' house is about two miles from a freight train track, so we often can hear those in the middle of the night. When I was younger and I heard the horn though the window I would dream about the polar express. Mostly that scene where they drifted the train across the ice, which was sick. Now, what's the story about the dryer? My room is diagonal from the laundry "room", it's more of a closet instead of a room. Sometimes we run the laundry at around 9PM so when I go to bed at 10PM I would hear the dryer at that time, which is very relaxing since it has a sort of beat to it.

If I truly cannot sleep, usually looking at my paper notes for class tires me out as well, but usually that is because I had a soda or coffee too late in the day.

Well, if you have anxiety and or just get stressed and are unsure of what to do. Then maybe these things I do will help.

But, if you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments. I am always interested in other peoples coping skills.

Disclaimer: I am in no way a doctor or therapist, these are just my experiences and thoughts.