And so another school year is upon us. As the days of summer slip away, students might experience mixed feelings. Perhaps they feel eagerness to see their friends and reluctance to see their, umm, not-friends. They may feel excitement at the opportunities ahead and nervousness as to how they are going to take full advantage of these opportunities.
Moreover, especially for students entering 11th or 12th grade, there’s the college admissions process. It’s time to step up their game as classes get more difficult and as they are thinking about how the SAT, ACT, college admissions essays, and extracurriculars will fit into the profile they offer the admissions officers.
It’s a lot.
And it’s totally natural if students feel overwhelmed as they consider the new school year. Today I want to talk you through an exercise that will help students face and process their fear.
As a test prep coach, I guide students in a mindfulness-based approach to the SAT, ACT, and other academic challenges. I help students to become aware of how their thoughts and actions affect their experiences. Students may then choose thoughts and behaviors that allow for an improved experience. This exercise aligns with that intention.
I’m going to frame the exercise as a series of prompts for journaling, but it can also serve as a jumping off point for reflection or a conversation with a friend, parent, or mentor.
Before we begin:
My goal in sharing this exercise is not to eliminate a student’s anxiety. Everyone experiences anxiety at various points, to varying degrees. Rather, my goal is to provide a tool that helps ease the anxiety—both through having done the exercise and having created strategies that the student can put into practice in the future. This activity is worth doing by virtue of its ability to help students feel (even a little bit) better. The problems or fears won’t go away all at once, and that’s okay.
1. What Are You Afraid of?
Take out a pencil and a piece of paper, and make a list of your misgivings, concerns, worries, and stresses going into the school year. What are you afraid will happen or not happen? Do your best to keep writing for five-to-ten minutes, or until you run out of things to say.
2. Connect the Dots
See if any of the items are connected to one another. For example, a concern about not getting everything done might connect to a worry over feeling disorganized—the action steps to help with one may help with the other.
3. Make a Game Plan
Now is the time to brainstorm specific action steps that address the fear. For example, if you are afraid of feeling overwhelmed by your workload, come up with ways to manage your time, decrease distractions, and/or boost your energy. In addition, writing down the name of a person you can talk to or an activity you can do to process your experience when you feel overwhelmed gives you an action plan if and when these feelings arise. The action might be quite simple, such as taking a full breath (inhale for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 2). Some ideas (e.g. turning off your phone while doing homework) you may do regularly, while others you might file away until they are needed.
Having trouble with step 3? I will explore what to do if you hit a block in my next blog post—sign up for email updates on my website if you want to be notified when this post goes live.
4. Have Your Own Back
You now have specific steps you can take to improve your experience. Moreover, actually taking the steps provides an additional benefit beyond alleviating your fear. As time goes on, you’ll begin to trust yourself as you would a good friend. You’ll know that you have your own back—that you are willing and able to support yourself through your thoughts and actions.
For now, having gone through the exercise is an example of that willingness, and students can keep this exercise as one of the tools they may use in the future when they begin to feel anxious:
Take five minutes to list concerns. Connect the dots. Make a game plan. Take the appropriate action steps.
------
Erika Oppenheimer is an SAT and ACT test prep coach and the author of Acing It! A Mindful Guide to Maximum Results on Your College Admissions Test. She helps students from across the country manage stress and perform their best, in the test room and in life.
Learn more about Erika’s SAT and ACT coaching programs here.
Download a free PDF of the first chapter of Acing It! here.