An Open Letter to Anyone Who is Struggling to Function

Dear Person Who Doesn’t Deserve to Feel This Shitty, 

Please give yourself a break. Give yourself a whole lot of breaks. If you aren’t feeling 100% mentally or physically, don’t expect yourself to continue as a fully-functioning human being would. Listen to your mind and body. Take a nap, fall into a black hole of Youtube videos, twirl around on a spinning chair, drink a juice box, go for a walk or let your mind wander while you like on the middle of your dorm room’s floor. Do whatever will give you a few moments of peace.  

Please keep going. Take advantage of random adrenaline rushes and use your insomnia as an opportunity to be productive. Checking assignments off your to-do list when you can. This will help you to feel like you are in control despite the thoughts racing through your mind that are keeping you awake. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re feeling worse and can slack off without feeling guilty.  

Please be patient. High stress levels can make focusing on a single task very difficult. If this is the first time you’ve ever struggled with your attention span, try to avoid getting frustrated. Turning your phone off or going to work at Starbucks may help you to be more productive, but sometimes these things fail to make a difference. Sometimes your mind will continue to fight you. If this is the case, accept that, even though you are working at a vey slow pace, at least you are still getting shit done. Your time management skills may have slipped through the cracks but that doesn’t mean your grades have to join them. 

Please take care of yourself. You may have lost your motivation to dress nice and put on make up every day, and that’s okay. However, you should not give up on trying to get full nights of sleep or schedule doctors appointments. Keep doing laundry, showering regularly, and taking your medicine. Now is the ideal time to even go the extra mile in your self care routine.  Brew tea or treat yourself to a face mask. Buy a pint of your favorite overpriced Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and search for cute animal pictures on Instagram.  

Please learn to recognize symptoms relative to your mental health. The best way to go about this is to go to the Counseling Center and research online. Having a comprehensive understanding of what panic attacks and manic episodes are may help you to catch yourself before they fully set in. This also applies to other symptoms like dissociating and overanalyzing social situations. Try to come up with techniques that will help you to calm down when you feel yourself slipping into a poor mental state. This could be something as simple as a breathing technique or drinking water. Temporarily removing yourself from a situation can also be beneficial. If you are feeling overwhelmed in class, get up and walk out of the building for a minute. Your professor and classmates will just assume you went to the bathroom. 

Please talk to someone. You don’t have to open up about why you have been struggling if you aren’t ready to talk about that yet. Sometimes having a conversation about what is going on in other people’s lives can be a good distraction from your own struggles. Call your grandma or message your best friend from high school. Your life has been confined to your campus for the past few months and you may have forgotten about the people who love you outside of this collegiate bubble. Try talking to the happiest people you know and chances are that some of their good spirits will rub off on you, or at least you may find reason to smile for a few minutes.  

Sincerely,  

Someone Who Can Relate 

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