There’s always talk of social anxiety in everyday settings and countless tips are shared on how to make friends in university despite it. However, there isn’t much discussion about what happens when, despite being completely prepared for class, nervousness creeps in and blanks your mind completely.
This mostly happens to me in classes where participation isn’t voluntary and the professor calls on students to speak up at random. At first, I thought, “Maybe I just have to prepare myself more,” but the reality was that it didn’t matter how much I prepared—whenever I was called on, I’d suddenly forget everything. Doubt rushed in, making me question what I knew to be true.
This started to affect other aspects of my life, including my self-esteem. I felt like I was perceived as someone I wasn’t, which was a huge struggle. Because even though we’re told not to worry about what others think of us, let’s be real–we all like to feel accomplished and contribute meaningful ideas to a discussion.
When people talk about their freshman or sophomore years at university, most will say it was a hard transition because of the heavier workload and the challenge of meeting new people. But what about the difficulty of wanting to perform at a college level while struggling to put your knowledge to the test? Being so afraid of being wrong that you don’t even try, which ultimately holds you back from reaching that level. This was one of the strangest college experiences for me.
To start building that confidence that helped reduce my anxiety (because for me, anxiety always looms somewhere in the background), I began asking questions to my peers. I realized that many face the same pressure of wanting to measure up, not to anyone in particular, but to the high standards we set for ourselves. The key was understanding that it’s okay to be nervous. It means we care, and it means we know we have the capacity to do great things in academic spaces. Anxiety can even act as fuel, because some stress can be motivating. What I’d like people to take away from my experience is this: We are in college for a reason. We’re here to improve and grow in whatever field we’re passionate about. A part of that process is not knowing things, and getting better at them over time. Because that’s what we’re here to do: learn.