Gen Z: Be Aware of These 4 Anxieties

Many Gen Zers and college students say the decisions they made during their freshman year set the tone for the rest of their college journey. Others say that you always have the chance to reset and start over, even in your senior year. However, there is almost a consensus that your college journey can be quite overwhelming and stressful, even for the calmest people. Here are 4 common anxieties that you might experience, while on the university and beyond and how you can begin to cope:

Stress 

If we agree that manageable stress could be good, unmanaged stress is definitely not good. It will harm your well-being, and it can lead to anxiety and eventually ruin your college experience. Kelly McGonigal, a well-known psychologist and wellness coach, said in her TED Talk, that stress, when accepted, utilized, and embraced could be your friend. Some students develop different stress tolerance skills and stress coping brain muscles. This largely happens because of their pre-college background, and it also depends on their expectations of the college experience. The more you know about stress and its causes and symptoms, the more you build your tolerance muscle and emotional resilience. 

FOMO

You have probably heard about FOMO. It is an acronym for the “Fear of Missing Out.” It is a form of anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere. It is not a new human experience, but today’s society—especially with the addition of social media—has more channels than ever that foster this fear. FOMO does not only disconnect us from people, but it keeps us from enjoying the present moment, and it impedes us from achieving our goals. The overuse of social media and cell phones is correlated to FOMO and causes higher anxiety and lower performance. However, Bobby Mook, in his inspiring TED Talk argues that it is not the main source of FOMO; he suggests that the main cause of FOMO is the struggle of answering deep self-worth and love/belongings questions, such as Will I be remembered? Does my accomplishment mean anything to anyone? Am I loved? Am I significant? The question we should ask ourselves is not why I do I experience FOMO? Instead, you should ask, “What is my fear telling me?” Answering this question will put you on the right track to a more meaningful life.

Imposter Syndrome

Have you ever said to yourself: “I was lucky,” or "I feel like a fake," or even “They made a mistake when they admitted me”? Impostor syndrome is the feeling of inadequacy. It happens more to highly achieving people, students, professors, and staff, in highly competitive intellectual environments, such as elite universities. It is a persistent feeling of self-doubt and intellectual fraudulence that could cripple you from success and hinder you from focusing on your goals. Caltech Counselling Center divided this syndrome to three categories: Feeling like a fake, attributing success to luck, and discounting success. Men and women equally suffer from this syndrome. Family dynamics, such as labeling and exaggerating childhood achievement, are the main sources of this syndrome, said researchers as Caltech. Identifying those feelings, getting support from your trusted ones, and distinguishing the difference between reality and illusion will help you overcome this syndrome. Coursera co-founder and Daphne Koller, reflecting on her experience, advises students to persevere and work their way through this anxiety, and encourage them to not give up and get help from friends. Koller said that she personally struggles with this Syndrome, especially when you move to competitive environments

Duck Syndrome

Ducks look very calm when gliding along the water. Not really. Look deeper under the water: they paddle like they are competing for the Olympics. Duck Syndrome is anxiety that affects students who are overly invested, but look like they have it all together, and are calm from the outside but are extremely stressed on the inside. “Be stressed out, but don’t show it!” “Fake it till you make it.” This syndrome—if not addressed—can lead to more serious issues, such as depression.

Setting limits for yourself never means failure. It means a healthy and happy life with realistic and attainable goals. Amara McCune says that it is one of the greatest lessons offered at this time in our lives is that it is okay to fail. It’s okay to ask for help, it’s okay to struggle and it’s okay to sometimes not be okay. In a society that is stranger-averse, we need to stop approaching each other as faceless individuals and start realizing the power of relating to each other personally, in the hopes that we may start to relieve some of the pressure.

College is a journey like no other: a cornerstone life experience full of challenges that shape our personalities and can help us to solve more complex problems.