"I am a senior at The College of New Jersey. I have always loved and cared about school, but never became anxious over it until coming to college. My first semester was okay. I thought whatever I was feeling was "normal" for a college freshman because of all the changes I was experiencing. Then, in the following semester I took an art history course. Things changed. I would be studying for the exam and would suddenly become sick. I had a headache and was extremely nauseous, Sometimes I would break down crying while studying. I knew something was wrong, but I tried to push it down because I didn't want others to judge me. Eventually, during the final exam of all things, I had a panic attack. Thankfully, because my professor had noticed my struggles throughout the year, she made an accommodation for me and my final worked out just fine. My anxiety continued through sophomore year but I ignored wanting to do something. I thought I could do it by myself. Then Junior fall happened: I was taking a class that had a larger workload that I had a difficulty getting a handle on. I pushed through until the last week of the semester. Time had gotten away from me and I had a really large assignment and only a week left to do it. I asked for help because I had an accommodation sheet at the time, but my professor denied my request on the basis that I had more than enough time to do this assignment. I broke: crying, hyperventilating, major difficulty sleeping, weird eating habits, etc. On the one hand, he was right. I did have all semester. However, that's something that I feel a lot of people don't understand: Anxiety doesn't care if you have time and it is not afraid to mess with your time management skills. It strikes when it wants and makes you deal with it. You live by its rules. After three days of that, I finished the assignment, called my mom bursting with tears and said, "I don't want to feel like this anymore." Over winter break, I decided to go to therapy for my anxiety. It was the best thing I could have done for myself. I came back to school with no strategies, a new outlook, and more honesty. Since then, I have always been honest with my professors about the problems I have. I've find it's better this way. For the most part, they understand. And to those that don't, I hope this project changes their minds. But, no matter what people's reactions are, please understand that you are not alone!

~TCNJ Senior