A Working Student’s Perspective on Mental Health & Resilience
By: Denali Sanders

The first time I was forced to confront my own mortality was in my freshman year calculus class. I was feeling amazing until I got my exam 1 results back from the Utah State University testing center, which is when my giant (college freshman-sized) ego began to rapidly deflate. I think every student has experienced freshman-year ego death, but I may have taken it harder than some of my peers.

Before college, I had always coasted through school with my patented Denali Study Method ®: waking up at 4:00 AM the day of a test, sweaty, nauseous, and frantic, in order to desperately cram. It only took me about three weeks of college to realize that strategy was not going to work anymore. Looking back at that first semester, I didn’t do too hot. After that one bad test grade in calculus, I froze with anxiety and self-doubt and stopped going to class at all, digging myself into a hole I couldn’t get out of after a few weeks of missed lectures. My chronic stress caused an overwhelm that led to my first ever failed class.

I may have failed my first attempt at college calculus, but I gained resiliency.  To me, resiliency is trying again even if you don’t meet your own expectations or the expectations of others on your first try. It also means not beating yourself down for failures and being able to objectively view your situation and chart the route you need to take to meet your goals. 

Despite a rough start to my university experience, I have definitely improved my resiliency by taking two key steps:

The first step I took toward improving my resiliency was starting therapy, where I was diagnosed with clinical anxiety. Before treating my anxiety, I would go into “fight, flight, or freeze” when confronted with any sort of conflict. Keeping mental health in mind when examining your response to failures is crucial, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, where student mental health has dropped precipitously. 

The second step I took to improve my resilience was understanding my daily workload limit. Acknowledging my anxiety allowed me to balance my schedule so it would challenge me without becoming overwhelming. Creating mental priorities also helped when I ran into scheduling conflicts like, “should I go skiing, or go buy a second oat milk latte, or study for my biology class?” Now, as a senior, I am able to balance a full course load, extracurriculars, friends, and jobs as a music teacher and nanny. However, in preparation for having a full course load this semester, in order to maintain balance I cut back on my work hours before the semester started. 

If you’re a busy, scrambled working student who, like me, struggles with failure and recognizing your limits, know that you are ALLOWED to drop things or adjust your goals. After all, as young people passionate about safety, we need to protect our mental health alongside our physical health.  If you are struggling with feelings of low confidence, despair, hopelessness, or anxiety, please make an appointment with a school counselor or professional therapist. There are also several youth lifelines available to help you. Everyone has expectations for themselves, but if you find that yours are impossible to meet, it may be time to reevaluate how much pressure you’re placing on yourself. And remember, your worth does not depend on your educational and vocational outputs.

Learn more about Youth Mental Health and how employers and organizations can support young workers.