Freshers Uncertainty: It’s okay to have mixed feelings

The transition between school and higher education can feel like a huge challenge. It’s understandable to feel afraid, overwhelmed, or stressed, alongside the more talked-about excitement and anticipation.

Moving away from home, meeting new people, learning new things; there’s an endless list of ‘firsts’ when you make this step, but these firsts, whilst daunting, can offer opportunities for growth. Viewing these hurdles as challenges can therefore help you to overcome your nerves and fears.

Fortunately, you can get free wellbeing support through your university or college when they partner with us. The Feeling Good app supports visualisation of success and boosts confidence. Feeling Good offers audio programmes centred around Positive Mental Training. The app is based on a Swedish Olympic sports performance programme, which was adapted to boost mental health and resilience in Olympic athletes. Feeling Good’s research in the NHS shows that this can help recovery from anxiety and depression, helping you let go of worries, cope better with stress, and sleep better.

Users of the Feeling Good app report better sleep within the first two weeks of listening. There are entire tracks dedicated to ‘Sleeping Better’, ‘Self-Confidence’, ‘Meeting Challenges’, ‘Increasing Self-Esteem’, ‘Visualising Better Performance’, and much more. Listening to these tracks regularly will help you internalise these messages, and support you in developing a positive mindset.

Once you have built your inner confidence and strength by beginning to listen to the Feeling Good app, you will feel ready to meet the challenges higher education throws at you, whether these be academic, social, or otherwise. The skills you develop will also enable you to feel more confident when faced with further challenges like exam stress, graduation anxiety, and entering the job market.

You can use the Feeling Good app regularly, listening every night from Track 1 to build up your core skills and train your brain to this new way of thinking. You can also use the app sporadically, for example, when you’re struggling to concentrate, or feeling overwhelmed. You do not have to listen to all 12 tracks to feel a benefit!

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed; burnout among students can unfortunately be common, but Feeling Good can help you both recover from, and also, essentially, prevent this.

One student commented:

“It helped me when I was down. The mindfulness in 3 mins was especially useful for a stressed student like me”

Everybody deserves to feel confident, supported, and like they can and will cope with life’s challenges. We’re here to help you to feel positive through whatever life throws at you.