Carrying More Than Books: A Student’s Take on Mental Wellbeing
Cue: Sitting at your desk at 2 a.m., surrounded by stacks of notes, snack wrappers you forgot to throw away, and a blinking cursor on an assignment you still haven’t cracked the code to. On the outside, it looks like you’re just studying. But inside? The brain won’t stop racing. Thinking of all the deadlines, grades, comparisons with friends, and where one is “enough.” Some days, it feels like pressure is physically drowning you.
Being a student isn’t just about homework or exams. Mental wellbeing is the quiet sacrifice, weight, that follows you everywhere; into class, into your free time, even into your sleep. It’s the stress that never really switches off. The pressure to keep up, to do well, to not fall behind, to fit in, just to prove one is capable - even when you’re exhausted.
Most students aren’t overwhelmed because they don’t care — it’s because they care too much.
The societal pressure, family expectations, and the desire to live up to role models all pile onto our shoulders. Many of us are juggling extra-curriculars, part-time work, business planning, or even ambitions to secure the generational wealth our families didn’t have; all while keeping up with school.
From the outside, it might look like everything is fine. We submit our work, we attend class, sometimes we even scrape by with good grades. But inside, there's constant anxiety, the fear of disappointing the people we care about, and the constant comparison with peers who seem to be managing better.
School environments don’t always make this easier. When every test feels high-stakes and every deadline an alert in the head, it is hard to know when it’s okay to pause. Everything feels heavy because everything matters, the fact that one letter grade can put an end to a future’s life plan goals. Sometimes it’s the little things; an unclear instruction, a missing resource, or a timetable packed just too tight; that push students right over the edge.
When everything is urgent, your brain never gets the chance to rest.
What helps more than we often realize is simply the feeling of being understood. Teachers who acknowledge that learning is hard, not just academically but mentally, make a huge difference. Sometimes it’s not about fixing everything immediately. It’s hearing, “Yeah, this is tough, and you’re not failing for finding it tough.” The small recognition can make stress feel lighter, if only a little.
Another factor that affects student wellbeing is organization. A lot of anxiety doesn’t come from the subjects themselves, but from the chaos surrounding them. Too many resources, unclear priorities, and not knowing at all where to start. Sitting down to study shouldn’t feel like stepping into a storm without a plan, but often it does.
For me, one small thing that’s helped is how I study and that’s where ZNotes comes in. Having structured revision notes in one place has genuinely reduced that stress. It may sound minor, but not having to search endlessly or guess what’s important gives your mind a breathing space. When content is clear and organized, it suddenly feels manageable in bite-sized chunks; even on days when everything else feels like too much.
Sometimes support looks like empathy, and sometimes it looks like clarity.
Clarity allows us to focus on understanding instead of just surviving. It doesn’t remove the pressure entirely, but it makes it feel doable. And when students feel even a little more in control of their life, their wellbeing improves almost naturally.
At the end of the day, students don’t need school to be easy; we just need it to be human. Most of us want to learn, to enjoy, to do well. To make our teachers and family proud. But we’re also figuring ourselves out while carrying expectations that feel much bigger than us.
When educators take the time to see what student life feels like from the inside, it creates trust. And when students feel safe, supported, and understood – learning stops feeling like a constant battle…
and starts feeling possible again.