In effort to further learn and understand the perspective of individuals which experience the hardships that are encountered as a part of having anxiety, I began to read the book “I Don’t Want to be Crazy” by Samantha Schutz.  Of all novels focusing and mentioning anxiety, I decided to pick up this one in particular because it is based upon a girl which is my age and encountering events which I will also experience in the near future. Likewise I began to understand the situation which the main character Samantha is in and how to help people in similar situations as my best friend describes having similar situations while she is away at College right now.

I Don’t Want to be Crazy focuses on an 18 year old female which cannot wait to get away from her repetitive everyday life, dictator parents, and uncaring boyfriend. Samantha wants to become free and experience all the wonders that come with becoming whoever she desires to be as she begins her life in college. Similarly to most college bound teens, she cannot wait to leaver her parents and live an independent life without anyone controlling her. She leaves all her worries and troubles back at her small town, but shortly uncovers the new hardships that come down her path.

From panic attacks to shaking unbearably in class, Samantha’s story reveals the signs and symptoms that accompany anxiety disorders. From being the social girl to loosing all her friends and always being alone, her disorder transforms her to a stranger that not even she recognizes in the mirror. As the story develops, we learn more and more about the intensity of the disorder and necessary aid that those individuals require. Many times anxiety causes individuals to detach from society and drop success which they are expected to attain.

Samantha’s story strongly illustrates the toll which standards can have on teens. These high expectations can result in detrimental effects similar to those which Samantha holds. As her parents always expected the most of her, her grades begin to drop and she becomes an individual which she is not. The novel provides me insight to what College students can possible experience, and gives me an eye opening red flag to what to avoid. I understand and experience students everyday becoming stressed and overwhelmed with work in High School, and I want to develop strategies that will prevent stress and anxiety for taking over. As the story unveils, Samantha’s situations, hardships, and solutions will be identified.