Overcoming Anxiety
A small fish in a big pond, Shea Regan felt lost shorty upon arriving her freshman year at such a big school at Penn State University. She struggled to find her identity at Penn State she said. In high school it was playing sports such as field hockey and soccer, and hanging out with her core group of friends. She felt that once she came to Penn State she didn’t have her niche and felt insecure and stressed out. The fun is over she said, she was not having fun anymore as she explained her struggle to find her place at such a big campus. Those negative feelings eventually brought back her feelings of anxiety, something that she had been struggling with since the age of 7.
In order to feel normal again and to cope with her anxiety, she rushed a sorority and then eventually tried out for the club soccer team. Both those options failed to help her feel at ease she said. She eventually became a fitness instructor her sophomore year of college. In her first semester of sophomore year she began ITP (Instructor training program). She then was able to instruct her own classes which made her feel secure with herself once again she said. The normalcy of teaching classes and incorporating fitness and exercise into her everyday life was able to consume her time and not focus on her anxiety she explained.
Upon graduating in the spring of 2017 she plans on diverting from her chosen major broadcast journalism, and pursuing a career in her minor sociology. She plans on applying to graduate school shortly after graduation. She decided that she wanted to pursue her interest in sociology and mental health counseling instead of her intended major. Her chosen path is due to her fight with anxiety throughout her life she said. She regularly goes to her family therapist just to talk about things in her life that are causing her anxiety, and hopes she can be like her therapist someday in order help others the way people have helped her she said.
Throughout the past 4 years at Penn State she was able to learn a great deal about herself. Through fitness instructing and using that as an outlet to cope with her anxiety she was able to figure out her career path and graduate from Penn State with a new perspective from what she had when arriving just 4 short years ago.
