How watching 21 Jump Street made me feel less anxious in school

“You’re amazing just the way you are”

Photo by Erik Witsoe on Unsplash

It’s always movies that help remind me to take a step back and chill. It’s remembering the memes, the notable quotes and positive moments spent watching these films that help me. Taking that breathe, really breathing, and really being conscious in the moment, remembering these movies helps me do that. Especially the movie 21 Jump Street which takes place in school, and how it heightens the changing social norms and life of a student.

I couldn’t help but catch myself laughing many times walking up to my building seeing if people single or double strapped their backpacks. Somedays I would single strap it and other days, the double strap just felt right. These little moments within my commutes from class helped ease my mind. Ease and remind me to not take everything so so seriously and learn to enjoy the moment. These relatable situations that appeared in the school environment within 21 Jump Street and my own were what made me enjoy being back in person. Online was indeed great but just being in person was better than looking at a screen for hours at end.

Now not every day I thought of how relatable it was for me to also go on wild car chases or infiltrate a drug dealer in the school. The very Hollywood aspects stayed in Hollywood and the very school aspects stayed with me in school. Mostly the relationship between the two main characters, Jenko and Schmidt, and how they navigated through high school again. Part of what made the movie so good was how initially swap school identities when going back to high school as undercover cops. They both swapped to the things they were bad at, for Jenko, it was the academic and studious aspect of school and Schmidt it was more the socializing and hanging with the cool kid’s aspect. And yet under the pressure of all, these uncertain expectations placed upon them, they excelled and proved wrong what they thought they couldn’t do well at in their actual high school experience.

So when times were tough in school or when I was so nervous about presenting my ideas or thinking I’d mess up, thinking about these goofballs helped with that. Having something little like a movie to quote when you are nervous or think back to, can really help change your perspective. As well as shifting your mindset and self-talk from a negative to a positive. Because at the end of the day, school isn’t forever so try to enjoy it and not just school, everything that comes with school. The memories, the friends you make, the parties, the social events. It’s not only the experiences at school that matter but everything outside of it as well.

Thanks for reading!