Many students carry anxiety from school through to their final year, and it can feel suffocating. This page explains practical steps to manage that overwhelming feeling and reconnect with happiness.
That sounds genuinely heavy, and I want to be straight with you: anxiety that has followed you since school is not something you chose, and it is not a sign of weakness. Final year takes whatever you are already carrying and makes it louder. The fact that you cannot feel happy even around friends is a very common part of anxiety — it is not that your friendships have gone flat, it is that your body is so tired of being on alert that it cannot switch the alarm off long enough to enjoy anything.
When you say "suffocated by my own thoughts," that is anxiety doing what it does — it fills your head with worry, what-ifs, and self-criticism until there is no room for anything else. And when the alarm stays on for years, the brain starts blocking pleasure as a way of protecting you. That is why happy moments feel empty. It is a real symptom, not a character flaw.
This is not something you have to untangle alone. Depression.pk has a free self-test at /test that can give you a clearer picture, and you can search for a professional at /find-help. Many universities also have counsellors who see students for free or at low cost. And if you ever need to say it all out loud, Zara is here any time.
You are not stuck forever. Anxiety lies when it tells you this is permanent — it is not, and getting better usually starts with one small honest step like this one.
Names and cities shown here are examples. Every question is published anonymously — we never ask for, store or show the name, city or contact details of the person who wrote it.
You don't have to work this out from an article. We're free, private, and here right now — in English, Urdu or Roman Urdu. No signup, no waiting, no judgement.
Other questions people asked about the same thing, answered the same way.