My Experience with Racial Anxiety & What It Is.
The first picture on the left was taken in Tanzania when my sister Jane and I were pretending to cook dirt and βeat it.β I am the one looking at my sister while she is looking at the camera. The picture on the right would be me, all grown at age 21, studying abroad in France spring of 2022. I stayed in a small city called Aix-En Provence in the South of France. As a young child, I was busy pretending to eat dirt and not thinking, researching, or engaging in conversations about racial anxiety. Though I am fortunate to have studied abroad and made charitable memories, it was this time I became rather aware of when I am experiencing racial anxiety and fatigue. There were moments when I would have preferred staying inside my room instead of going outside, exploring, or socializing. I am very thankful that the people I call my closest friends understood my experience. Also, an impactful conversation I had with a professor at Arizona State University helped at that time. I am confident and love my skin; however, there are still moments when I become very aware of my skin color and how it affects my daily life. I created this site to better understand racial anxiety, depression, and fatigue and to assure myself that sometimes, if not most times, it is not always in my head. Based on my research, I will define racial anxiety, depression, and fatigue. I will follow this up with primary research that has been done on this topic and, most importantly, some ways in which people can better cope with this very important issue.