Back to School Jitters: Why Nerves Are Normal and How to Handle Them

Finding small ways to move forward when the butterflies hit

New backpacks for the year!

I can still remember two very specific feelings in my stomach. They’ve stayed with me for years, and sometimes they even creep into my dreams.

The first was the night before high school preseason soccer. I barely slept, waking up almost every hour. Part of it was from drinking a lot of water, but it was mostly the nerves. I kept asking myself: Would I pass the mile run? Could I make it through the beep test? Would I prove I belonged?

Freshman year, the nerves were about making the team.

Sophomore year, they were about proving I deserved to be there.

Junior year, I was chasing a starting spot.

Senior year, it was about showing I could lead as a captain.

The butterflies changed shape each year, but they never left.

The second memory is the night before heading back to campus at Princeton. That mix of excitement and worry showed up every fall. I thought about basketball fitness tests, moving into my dorm, seeing my friends again, and starting tough classes. It was all swirling around at once. The anticipation was always worse than the actual first day.

Here’s what I learned: I never found a way to make the jitters disappear. I didn’t suddenly turn nerves into confidence. I just figured out ways to live with them. And maybe that’s the most honest thing I can share: those feelings don’t mean you’re weak or unprepared. They mean you care.

When I look back, a few things helped me keep going:

1. Seeing my teammates, who were also my best friends. That reminder that I wasn’t going through it alone made a difference.

2. Getting started. The nerves usually peaked beforehand, and once I was in it, I was doing what I had practiced many times.

3. Reminding myself of the finish. Even when the test felt endless, I would picture the relief of being done and the pride that would follow.

4. Holding onto small routines: my breakfast, my playlist, the little things that grounded me when everything else felt uncertain.

None of this erased the nerves. But it helped me sit with them. And that’s something all of us can do: notice them, name them, and keep moving forward anyway.

Back to school jitters don’t really go away, no matter your age. They’re uncomfortable, they can throw off your sleep, and they’ll probably stick around as long as you’re doing things that matter to you. But that doesn’t make you different. It makes you human. And the more we talk about that, the less alone any of us will feel when the butterflies show up.