Module 1: About LUNA

What is anxiety? Anxiety is an emotion or feeling everyone has that tells us something bad is going to happen. Anxiety is sometimes called “fear,” “worry,” or feeling “scared” or “nervous.” Anxiety helps us stay safe when something dangerous is going to happen. If you saw a big alligator coming your way, you would probably feel pretty scared. That is a good thing because if you are scared, you would stay away from the alligator and get help, and then you would be safe.

Lots of students feel a little anxious when they have a big test coming up in school. Some anxiety about school can be helpful too, because if you never felt even a little anxious about school, you might not study, which might not be the best thing for your grades or future. Sometimes we feel scared when nothing bad is going to happen.

LUNA is about helping kids who feel anxious too much, when there is no real danger out there, or who feel anxiety really intensely.

Meet Sally! She is a girl who loves space and planets, especially Saturn. Sally wants to go on a spaceship to see Saturn herself! But Sally is shy and very afraid of talking to other kids, so she doesn’t want to go to group trainings. She is worried she will not know what to say and that they might think she is weird.

Sally is also very afraid of germs, and she worries about getting sick all the time. So she washes her hands over and over with a lot of soap. After she washes her hands, Sally always has to ask her parents if her hands are clean. She keeps asking over and over even after they reassure her that she washed them enough. 

Sally is also terrified of going to public bathrooms. She doesn’t like the idea of germs and lots of people in bathrooms, and she doesn’t like the loud noises there, so she will refuse to go when she is away from home. Sally wishes she could overcome her fears to go to space and see Saturn herself.

Now, meet Neil! Neil is a boy who loves space, too. He is very excited that there could be other creatures living on another planet, like Mars! How cool would it be to have alien friends there? But like Sally, Neil also has some challenges in his journey to become an astronaut.

He is very afraid of bugs and stormy weather, which can sometimes make it hard for him to do his outdoor space trainings. Neil constantly checks the weather reports to make sure a big storm isn’t coming his way. Neil also worries a lot about school and being on time. It makes him very nervous when he is late and he is scared of getting a bad grade on a test. Sometimes he worries about making new friends and is scared that his classmates won’t like him.

And lastly, Neil has trouble with changes or surprises. He is very uncomfortable when his schedule changes and he suddenly needs to do something he is unprepared for. Since space will be full of surprises, Neil worries about this all the time.

Sally and Neil want to learn how to manage their fears and worries in order to go to space. They would love to join your journey to help you overcome your anxiety, too!