Post-HSC

[Thorney]

Hi! 

I recently finished my HSC. In all honesty, I think I did pretty well! I'm not stressed or anxious about my results. 

What I wanted to focus on was post-hsc emotions. I'm finding it hard to adjust to life now - not having to do much, and relaxing. I cannot remember the last time I fully relaxed. 

I can't actually find many stories about people post hsc, only stress and anxiety during the hsc; hence I am wanting to know about other experiences! 

I'm not exactly depressed or anything, I just don't really feel excited about anything. I'm going to Uni next year and doing something I really, really like - and I'm just not excited about it. I think it's part of myself relaxing and being content with where I am and not being ready to move forward. I think about living alone and I just can't fathom it. (I won't be living alone for a number of years, but it just seems like another massive change and I don't know how people do it). 

Pre-HSC I was (and still am) an introvert and I prefer being alone. But now, I seem to want to be around people (a lot!), likely for familiarity. 

I'm also really missing my friends - I try and catch up but there is just so much happening between all of us. I try and talk to family about some of my general anxiousness but they are busy (and/or dealing with their own stressors). I'm considering talking to a professional about my mental health.

During the end of my HSC I became so anxious I was throwing up just due to pure stress. I have never been an anxious person, let alone so anxious I had a physical reaction. I sought out some stress tablets and they helped. I had to take some post-hsc as well, because I just feel/felt so anxious due to this massive change in my life. It's all just so new. 

My question(s) are/is, how do you cope with these big kind of changes? How do you cope with feeling a bit lonely? How can I get myself to actually relax and not hold on to this kind of stress? 

I (like many others) are/am just so used to school, after so many years - it is such a massive change that happened so fast, I feel like I have whiplash. I'm not exactly struggling mentally, but I'm not the same compared to pre-hsc, and I want to make myself excited and a bit more happy again and honestly, just try and get myself mentally back to 'normal'. 

Thank you for reading. Have an amazing day! Please share some similar experiences if possible 😊. 

[Thorney]

Hi Indigo! 

I am trying to research a little bit more just to help identify my thought patterns so I can look at past experiences of others so I can learn something from them! It's a bit hard trying to find someone dealing with post hsc emotions, a lot of post-grad anxiousness, though! 

I'm not trying to overthink what I am dealing with, but I am trying to get a decent idea so I can communicate effectively with my psychologist (when I have one). 

I have found a few mental health books that I may want to buy - but any recommendations will be very helpful thank you!! 

You are right about my Uni thoughts, I definitely do need to question them. I try to, but I am perhaps not as effective as I could be. I do know however that when I get to Uni and I see some of my friends from high school often (sometimes on the daily as one friend is doing the same course) I will feel much more at home. As I said before, right now I see Uni as another large part of study, but I know it's not all like that, and it's a lot of fun. The negatives comes from me projecting my HSC 'negatives' onto Uni, and I am trying to stop that behaviour by reminding myself of what school was like before the HSC, and for me that was a lot of fun, and I have a lot of good memories from that time. 

It's a little annoying that my 'morning anxiousness' has come back - I house-sat for a family friend for a few days last week and I felt completely fine. No anxiousness, no loneliness, just me relaxing and not having to worry about anything. I had 2 dogs with me and they were great companions. So you can understand my frustration when I came home and started to think a bit more about Uni, and now I am getting this anxious feeling again (albeit a LOT milder compared to during my HSC). It may just be because I have these emotions and experiences attached to this house, and I am thinking about it more... I honestly don't know haha. 

I wish school kind of told us a bit more about finishing school. Theoretically it's very straightforward, but mentally and emotionally in reality it is so SO much different. Especially if you have fragile mental health after the hsc, like I do. It's especially strange because I'm not full-time working and I have Uni to think about, unlike post-grad. 

I'm getting there very slowly, and your support means a lot to me. I reach out to friends every so often to see how they are doing - and I talk to my family a fair bit. Thanks again! Feel free to reach out to me as well if you want support.