Anxiety making it hard to complete uni

[mandarinmacky]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, so here goes...

I'm currently trying to complete my first year of uni, but my anxiety is making it quite a difficult task. Whenever I sit down to study or complete a task, I get this overwhelming sinking feeling in my chest and my heart starts racing. It makes trying to do anything related to my course unbearable.

At first I thought it was because I wasn't interested enough in what I was studying, but having changed my subjects and finding something I actually love, I know it's not the case. It's the actual studying that puts me on edge. I'm a perfectionist and have been since I was a young child, but it never had much of an impact on me until my final few years of high school. During those years, I would often become unwell for weeks at a time because of how much I'd stress over my work being 'good enough'. I would also get extremely overwhelmed whilst trying to study (the same feeling that I'm getting now at uni), and would end up crying, due to thinking that I didn't know enough, or that I was going to fail whatever assessment I was studying for. All of this would also lead to procrastination, which made everything so much worse. Despite this though, I was a very high-achieving student. At the time, I didn't think that what I was experiencing wasn't normal; it wasn't until I was diagnosed with anxiety a year after finishing school that I realised that that's why I'd felt the way I did.

I feel like I'm heading down the same path at uni, and I really don't want to - I want it to be a time that I enjoy. I love learning and I love the two subjects that I'm currently doing, it's just that I don't know how to change my mentality. I'm going to see my old counsellor this week, which will help. In the meantime though, I'd appreciate any advice that anyone has on just getting stuck in to the course work, and how to stop procrastinating out of fear of experiencing these overwhelming feelings.

[Peppermintbach]

Hi mandarinmacky,

I hope it’s okay if I extend a very warm and gentle welcome to you to the forums 🙂 You sound like a very bright and self aware person...

I feel your anxiety sounds very draining, debilitating and unsettling for you though. You clearly have very high standards for yourself. While I think it’s great to have lofty goals and high standards, I suppose the down side is maybe your perfectionism helps “feed” (so to speak) your anxiety...

It seems the studying is your trigger for a whole range of emotions so I wonder if it would help to rethink your how you study. I’ll offer some suggestions and you can see what you think of them...

I was thinking if it would maybe help to create some sort of coursework/study timeline at the very start of the semester (or as soon as you receive dates for assessment tasks). What I mean by this is as soon as you receive an assessment, write up a plan for how you will tackle it e.g. if you have an assessment due in 3 weeks time then break that assessment down into small tasks for each week so you’re not left rushing the night before it’s due. But also factor in breaks, meals, other commitments, social life, etc. I suppose the idea is to plan ahead...

Another suggestion is to maybe rethink your study space. Is there somewhere you find that you’re more productive and find it easier to focus (e.g. bedroom versus the library)?

Plus I would suggest making the most of your uni services. I believe that most educational institutions have academic advisors so maybe you might like to make an appointment with yours for study advice.

Also, you might like to look up Headspace online. They specifically target young people and have a whole range of free services and resources. I’m not sure but they might even have study tips and advice (but as I said, I’m not sure).

Hopefully I haven’t overwhelmed you with my suggestions. I just wanted to give you multiple ideas so you have more options to consider...

Please feel free to write as often as you like here. You can use this space to connect, vent, share feelings, ask questions, etc. There’s no pressure but if you’re feeling up to it, let us know how things are going. I hope your counselling appointment goes well...

kind and caring thoughts,

Pepper

[startingnew]

hello and welcome

Pepper has pretty much covered everything so i dont have much to add. i just wanted to stop in and support you along your journey.

Headspace is targeted at young people and ive used them before and were quite helpful for a range of things between personal issues, work/study issues and also realationship troubles. Also Reachout, and Kidshelpline i think would be able to give you some more information as well.

Reachout is website but KHL and Headspace whilst have heaps of info they also offer counselling online/through phone call. your welcome to use those as well