Young people

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Eeep! When study is overwhelming! - Tips, ideas and coping strategies

replies: 51

Hi! Just thought I’d make a post with some tips for study. I know this is something we can all struggle with. These are all suggestions so feel free to take them or leave them! Hope they help! If you only remember one thing, let it be this: You are important. Your grades don’t define you. (support) Studying can feel isolating but know you’re not alone! Reach out – and find or make friends that can support you along the way. If you’re having trouble finding some friends, join some local communities or clubs! They have lots at Uni’s and even stuff like open days are great ways to meet new people and find out what’s happening. Study groups can also be a great way to meet people and stay motivated. Also remind yourself why you’re doing this; inspirational wallpapers or quotes can be super inspiring. Remember the saying about the oxygen mask? If you can’t take care of yourself first studying will be harder. You are important. You know the drill - water, food, exercise, sleep. Try to stay calm. Stuff that might be able to help include mindfulness, breathing exercises, colouring in, going for walks, journaling, listening to music… If you’re struggling – reach out. See a therapist. Talk to your student counsellor. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it. Also lots of Universities and TAFE offer disability services – which includes conditions like Depression and Anxiety. (study) Find the right study space for you. Maybe that’s in your room, or a coffee shop, or the library. Some people find that noise helps; other people not so much. If you like particular kinds of noise, you can find ‘coffee shop’ noise or ‘rain sounds’ to help concentrate. Make a plan. It helps to do it often so it becomes a habit. Anytime you get a due date, write it down. Maybe you could use a diary, planner, bullet journal or an app. I find the 30/30 App helpful - study for a bit and then break for a bit. You can also get add-on’s for your computer to block sites like Facebook if you find them too distracting. Find out what study technique works for you. Do you like cue cards? Mind maps? Colour coding? Does highlighting stuff help you remember? Charts, maps, diagrams? Recorded lectures? Goals! These are so important – not just writing down deadlines but rewarding yourself for meeting them. Even making smaller goals like ‘read two pages from a textbook’ can help. Break it down into bite size pieces, and don’t forget to reward yourself after!

NEW TO THIS FORUM? Please read this first

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The Young People space is a sub-forum within the wider Beyond Blue forum community. 1. Its purpose is to provide members aged 25 and under a space to discuss anxiety, depression and other related life issues. If you are aged over 25, please be mindful that this forum is a space for younger people to connect and provide peer support for each other. 2. Content from this sub-forum is displayed on both the beyondblue and youthbeyondblue websites. 3. Please bear in mind that some members find content relating to suicide and/or self-harm distressing or triggering. If you would like to post on these topics, please do so in our Suicidal Thoughts and Self Harm section. Please see also our guidelines for making posts on this topic. Posts made here in the Young People sub-forum containing content relating to suicide and/or self-harm will be moved. 4. These forums are moderated, so your posts may not appear straightaway. Information on how our system works can be found here. Being familiar with our community rules can help ensure that your posts appear online as quickly as possible. 5. This is a peer support community, and to get the best out of being here we recommend that you 'give support to receive support'. More on how that works here.

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Feeling depressed every weekend

replies: 4

I have a problem at the moment where I feel I am doing well during the week, I have set out plans and always have obligations which I find motivate and give me a positive attitude in my life - like I am moving in the right direction. By the weekend I feel my mood drop, my friends don't return my texts and I hardly get invited out. I could spend my Saturday night studying or doing something that makes me feel happy but I feel like I'm missing out not socialising on the weekend like most people are my age (not necessarily getting drunk or things like that just being social) and I begin to feel hit with severe loneliness. To the point where I feel so unmotivated to do the simpliest things or hobbies that could make me feel good instead I waste time and then go to sleep. I feel like no one wants to spend time with me I see friends on social media talking about their fun time out with other friends and feel depressed and alone. Why aren't I invited? Why am I still so alone? Maybe I just need to get some new friends? Why doesn't anyone seem to care? I'm tired of feeling depressed every weekend and dreading feeling awful on the flipside I feel very positive and motivated during the week so that's something. I just needed to type this out to vent - it can feel overwhelming.

I need advice please!

replies: 5

I have just recently been diagnosed with depression and social anxiety. I applied to do summer camp over in America at the end of last year. Now I just don't know what to do. I don't know if I'll cope or handle it. What would you do?!

Feeling down about lack of experience in relationships

replies: 4

Hey everyone, Lately I've been really struggling with my self-confidence in relation to how I feel guys must see me as a potential partner. I don’t have a lot of sexual experience and I feel as though I have nothing much to offer guys in that sense. I’d really like some feedback as to what sorts of things someone with a lack of experience might have to offer in a physical relationship. I am aware that I have a lot to offer personality-wise, I'm intelligent and I know that there are guys who find me attractive, but I really am struggling to see what a guy would find appealing/interesting about someone with little sexual experience... My psychologist suggested that it would be great for me to hear from other people on this, so I'd be really interested in reading people's thoughts on this, if anybody is willing to help out

Does it get better? I feel broken

replies: 3

Hi, for what seems like forever, I have felt nothing but sadness. I sought help at the start of the year and after a couple of bad experiences, have found a doctor who cares. I haven't been diagnosed properly and so I feel like I'm in limbo. I feel so stuck. The doctors that I've been to have agreed with my counselor's diagnosis of Dysthymia but all I've been doing is crisis management with my school counselor rather than taking steps to recovery. My biggest concern is that I am scared I will feel like this forever. I feel like depression has irrevocably altered my life. Will things ever be 'normal' again? Cause I have no idea what that may even look like. Is medication worth a shot? I'm legally still a child so my doctor is hesitant, and my condition isn't that 'severe'.

Hello, I am Steve

replies: 2

Hey everyone, My name's Steve, I'm new to the Beyond Blue forum haha. Allow me to introduce myself.. Like many, I too suffer from depression and anxiety. My time in primary and secondary schooling, was well.. The polar opposite of positive. Most of my time in school was shrouded in misery, depression, unrelenting bullying and the list goes on. Despite my best efforts, I've been really struggling to deal with depression (due to unemployment) recently. In order to try and deter depression, I regularly hit the gym (3 times a week) for lengthy sessions at a time. While regularly attending gym is a good thing, it still does not fix the underlining problem of unemployment. After working out rigorously, I often find myself with too much time on my hands. I do enjoy maintaining a very clean car, but you can't be washing it daily lol. I do enjoy hitting the beach, but given that it is winter here in Melbourne, the cold ocean breeze does detract from the overall enjoyment of the beach haha. So why don't I go get a job?.. Ahh yes, easier said than done. When your someone like me, who gets discriminated from applying for jobs due to your heritage (despite having the essential licence), it makes applying for and being accepted for a job.. Impossible. I myself am not one to judge people, I am very accepting of all people, all shapes/sizes, heritage, religion etc. I never judge people on those particular things, but it seems that others judge me purely on my heritage. Maybe employers are scared that a young man with dark brown hair & eyes and olive/tanned skin wants to become a truck driver?, the possibilities are endless. If you must know, I am of Italian heritage. I can't understand why being of that heritage is disliked by employers, it's just ridiculous. I've found that by paying attention, listening and offering advice and tips to many other people in our community, it helps me too. I understand that there are many people who are suffering from depression for different reasons compared to me, It's something that i want to help people with. Having suffered from depression for many years, I'm definitely no stranger to it. I can well and truly relate to it and understand what many are going through. That's why I want to help people, to let them know their experiences are understandable. That's my brief introduction (not really brief, but you know what I mean), I look forward to speaking to and offering advice to many on this forum. Thank you for reading my thread!

Not being able to moving forward

replies: 6

Hi all, I've never written anything like this online before so here it goes.. I guess I feel as though I'm not getting anywhere in life, I lost my best friend very unexpectedly 2 years ago which of course left me devastated. But because of family issues (world war 3 every night between parents) I was not able to grieve properly. Since then I have moved house a few times but had been constantly worried about my younger siblings who were still home so I had to step in and remove them from there, so they now live with me. This caused more issues between our parents. The few friends I do still have don't like to talk to me all that much and they have admitted to me that my depression is something think is too much effort and would rather be around someone who is happy all of the time. That hurts me. I have listened to them but having people you love tell you that you are too much effort is really a kick in the guts. I just seem to be stuck in the rut and cannot find a way to climb out.

Do I have depression?

replies: 3

Hi. I've just come across Beyond Blue, as for the past five/six weeks I've been feeling like I've been having these continuous phases of sadness and despair. Sometimes I can feel extremely alone and hopeless and I just break down. It hits me at random times but there hasn't been a day so far that has been 100% free of that feeling. At first I thought that it was just sadness, but it seems different, like, I've never felt this way before. I started to look at some of the symptoms on this website and some explain exactly how I'm feeling - overwhelmed, irritable, miserable, hopeless and withdrawing from people and things that I used to love doing. I took the checklist test that the website provides and it came out with moderate depression...but I feel like I can't actually ask anyone if this could be happening to me, as I feel like they'd just think I was being dramatic. I'm not quite sure where to go from here or whether or not depression explains my thoughts and feelings lately, but any advice would be much appreciated.

What am I doing with my life?

replies: 4

In high school, I started developing social anxiety to extreme extent. Other kids would make fun of me all the time. People would even hit me. When teacher asks me questions, I would just sit quiet as everyone stares at me. I couldn't even say hi to anyone. You know in movies. there's at least someone who is there for you, but I was all alone. I was that kid who sat alone in corners, that kid who everyone makes fun of, that kid who had no one to support, that kid who always works alone, that kid who has no Facebook, twitter and other social networks because I had no one to add, that someone who only has family in phone contact. Seemed I'm the only one like this in this world Teacher and my parents would worry but nothing could be done. With high school over now, I did make it for Uni. I thought I could reset my life but still I carried that social anxiety from 5 years ago. I couldn't say hi to students and lecturers, couldn't even speak a counsellor. No one would want to partner with me, even if I was placed in a group, I'd get ignored. This Uni life is so bland that I started skipping classes. Now I'm failing almost every subject. All I have in this life is my parents. I couldn't tell them. I don't want to worry them. What do I do? Can't even talk in job interviews or a counsellor or anyone. What am I doing with my life? Why am I even writing these? Who am I? I don't even know. All I want is to be normal like others. I would let myself go than to live like this for the rest of my life. They say there's good and bad in life but I've been having bad life since I was born. What do I hope to get by writing these? Sympathy? Hope? Maybe someone? I don't know how to escape this hell. Let myself go? I'm too scared. I can't seek help. Would help seek me? or drown me in loneliness?beyondblue's clinically-trained moderators often work offline (invisible to you) on issues relating to suicide or self-harm. At the same time, general supportive comments from the community are encouraged. If you have concerns around suicide or self-harm, please phone our support service on 1300 22 4636.

Do I have depression?

replies: 4

I'm unsure of my state of mind. There're some symptoms of depression which I know I definitely have, but not others. I have no motivation to do anything, and its having a negative impact on my study and work. I find it very difficult to concentrate on what I need to do (sometimes I can't even concentrate at all). I don't often go out, but I get the feeling its more do do with a lack of invitation. That is, if one of my friends invited me, I would probably go, if only to avoid turning them down. I also don't reach out to any of my friends. I'm not excited or passionate about anything. I used to enjoy reading, but I haven't read a book in about 2 years, and feel very little interest in picking it back up. I spend most of my time procrastinating. And there are times (usually when my mother questions me about university) where I get extremely frustrated and become very biting in what I say and how I act; occasionally I am so overwhelmed I start crying, because I am so insecure about my future, and don't know what to do. I am never happy with anything I do, I have very little confidence, and am EXTREMELY indecisive (big problem for me). I also constantly compare myself to others, usually those I perceive to be doing better than me with uni/life. Sometimes, my thoughts drift into darker territory, but only occasionally. Lastly, I am always feeling tired, and I have trouble getting to sleep (probably to do with me staying on my phone during the night). On the other hand though, I often smile to other people, and if someone initiates a conversation with me, I generally have no problem carrying it on. With people I am close to, I can be very animated in how I talk/act. However, with strangers, if they seem talkative, I tend to be. If they seem like they don't want to talk, then even if I want to initiate a conversation and make friends I find it impossible. Most of what I do in my interpersonal interaction is done because I am scared of being judged. I don't drink or use drugs. Although I said I'm always tired, there are very occasional times when I feel an intense urge to get up and run (no sugar, just a sudden impulse). I have read that while people suffering from depression display the symptoms in the first paragraph, the things I describe in the second paragraph go against what depressed people are known to do. So I'm confused as to whether I actually have depression. Any advice regarding anything mentioned in the post is welcome and appreciated.

Seeking much needed advice!

replies: 3

Hi all, I am starting my 1 afternoon a week shift back at the vet clinic this Wednesday! I am feeling okay about it but as it gets closer I can feel some of those anxiety habits coming back. A friend of mine who also works there 1 afternoon a week and with me at a fruit and vegetable market has helped me to write a list of jobs to do, so if I get stuck I can just pull out the list for some guidance. If anyone has any other tips to help get me through I would really appreciate hearing them! Thanks heaps, Kelly

Eeep! When study is overwhelming! - Tips, ideas and coping strategies replies: 51

NEW TO THIS FORUM? Please read this first replies: 0

Feeling depressed every weekend replies: 4

I need advice please! replies: 5

Feeling down about lack of experience in relationships replies: 4

Does it get better? I feel broken replies: 3

Hello, I am Steve replies: 2

Not being able to moving forward replies: 6

Do I have depression? replies: 3

What am I doing with my life? replies: 4

Do I have depression? replies: 4

Seeking much needed advice! replies: 3