Young people

Pinned discussions

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

replies: 0

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.

All discussions

Sorted by:

Start a discussion

Confused

replies: 4

I just joined this website because I've been feeling kind of different lately, and I don't know if it means I'm slightly depressed or what, I'm just super confused. I've been feeling so stressed out with all the work I have to do for uni, I literally feel like i'm constantly on the verge of tears thinking about how much I have to do. I've failed subjects in the past which has added an extra year and a bit to my degree, and i'm terrified of doing it again, but i'm sitting here looking at all the work I have to do and I can't stop crying. I've also been talking to someone online for a few months, he originally made me so happy because we would talk constantly, but lately we don't talk as much, although it's still everyday I feel that things are different. He told me a while ago that he's talking to other girls, and I didn't realise how many, he won't tell me an exact number but I know it's a lot, and it makes me really upset, which I've told him but it doesn't stop him from talking to them. I feel like he may be one of the main factors making me so upset lately, but at the same time, if I go a day without talking to him I hate it! I'm so confused and sick of feeling so down, not sure what to do, as much as I love my family and friends this isn't the kind of thing I'd talk to them about.

Don't want to talk about it

replies: 5

Hey guys , for a long time now I know I have been unhappy , I always use to shrug it off and just keep on moving. I don't understand why I am not happy , I have an amazing family , I am 19 work full time , have ambitions , have the car of my dreams .... All in which I worked for. Yet I just feel so alone , beyond alone. I believe deep down it is the fact that I never really have had a relationship with anyone. I feel like my time of prime years to be getting out and about are running out and I just want to be happy. I feel like an idiot for getting down about it when I have so many good things in my life . I have amazing friends but sometimes they seem like they don't make an effort especially one friend who means the world to me. It breaks my heart every time I see people together being happy , and again I feel like an idiot because that's a good thing , good on them for being happy . I am a nice guy , not bad looking and I just have no confidence in myself anymore. I just wish I knew what people thought , because you look around and people who treat people horribly get what they want and I am just not that type of person. I'm not trying to talk about how good I am , I'm just saying I respect people and get very little back and I can't stand it anymore . I have started pushing my friends away because I just don't want to talk. I just need help , I'm not doing to well and I don't feel comfortable talking to people about it in person. I just want to be happy

Hormones or Depression

replies: 2

Hi, I'm a 12 year old girl in my last year of Primary School, and I don't know what is happening to me. I feel as though I have depression or anxiety, but people keep telling me that it's hormones and that it will all go away in a few years. I get upset about small things and never feel happy, a fake smile always on my face. My brother has depression (he's 19 and has already sorted it out) and my mum had depression. On the test on the Beyond Blue home page and I got a score of 37, high. I went to the doctors and they said I was just hyper emotional because I was growing up. But does that really make it normal to almost never be happy?

New to the forums

replies: 2

Hi everybody, I'm just new to the forums but I'm interested in other peoples approaches to coping with their anxiety. I was diagnosed with generalised anxiety when I was 17. My parents, younger sister and I emigrated from the UK to Australia when I was 15 which was seen to be the main cause of my anxiety. Leaving behind my older sister and the rest of my family and friends to move half way across the world out of my comfort zone was extremely overwhelming for me. When I was 17 in my final year of school the stress just got the better of me then mixed with my homesickness seemed to be the onset of my anxiety. I experienced a very dark 6 months at the beginning of my diagnosis. I didn't leave the house, I stopped driving, stopped socialising, stopped eating. I was having panic attacks daily and found it very difficult to talk to people about my anxiety. Despite doctors wanting me to go on medication I refused. With the help of psychologists and my incredibly supporting family I managed to pull myself through the hardest time. Im now 22, and of course like most people with anxiety I still have relapses every now and again. I am half way through my nursing degree and have since understood the importance of talking and sharing my stories of my anxiety journey. I realised that excercising and changing my diet has improved my anxiety. Although I still get anxiety symptoms, especially when I get stressed with uni, I no longer have panic attacks which was a major breakthrough for me. I would be interested to here other people's stories on non-medicinal approaches to helping with anxiety?

What can GP's do, if you do have Depression?

replies: 1

I don't know if I have depression for sure, I am almost 100% sure, but I don't want to 'self-medicate' based on information on websites. What treatment options are there if I do have depression?

Four years of disordered eating

replies: 2

Hello everyone this is my first post. My names beth and im 20 years of age. Ive been struggling with disordered eating for 4 years or more. But I have been in denial until now. I met my 21 y.o boyfriend when I was 15, I moved in with him the first week of meeting him because I didnt want to be at home as things were tense. He began being physically and emotionally abusive towards me and I.remember feeling helpless and worthless but I didnt want to go home. He took me to queensland and things got tense with his mum, him.and I and I remember power walking multiple times per fdayto get away from them and check my body shapr in the mirror. I wasnt allowed to eat his mothers food and had no choice of what food my boyfriend bought for us. It wasnt much and wasnt nourishing. Thats when I started to stress over my food intake. I got pregnant and we moved home. I had a misscarriage. Two weeks later I got pregnant again. I started to watch what I ate feeling slightly more free but didnt start to get out of hand until I had my daughter. I was doing step ups in the hospital room and.choosing low calorie options on.the hospital menu. when I got out of hospital I started wii fit and restricting my kilojoule intake consuming as little as possible. About two months later I had gone from 60kg to 46kg and my milk ducts dried up to breastfeed. My boyfriend started to control my eating habits calling me crazy and our relationship got worse. After he threw my food out one day I left him. I finally felt free, moved back with mum for two weeks. Within that time I saved enough money to get in a house and buy my own furnithre. I was 17. I joined the local gym that let me bring my daughter in her pram and continued with my rituals but was eating a healthier amount. Eventually my exercise began to get excessive, especially when my daughter was too big to be in the gym while I was working out. I began to panic about being able to.exercise. thats when I started trying to constantlt change

need someone to tell me its ok

replies: 7

i hate coming to these sorts of places just fr reassurance but thats really all i need right now. is for someone to tell me everything will be ok. my dad is about to start chemo, my grandfather is dying, my partner and i were about to buy a house and start a family when he broke his back so we had to move back home we now live sepratley and he is so down and feeling so broken that i just feel so dragged down by all of it and i go to a job everyday that i hate. im only 22 years old i cant handle all of this weight on my shoulders everytime i get in the car i cry. life shouldnt feel like this

Stuck in a deep trench, not just a rut

replies: 3

Today was the first time I have deliberately brought harm upon myself in years (nothing serious) which is why I am here writing a new thread seeking some advice. I should have seen it coming, since I stopped going to counselling (as I thought I had my life back on track and so did my counsellor, who is wonderful by the way) my life has been continuously up and down, mostly down lately. I tried to overcome everything myself but it has gotten the better of me, which I hate to admit as it makes me feel weak and pathetic, another reason I avoid telling my friends and family about my struggles. My stupid "problems" are nothing in comparison to what other people face every day, I shouldn't be feeling like this when the issues seem like such an easy fix. To sum it up; I'm in my last term of uni and all of a sudden I have lost all interest and motivation in what I am studying and I couldn't be bothered to finish my degree, I started a new job a few months ago and the people I work for have sucked the fun out of everything I used to love about my degree (I'm not actually sure if it is the new job which I don't enjoy or if it's just my mindset at the moment), for the 3 years I've lived in the town I moved to, to start uni I have never felt more alone in my life even though I've made some good friends here, i feel so alone and I hate it, my grandma has recently had 2 strokes and it is extremely painful to see, especially because she has no idea who anyone is, I live a long way away from my family and some friends and I always miss them, I try to tell my best friend my feelings but she just has no idea and changes the subjects which leaves me always alone with my own thoughts which is never any fun, I don't bring it up much because I know I sound whingy and probably annoying, and this is going to sound really stupid but all of my friends are in loving relationships and I have nobody, I know I don't need anybody to live or be myself but I've had enough of being alone, I feel sad and down all the time and it hurts because I used to be so fun-loving and happy and I would give anything to go back to being that. I really want to move towns and start over but I have another 9 weeks of uni, and no guaranteed job. I really don't know how I am going to make it through the rest of the year going like this, I really want to pass uni, failing would destroy me even more, but with no motivation and all of these other thoughts and feelings I just don't know what to do. 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

Not sure if depression or anxiety

replies: 6

Hi all, This is the first time I've posted online about this... so please bear with me. For a few months now I've been feeling... different. I have definitely lost motivation in almost all aspects of life: I used to be able to study very efficiently but ever since this started I've never been able to concentrate for more than 20 minutes. I used to absolutely LOVE gaming, but now when I play games I don't get as much of a thrill. Also I used to be a huge fitness junkie, exercising and playing sports at least 5-6 times a week. But now, I don't even have the motivation to do as much exercise. I feel tired all the time and before this week (which is why I'm posting now), I would sleep all the time. However this week, something else changed. Now I can't sleep. I still feel tired and I really want to rest, but my brain just won't turn off. Furthermore, I lost motivation to go out an socialize as well, and when I do I feel nervous and utterly self-conscious, and I always end up feeling even more exhausted after a day of socializing. I still have some close friends thankfully, and being with them does not sap me of my energy. I never used to be this introverted. I used to be the life of the group and I'd always be keen for going out. But now I just feel anxious and self-conscious when I'm in big groups. And it's gotten so bad to the point where I can't even go out for a run because I feel too self-conscious. So basically, is this depression or anxiety? I kind of want to figure this out before I start seeking professional help... Sorry for the lengthy post. Thanks in advance for anyone's time

Just seeking some advice

replies: 2

Hello, I'm a 20 year old female, i started speaking to a guy in 2013 and we moved pretty fast, after a month I was living with him and his family working in s family business. It was great. We had our ups and downs but overall it was great, until I found pictures on his phone of other girls and messages from other girls, he was also on a dating sight... He come clean, apologised and swore it would never happen again. I dealt with it, he then started having mild anger issues getting frustrated at work and shouting at me, manipulation was huge but again I just took it with a pinch of salt. I came back in 2014 to visit my family and much to my disgust I cheated on him... When he questioned me I lied because I was so ashamed. Just like I did though he dealt with it and we got past it. His anger problems got worse and then I found he was speaking to other girls again but I kept it to myself and didn't tell him I knew, until 4 months ago when I confronted him and he denied it all, although I knew it was true as I had seen it all with my own eyes.. He got severely angry and pushed me,I left that night and I hadn't spoke to him in around 3 months. We then started talking again 1 month ago and he swears he has changed etc he has taken anger management classes. Everything was going great until today when I didn't reply to him in over an hour he automatically accused me of cheating, lying to him and everything again.. I don't know what to do because I truly do love him but I feel as if I know deep down I shouldn't have to deal with his split personality. I physically feel as if I need him, I want him but I don't know how long I can take these accusations for

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

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

Confused replies: 4

Don't want to talk about it replies: 5

Hormones or Depression replies: 2

New to the forums replies: 2

What can GP's do, if you do have Depression? replies: 1

Four years of disordered eating replies: 2

need someone to tell me its ok replies: 7

Stuck in a deep trench, not just a rut replies: 3

Not sure if depression or anxiety replies: 6

Just seeking some advice replies: 2