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

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.

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I hate myself

replies: 4

Hi, I am an almost 15 year old girl living in Australia. I go to school, I'm active... I'm just what seems to be a normal 15year old girl, but, I'm not. At my school I am classified as one of those always happy, smiling, funny girls, but I'm really not. People don't know the real me. I'm always feeling worthless like I don't belong, I don't fit in.. I feel like I am different from everyone in every way.. I am an outcast. I can't look at anyone in the eyes for more than a few seconds, including teachers and friends. Even the slightest insult can make me want to lock myself in the room and tell myself I should of not gone out that day being as... I look like.. Me. When someone looks at me I want to cover my face, I'm scared of what they're thinking. I lay in the shower thinking about what it would be like to cut, how much release I could gain, I could start, but I'm scared my parents and friends would see it.. I've thought about "leaving" but scared on the effect on my peers and etc. I'm scared to ask for a councillor. I just like to ignore my feelings and pretend I'm happy. People think I'm happy. At school sometimes I convince myself I'm happy but then wake up to reality. Im also cared to tell anyone because I don't like attention. I'll do anything to stop having attention on me. Is this depression or sadness or anxiety? What do you think in dealing with? :(( What can I do? -brooklyn

Very lost

replies: 1

It's very unlike me to post something like this anonymously, but I feel like I need to say something to someone.I have no idea how to explain my feelings, so I'll start with right now. How I feel. It's tough for me to describe, because I've kind of been subject to ridicule about my strong feelings by my immediate family. I've tried to tell my mum that I think something is wrong with me, but she just thinks its something I'll grow out of in time. My sister says I'm a selfish idiot (which sometimes I completely believe), and my dad just doesn't understand what I'm going through.I had my first major panic attack a year and a half ago, just before my second semester at Uni had started. I started to cry uncontrollably in front of my mum in the car when I was about to leave for my first lecture. It felt like I was having a heart attack and all I wanted to do was run back home and under the sheets. That was the day I stopped my uni course halfway through. I stopped taking the birth control pill (because my doctor and my mum thought that might have caused the imbalance), and I was looking for a job. Through out that year and a half I haven't had a panic attack, but I had been incredibly down. All I would do is sleep, not eat throughout the whole day then binge at night, play video games (which I think was the sole source of my confidence) and then sleep more. I think I spent most of my day sleeping, or hiding in the toilet and reading.It only happened recently, when I had applied for a new course (since my job searching turned out to be a bust), I've started having panic attacks every day. Whenever I'd think about Uni, about leaving to go to lectures, seeing people, filling forms, I feel like I'm dying. And afterwards I feel so useless and hopeless and lazy. I sometimes hate myself because I know just how good I have it in life, but it feels as if I have absolutely nothing. Like I have absolutely no reason to live anymore. I can't find work, I don't think I can get through uni at this rate, and I feel like everyone in my family looks at me like I'm the problem child. Should I see someone professionally about this? Does it cost a lot of money to see someone?

16 years old worried about alot of things

replies: 5

Okay so lets cut to the chase. I'll start of with some background information. I am 16 years of age and I have a huge passion for music. I have been playing lead guitar/vocals for 4 years and have just recently signed up for a tafe course which I am really loving. So things for me lately haven't been so great (either that or its all in my head). First I moved from a school in which i settled well in to a completely new school that I was told that would have the right music program I would need. Turns out they dont, but I didnt move back simply because I don't want to keep losing mates of mine. I also have a girlfriend who which I have been dating for 4 months now and things have been really good between me and her, although even though things may seem great and all, I just keep getting these worries. And that's why I decided to sign up and create this thread. For the last 2 or 3 months I have been worried about losing friends, my girlfriend, and other people. I just keep thinking "what if this happens to them? What if she feels bored with me?" and so on. Even thoughts with my music career in which I wish to pursue. Heck, I haven't played a video game in months because I would either just sit there in my chair trying to figure out what I can do to please people, calm myself, become better. Thats all I do on a weekend. I mean of course I have to do tafe studies and other work. But that's all I do, and I try to treat work as a place where I can just unwind and try to keep my mind off things. And I stress out a lot. Like especially about my relationship with my girlfriend. I constantly worry that I am being to clingy or not giving enough attention. As for socializing, I haven't been doing much of that. If a few mates ask me to come out for a party I usually just tell them I am not feeling good or I have to do work. And if I were to hang out with some mates its only one other person in which I have been best friend's with since pre school. I know this post may seem to lack little in detail but just trying to get some help from others. Maybe some tips on how to cure depression, anxiety? Anything really. Kindest Regards,

Everyone thinks I have *** i just want to be beautiful

replies: 2

My friend told the school councilor that I wasn't eating.I was eating but not much, now everything is worse and I am eating a lot less.I know there is something wrong and i shouldn't be losing weight this way but it makes me feel good. I don't think I am anorexic yet but i could be soon. my mum has to go to these meetings with the school to decide what has to happen and she doesn't want to make me do anything yet because she thinks that because i am still over weight that when i get to a healthy weight i will be OK and that i have had to much stress in my life and its good that now i have something to control. Everything is so stressful now but everything is the best it has been in years my abusive father is out of my life and my abusive brother has had to move to my grandparents place. Should i make my mum go to the docter for me and make me go to the eating disorder clinic and lose my chances of losing weight or should i trust my mum and ride things through and see how it turns out????

They told me i was crazy, and i had no choice but to believe them.

replies: 1

Two and a half years, that's how long i have been suffering severe depression for. It may not seem like a long time, but I'm only 15. Everyday i suffer severe anxiety/panic attacks which effect my schooling and friendships. About a year ago my parents split up and i was left behind with my suicidal mother and my younger brothers. I have attempted suicide several times in the last few years and been in hospital. Recently i was diagnosed with Boarderline personality disorder which actually tore me apart because it made me feel like I was a mental freak who everyone wanted to do research on because i had research doctors following me around to see my different mood changes. Its harder now, with school, my friendship groups and home because it feels like i don't belong anywhere, because I'm different. Everyday i don't want to be here, its a struggle and everyone always tells me that it will get better but it never seems like anyone wants to stay around to try help. 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. Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

Lost in life

replies: 4

I recently moved from Perth, WA to Sydney in order to do an honours year here. The uni that I did my undergrad at was second tier and now I'm at Usyd for honours. I'm not originally from Perth. I grew up in America an am a dual citizen. I moved to Perth when I was 18, because its where most of my extended family lives. I was never happy growing up. My parents aren't particularly emotionally mature and my own emotional problems were often neglected by them, and ballooned as a result so that I felt depressed and anxious most of the time growing up. I love my extended family in Perth, they are warm people and for the 5 years I lived there I felt relatively happy. However, I never really felt like I fit in, in Perth. Its not really a city, its more of a small town and people aren't interested in the world at large. It took me a long time to find friends there, and even though I have some friends in Perth, and also in America that I love dearly I never planned on living there long term. I decided to finish uni and get out. So I did, and now I'm at a big prestigious institution for honours, and comparing this place to where I did my undergrad makes me feel like that degree is worthless, and I'm embarrassed by it and wish I'd transfered uni's and moved to Sydney sooner. I'm 24 and don't want to start an undergrad again because I'm graduating late anyways. I feel anxious and depressed constantly, these days. I don't feel like I'm good enough, smart enough, or know enough to be where I am. I regret wasting 3 years of my life, and am depressed that I'm stuck working in a bar again at 24. I'm ready to move on and have a professional job. All these thoughts are making it hard to focus on honours, and I'm scared for how I'm going to do. I just want to drop out and get a masters and get into the workforce. But (and I know this is ridiculous) that would make me feel like a failure because both my parents have PhDs, and I think they look down on me an my brother a bit because we didn't go to good uni's like they did... I know that it was depression growing up that lead me to where I am now, and a lack of guidance. I feel lost. Like I've missed out on a lot of things I could have done with my life, and I'm exhausted from working so hard all the time. I am struggling to deal with feeling resentful that I didn't get more of a helping hand, or guidance to put me on the right path sooner. That I had so much more potential, and that was wasted on feeling depressed...

I'm struggling with food these days

replies: 2

I don't know why but lately I feel very very heavy, I feel full of fat and everything gross. I logically know you don't need to be skinny to be happy but I can't stop the feeling that I am fat, I hate myself everytime I eat except it's all I want to do, I'm constantly thinking about food and I have no control over myself once I get the thought in my head of eating something. I suffer from depression, anxiety and have very very low self esteem already, and I have also noticed lately that my current partner doesn't really have a healthy view on food. She also comments a lot about how she feels fat after eating and that if she knows she's going to eat a big meal for dinner or something she'll make herself do a heap of exercise before hand and she uses the excuse that it makes her 'hungrier' but I don't believe she thinks this way just because of other things she says after eating. She knows I don't have a very healthy view on food but she keeps saying things like 'oh I want to cry now after eating so much food' when she's around me.. I'm not blaming her at all because I have always had an issue with food but I believe this is making me worse. I don't know what to do anymore, I hate food and I hate having to eat but food is all I think about, it's like I'm relying on food to keep me happy of a day time because I have nothing else... I've tried to keep myself busy and distracted but nothing works.. I'm hating myself a lot more than usual lately.

I don't know if I have depression

replies: 2

I am 17 turning 18 this year and In the last 2 years I have become extremely emotional and I'm not sure if it's just growing up emotions that everyone feels. I get feelings of sadness, loneliness, anger and overwhelment almost all the time. I kept it to myself but lately my mood swings have caused problems with my motivation at work, and my relationships with my family and my boyfriend. Depression is genetic in my family but it's a lot worse for them than it is for me so I can't really talk to them about it because they will think I'm seeking attention. I want to go see a doctor about it but I'm not sure if they would be able to help me.

I don't know If I'm depressed

replies: 6

Since about early December 2012 I've felt quite unhappy, It led to me isolating myself and pushing my now ex-girlfriend away. She left me shortly after new years for another guy she has been talking to for awhile. But I was feeling off sorts before this even happened. I'm not sure if it's just the 'Typical Teenage Hormones' kicking me down and making me feel like this since I'm only 18 (turning 19 in march). But It feels as though my self confidence and direction in life has just been chipping away. Throughout high school I was fairly content, I wasn't bullied and had no discernible problems. But I did quite often wake up during the middle of the night having recurring dreams of suicide and I would wake up in a panic. Once I had graduated high school a fellow friend who was in one of my classes took a liking to me and we were in a relationship for a year, We hardly ever had problems and she would comfort me through my nightmares whenever I would have them. However during December I pretty much started pushing myself away from her, I felt as though there would have been some sort of stigma if I had told her or anyone for that matter, just how sad I was feeling. So it ended with me giving her the cold shoulder because I wouldn't want to burden anyone with what I was feeling. But it's been a few weeks since she has left me for someone else, I'll admit being dumped for the first time is a painful experience for me but I don't feel as though it's the root of why I feel so down. I just take no enjoyment from the things I loved doing when I was carefree during High School. I enjoyed playing video games with my friends and having movie nights with them, but now they are all at university and travelling abroad and I don't get to see them very often. Right now just the thought of playing video games or doing anything I enjoyed doing makes me feel as though there's no point, I may as well get back into bed and just go to sleep where I can just rest and not worry about anything. Even getting up in the morning is a constant struggle. What I don't know is if I'm depressed or am I just shaken up by the fact someone I really loved and enjoyed spending time with has suddenly left me for someone else and that has just multiplied how I felt about myself before the relationship ended. I'm an introverted person and talking about this topic to any of my friends is impossible for me I just wouldn't know how to bring it up, and I'm just too afraid to see a counsellor at my college about it. It just seems like the 'Typical Teenager Problem' scenario that would get played down.

Beating depression? ( and anxiety)

replies: 1

Hey everyone, Its come to the point in life where my only support lies online and from what I've seen, beyond blue is the best place for that. ( i recently found out an old friend with depression is now a spokesperson for beyond blue). I have been seeing a psychologist and doctors, and so far, antidepressents if not in my best interests, I've seen what it did to my step sister and it's side effects, so as of now, it's not in my goal list. I was given a score of 40 on the k10 list, but did not tell my psychologist everything wrong with my life.So I've been suffering from depression for roughly 3 years, stemming from many reasons. financially struggling family, aggressive family, divorse, family deaths, and as of recently,I've lost my personality, I hate my looks ( I'm from south east asia, I'm not "phenotypically" good looking), my height which is 165cm and I'm a male at 18 years old ( It's horrible, Everyone bullies me about it). and most of all, i have not one friend.I've gone through school being the "sheep" who just follows people around and was bagged out for doing, even by the younger kids. I did this for an entire year until my final year, where i just sat in the library by myself. through my last year, I just studied, people called my a geek,nerd, etc, and the only reason why i studied was because there was nothing else to do, no friends to hang out with, nobody to talked to. Because of this, i recieved an ATAR of 88 and made the distinguished achievers list, neither of these achievements made me happy, only sadder. My life at home is equally as bad, I live with my mom who is constantly yelling at me or others every single day, she's carrying a mortgage of over $1million and she'll never be able to pay it off in her lifetime, so shes constantly mad. I love my dad to bits, but he suffers from depression and anger problems, He'll sometimes say to me "everything you touch seems to brake", " you're useless" or to himself, he'll say " I'm a failure... I can't do anything right". None the less, he calls me everyday to check up on me and his anger is rarely seen too often. As a side note, everysingle person in my immediate family has suffered from depression, my father the worse.The last time i felt happy was when i was 15, and i actually did have friends, a small group of 7-8, but we were all good friends, and i was actually funny and happy back then, i was getting invited to parties, people were trying to make friends with me. but year by year, people stopped hanging out with me, everyone got tall and good looking, girls would talk to them but completely ignore me (Girls have told me that I'm ugly right to my face, very good looking girls), i stopped being funny, stopped being invited to parties, and its now at the point where i've spent months on end at home just playing video games because I'm alone. I did have one good friend but as of recently, that person has left me to hang with the popular group.This solitude is killing me, and my looks and height are keeping me from being happy. I've deleted facebook because seeing all the happy party goers and people around their friends was killing me inside. I had to quit work because no one would talk to me, the girls would just talk to the tall good looking guys and the guys would ignore me, treating me like a kid, making me do all the labour intensive work.I've tried to cut all ties with my school life, and i have one opportunity to start new at university. I've tackled my height insecurity, and partially my looks( fat face, ptosis and a lazy eye on my right eye with mild ache). But one problem is my social anxiety, due to all this solitude, I've lost the ability to talk or hold conversations, even with my family. I can't even look people in the eye when talking due to my self consciousness. ( At one point when a girl at worked asked me to help her with something, i broke into a sweat and my eyes started twitching)I know this has just been a rant about how much i dislike my life, but I've got 15 days until uni and I really want a new start. I hate being stuck by myself. I've begun working out 6 times a week with a mix of cardio and muscle toning, just to give me something to do, it does help take my mind of things. I'm still continuing my hobby in photography and skating, but doing it alone is hard.I've cut alot of problems to shorten this, but these are my most concerned issues.Thank you, any input will be taken to heart.

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

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

I hate myself replies: 4

Very lost replies: 1

16 years old worried about alot of things replies: 5

Everyone thinks I have *** i just want to be beautiful replies: 2

They told me i was crazy, and i had no choice but to believe them. replies: 1

Lost in life replies: 4

I'm struggling with food these days replies: 2

I don't know if I have depression replies: 2

I don't know If I'm depressed replies: 6

Beating depression? ( and anxiety) replies: 1