Young people

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

replies: 50

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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Serious concerns with uni, and Ive completely run out of who to turn to. advice needed!

replies: 1

Currently at uni in melbourne (no, its not the university of melb.) and had my second essay flagged and investigated for plagiarism.this was for a compulsory subject that every student at that uni has to do. i knew nothing about the stuff other than what I was taught in the lessons. i have also been going through various financial issues and spent a lot of time working, when the essay was due, i put some of my notes into the essay cause I know they were relevant, but little time was taken to paraphrase.only 17% of what i wrote was matched as "copying" but its still being investigate, this has gone on for 3 weeks! I've spoken to teacher, student help, student "advocacy", pers, etc. I will add, when u email student help services, it can take them over 48 business hours to reply!For me, this is an extremely serious matter because it is my last semester of my bachelors degree, and I've worked so hard to get where I am. I cannot repeat this unit! Ive also come from an interesting home life, and that's never helped with my studies. finishing this degree means I can move on to the next stuff, i cannot face the outrage that can come from parents etc as i still live at home. no one can hide a tertiary fail at the end of a course.I've never had a plagiarism investigation before and I've got no where left for advice or guidance. idk if i wanted to vent or hear from someone that has had a similar issue. i know i deserve a penalty for my wrong doing, but I know its not an F.please be respectful with your comments. i don't need more slander, I'm beating myself up enough already. please avoid commenting "who cares what your parents think" because that is a separate issue.

Would just love some advice on feeling goalless, comparing myself and w friends

replies: 9

I am 23, just graduated uni and have struggled with mostly depression and more recently anxiety since I was in high school. I've have never been sure what I will do for a job and am generally pretty unsure of my goals and have very low self esteem. I have a few chronic health conditions which have been a huge contributing factor to my mental health and was the reason I started seeing a psychologist during high school. Speaking to someone was fairly helpful at first but in the past few years whenever I have had psychologist appointments I've just felt like I'm complaining and repeating myself each time and not really getting much from it. I now don't know if I should try and find another psych (haven't had an appointment for 6 months or so) or how to even do that. I have also in the past been on anti-depressants but had major issues with side effects so am not currently taking them. I've spent the last 3-4 months after graduating travelling alone which I have enjoyed as I'm definitely an introvert and recognise I'm quite a difficult person to be around for too long so like knowing I'm not being a burden on anyone around me. But I was starting to get lonely and missing my family about a month ago but also didn't want to go back home because I don't feel like I have much to go back to (other than family) as I have no job and I've had a lot of issues with keeping friends, mostly due to my low confidence and anxiety. My sister has recently met up with me which has been really nice as she is pretty much my best friend but I also recognise I compare myself to her SO much as she really has everything sorted out and is always calling friends and has a lot of ambitions and a great job - and was at the top of her classes in school where I was very average. I can't believe how much of a shift in mood I've noticed since being with her - at first I was loving it but now I am starting to compare myself and feel low and she doesn't really understand/appreciate my mental health as she doesn't have depression or anxiety so is quite quick to jump to me being moody if I am having a low day (like today). I don't really know what I'm hoping from this post but I would just love any advice or to hear if others have similar issues or know how to deal with any of my issues, whether it be comparing to others, having not many friends, low self esteem and/or feeling completely aimless/lacking ambition for my future. Sorry this is such as long post!!!

My anxiety won't let me go to school anymore and I don't know what to do.

replies: 4

I'm currently in grade 10 and my anxiety has been getting worse since grade 7. When I'm in class I feel like I can't breathe and like everyone is staring at me and I end up leaving halfway through. It started with just skipping acouple classes and now I'm only attending school around 2 days a week. My parents hate me for it and I can't explain it to them because they don't believe a young person can have anxiety or depression. Because of this I've become extremely depressed and don't want to get out of bed anymore and I have no motivation for anything, which has only made them even more angry at me. I've explained this to my school multiple times but they've done nothing to help. I've tried going to headspace but it did nothing for me. I want to get better but I'm starting to feel like that will never happen.

What it feels like to be 'hated'

replies: 2

My name is Yutong, and I am in year 7. I am writing this post while bored in a Geography lesson and when my friends are talking, laughing, and discussing things together without me. Earlier during this lesson one of the borrowed a sharpener and pencil and broke them. That really infuriated me. That is it. They literallly depended on my stationery, and targeted my when borrowing things. Enough is enough. If this was the first time someone borrowed my things and broke them, I wouldn't be that mad. But when I saw my broken sharpener and pencils, my blood pressure increased, and I felt really mad. I threw my pencil case onto the ground and said that I swear for my life that I will never bring my pencil case to school again. But my friends just had a good chortle and asked me to give it to them if I didn't want it.At the start of this lesson one of my friends asked my other friends to go to the bathroom together. She asked everyone BUT me. They left without even looking at me. After they came back, they conntinued discussing about their work. I tried to ask them to join in, but they pretended that I was invisible. After less than three minutes they finished the task becasue they were helping each other (many hands make light work), and they went to the teacher. My teacher praised them and gave them a certificate for working together well as I watched them sadly. And when my teacher asked why I didn't finish my work, I told her my whole story. My teacher didn't help me, and gave me a lunchtime detention.I already have some mild COVID-19 symptoms. All of this just made them worse, and I now feel more sick than ever. I tried to message my mum, but my phone went flat. Suddenly I feel like that I was rejected by the whole world. I opened Kids Helpline for some advice but to my shock and anger our school had blocked it. Are there any other places where I can get help from at school?Anyway, thank you for reading!

I have no friends and I am so depressed

replies: 3

I have no friends and I am so depressed. I am angry all the time and have no energy. Nothing I do makes me happy. My family all hate each other and I am dealing with the mother of my stepson who hates me because she wants me to assist in financially supporting her child. I feel like I need help but, because of what I do as a job, I know that I am not as mentally ill as a lot if other people. And because of that, I know that I don't have entitlements for support. My gp just wants to pump me with drugs. I want to see a psych but, I can't afford it. I know there is Medicare but, the waiting list is massive because of covid and I will have to wait months for an appointment. I feel like I need to be admitted to a psych ward but, yet again I cannot afford it and I am not a high enough risk to the government to be put into a public system. I also am scared to tell my family what is really going on because, I feel I have to be the strong one of the family. I am so lonely and I don't know what to do. Do I just wait until I fully snap and there is no other option but, to go to hospital?

Why am I always the one who gets treated badly?!

replies: 1

My name is Yutong, and I am in year 7. I am diagnosed with severe depression, and due to the situations at school I don't really think I am managing it well.Because of the annoying COVID-19 pandemic, we all have to wear masks at school. I am very self conscious about my face, so I never take my mask of. So now most people see me as a strange girl. And because nobody likes seeing strange people being near them, nearly all the girls in my year level started to be mean to me. Just last Tuesday I said hello to a Tik Toker from my year level online, but the reply I got back was: 'no i know u and u r not very nice to people. i have been told about ur rudeness to other students and i will not tolerate it!' Because that person's username isn't their real name, and they never share videos, I will count them as an anonymous user. Their gender is unknown, but by the look of the reply I am pretty certain that they could be a girl.That online rudeness wasn't all. Today at school, I unmuted my phone and took a screenshot of my timetable, but my phone made a 'click' noise as though I just took a picture. My friends heard it, and they thought I was taking photos of them. Immediately they snatched my phone and ran away with it so I couldn't access my camera anymore. I tried to get them to give back my phone, but they just passed it around to each other, making sure I wouldn't take it }:( They somehow unlocked my phone, and opened Microsoft OneNote, where it has all my secrets written. They examined my secret information, memorised them, wrote them on a paper plane, and threw it across the class. A girl opened it, read my secrets, and found out that I had a crush on my teacher. She yelled it out to the class, and everybody lhad a good chortle. My friends seemed to be enjoying themselves, but I felt humiliated. Later that day in Science my friends went out of class to hang out at the toilets, but they didn't invite me. They just left the classroom without even looking at me. That moment I froze, suddenly. I found out that my friends didn't care about me, only themselves. When I thought about the situations after school today I was INFURIATED. Immediately I opened my laptop and started to write this story while crying. Reflecting on paragraph 3, I admit that I may be rude sometimes, but that's because I am having difficulty managing my depression. Are there any ways to cope? Anyway, thank you for reading.

Why do good people get treated the worst?

replies: 18

I am tired. I'm tired of being shat on by people. This has happened my entire life, and I can't figure out why. I am a GOOD person, and I am loyal, and have an extremely good heart, especially given all of the crap i've had to go through and deal with my whole life. It's like people can see that you're a good person, and they just suck all of the life from you, and break off the rest of the heart you have left in you, piece by piece, until there's nothing left of you as a person. Every time I let someone into my life, and show them the love I have to offer, they either abuse that, use me, hurt me, stab me in the back, betray me, or just piss off with no explanation (or all of the above). It makes me not want to be a good person anymore, because at the end of the day, what's the point when you keep getting broken down constantly?... I'm hurting. I'm tired. I'm close to being done. I am a strong person, and am grateful for how far I have come, and being able to live through all of the traumatic events I have had thrown upon me. But I am just over it.

I feel isolated and alone when I'm not

replies: 2

Hi, I'm new to this but figured I'd give talking about it a go because nothing else has helped. Essentially I'm a 17 year old and I've been suffering from depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember it's always been pretty bad but recently I caught covid and it got 10 times worse than I thought it could ever get. I didn't even end up sick but ended up just sleeping all the time and now that I'm not sick anymore I still sleep all the time, and even though I'm no longer isolated due to covid no matter how often I hang out with people and talk about my issues with friends or family I feel worse everyday. I know I'm not even alone in my situation but still I feel so alone and sad all the time and yet even feeling sad feels better than nothing which is how I usually end up feeling. Anyway I appreciate people taking the time to read this even if this doesn't end up helping. Thanks for listening to my issues.

I am too worried to attend school

replies: 2

My name is Yutong, and I am currently in year 7. I am diagnosed with severe depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder, which impacted my school grades and caused them to drop. Although it's only my first year of Secondary School, I already want to drop out. Just this week something took place that was so bad I'd rather be in the ICU with a severe illness than face the school situations. I have also been bullied and reported these incidents to my teachers, but that didn't seem to work. Just on Monday I was having a meeting with my year level counsellor, and I accidentally took a photo of her with my phone and sent it to the year level group chat via Snapchat, and I didn't realise I did it until after school. Immediately I recieved messages about why I took photos of other people and posting them on the internet without their permission. I explained that it was an accident, but everyone seemed to be ignoring it. A very annoying girl from my class told me that she had already reported me to the principal for taking photos of others without their permission and she hopes I will get suspended. I tried to delete the photo but it was too late... After my friends heard about this, they decided to dump me. In the past we all took photos of each other, and I took the most. My friends thought that maybe I deserved to get suspended, just like what the annoying girl said, because I don't have the right to take photos of other people. I explained that it was an accident, but once again, nobody listened to me. Great. They dumped me. I am now friendless again. This morning I recieved a email from the principal that I need to go into his office to have a meeting with him at recess. When I read that email I passed out and had to get taken to the nurse's. But turned out it was about teaching me how to be strong and cope with bullying. The people who bullied me got a detention, but at lunch time they took me to the empty corridors and gave me a good hiding. My friends didn't care about this situation, and I am in the process of emailing my teachers again. I am too scared to go to school now. Are there any ways to cope? Looking forward to your replies! Thank you for reading!

First sexual experience anxiety

replies: 5

I don't really know what to write. But I'm a 25yr old virgin, i have severe anxiety and I just set up meeting with a guy to have sex tomorrow. I am freaking out, but i am kind of isolated and don't have any friends i can talk to. I have severe anxiety and up until recently I couldn't even initiate a conversation through messenger. I don't know what help I'm looking for but I have all these things that keep running through my head that I'm anxious about. Even whether or not I greet him at his car is stressing me out. I do want to have sex with him, but my mind is racing with all these details that I don't know what to do with. I've kind of pushed myself beyond any of my comforts over the weekend. And I think ive probably went beyond where my psych would have suggested with exposure therapy lol. But now im here and it is what i want im just freaking out about tomorrow. Is there any way I can get my mind to chill and not overthink everything about tomorrow? Especially tomorrow when his here. since the weekend when i signed up to tinder my anxiety has been in overdrive. Which i did expect because ive been avoiding even downloading tinder since i was 18 because of my anxiety. It won't look good if I have a panic attack when he gets here lol. I don't know if that makes any sense but basically I'm really anxious about tomorrow and if you have any words of advice I'd appreciate it .

Eeep! When study is overwhelming! - Tips, ideas and coping strategies replies: 50

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

Serious concerns with uni, and Ive completely run out of who to turn to. advice needed! replies: 1

Would just love some advice on feeling goalless, comparing myself and w friends replies: 9

My anxiety won't let me go to school anymore and I don't know what to do. replies: 4

What it feels like to be 'hated' replies: 2

I have no friends and I am so depressed replies: 3

Why am I always the one who gets treated badly?! replies: 1

Why do good people get treated the worst? replies: 18

I feel isolated and alone when I'm not replies: 2

I am too worried to attend school replies: 2

First sexual experience anxiety replies: 5