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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Hi all, I have a question.

replies: 7

My name is Ruby,I've never really done anything like this before so I thought I'd give it a go. I have been suffering with BPD, Depression and Anxiety since I was around 12 years old, I'm now 18. I've been in and out of the public and private system, I've been to different hospitals, countless psychologists and doctors. So at this point I'm very lost at what to do. So I thought I'd come here and see if it helps. I was doing ok for a while but over the last month things have increasingly become worse. Anyway so my question is: Do you know of any face-to-face support groups for mental health in either the Melbourne CBD or Inner Western Suburbs? I would really just like to attend a meeting with other people going through similar things to me and hear their stories and hopefully share mine, and see if anything good comes out of it. Thanks

Hustled a bit too much

replies: 5

So, after pushing myself over my limit to balance uni and work, it impacted my mental health badly (Increased anxiety, negative thoughts, constantly stressed and tired, everything took more effort than usual, felt lonely). Now, I‘ve returned back to work and finished my degree, but speaking up in front of everyone is still a challenge (confidence took a really big hit) and I feel like it’s hard to keep up with everything at work (public relations agency life is fast-paced). I’m also on a development plan at work now (they broke of the news on my first week back after taking two weeks off but I got sick for those two weeks) and am feeling the pressure of it as well since I have six weeks to improve my performance otherwise I lose my job (I’ve agreed to this plan because it should help me but the stress is still there). Recently, I’ve been feeling constantly stressed and overwhelmed. The happy and positive side of me feels like it’s lessened and getting it back is taking a lot of effort.

Am I mentally ill or am I just being dramatic?

replies: 5

So... I don't know what's wrong with me. Nothing is explicitly wrong with my life. I have friends, I have a family and uni is fine. Yet I feel "sad"? Like my life is full of conflicting feelings. I sometimes feel like I'm really pretty and the next day I can hate everything I see in the mirror. I can love my friends when hanging out with them but the next day I feel like nobody understands me and that I am a fraud. The thing is, I don't know if I actually feel "emotions." Like I laugh and I cry but most of the time I feel kind of empty. Like I don't feel like I'm feeling any emotions or having any thoughts if that makes sense? I feel kind of like a fake. I feel like every emotion and every action is forced to please others and fit in. I don't feel like myself. And then I start to feel like I'm just being dramatic and wanting attention. I have friends but at the same time I feel like none of them understand me. That none of them know the real me. I feel like they just know the version of me that I am trying to portray. I feel like I fake it with everyone. I don't even feel like I know who the real me is. I don't know. Am I just an attention seeker? Am I just making up issues for myself? Like last year. I "gave" myself bulimia. But was I doing that because I actually have a mental problem or did I do it to just give myself a problem? Was I just trying to signal a cry for help or was I just trying to be dramatic? Back in year 9 I tried to harm myself and sent my friends a message saying goodbye. I remember not actually wanting to die and I felt so comforted when they messaged back being all freaked out. Am I just a super dramatic girl who is trying to cause problems for herself or am I actually mentally ill? I've been diagnosed with depression and anxiety and I'm currently on medication but what if this diagnosis is wrong. What if I am just a big fat liar who wanted to have depression and anxiety. What if I am just "faking" my problems. I don't know. What is wrong with me? Do I have munchausen's? Am I just a pathological liar? Am I just trying to get attention?

How to get a better sleep schedule (as a uni student)?

replies: 17

Hey all, I'm genuinely curious, as somebody who has long struggled with sleep deprivation. For uni students who go to bed early specifically, what is your secret? Is there a foolproof way to consistently go to bed early AND manage to fit all other commitments/activities/study into your day? I just cannot seem to get to sleep before 12 these days, and it affects me in more ways than one. I struggle to wake up early, I'm constantly tired, and it may or may not be affecting my mood, but that's difficult to assess really. I'm in awe of people who have a consistent 9pm, 10pm, 11pm bedtime. How? It seems so unachievable to me. Are there any amazing methods that people use that seem to work every time? Is it meditation, setting alarms, having others remind you? Keen to hear people's experiences. People who aren't uni students, you're definitely welcome to reply as well, I'm just specifically interested to hear the perspectives of people with whom I share similar schedules/study commitments. SB

New in Sydney and struggling to make friends

replies: 3

Hi! Am a stay at home mum of teenagers and I don't really have friends to hang around or even chat with since I'm new in Sydney (3yrs). I hope I can find nice people here who would like to chat and create a new friendship.

idk what to do?

replies: 4

ok so i have a crush on this girl in my class im not friends with her even though i would like to be. Any one have tips to talk to her? (im also female btw)

I'm there again.

replies: 1

I'm not sure Ill come back here. Iv done it again. I'm sad and everything is grey. I keep coming back and seeing people struggling. I never post. It seems like there are only so many different ways for people to say they are done, but at the same time, nothing seems to fit how I'm feeling. I feel like Ive failed just by being here. I want to relapse. I want to pull away from everyone. I want to keep distracting myself so I don't have to even think about the mistakes I keep making. Which are mostly on purpose. I hope this passes, but everytime I get here I just feel like Iv BSed myself out of being depressed, and it seems to hit me harder everytime it catches me. Like a constant race to out run the sadness. One I seem to never be fast enough to keep at bay for long. Does it ever stop? Is there ever going to be a time when I just outrun the darkness? When does it end? And how do I know it's ended? I might just be the same as everyone else, but not feel strong enough to cope with the average day to day. Long question short... When is enough? When can I just either be ok? Why is the dredge of day to day suffering something we are supposed to power through? And if it isn't, when do I say this is fine?

HOW DO I GET A SERVICE DOG?

replies: 14

Hi there, I'm new here but I decided to join BeyondBlue as they talked about helping to find solutions to Anxiety and Depression. I am diagnosed with Anxiety and although not properly diagnosed, do sometimes feel depressed. I turn 14 in December, so I'm still quite young therefore really don't want to take repetitive medication. So for the past year I have been researching other Solutions and for the past 4 months or so, through personal research, I have concluded that the best option for me would be a service dog. I'm young, energetic and love animals. I already have a dog and a cat who often help calm me down if I'm having a panic attack but my dog is nowhere near qualified to be a service dog! An anxiety I get is that I'm afraid people won't see me as "mentally ill enough" or that I don't "qualify" for a service dog that I know would help. I think something that gives me this anxiety may be my mum. And trust me I have a great relationship with my mum but this is one of the few things we seriously fight about. Its that I prefer to have a label on my issues. That is a personal preference I wish my mum could respect. I would prefer to be able to say I have anxiety or I have tourettes or I have depression (not diagnosed with all of those btw-examples) than to have to avoid the question or have to struggle to explain whats going on with me. While my mum doesn't like me having labels on my issues, I can respect it as she is my mum and she probably doesn't like to hear he own daughter define herself as someone with anxiety. She just can't see it from my perspective. Anyways to the question of this forum: I live in Sydney and would really like to soon go to my GP privately and talk to her about service dogs (If thats who I even talk to!) But I really want to know the following. Does anyone have a service dog and want to share some info? Where I have to go or what I have to do to qualify for a service dog? How involved must parents me in the process? Is my GP the right person to talk to? What should I say to her? Do I need to try and "convince" her that a service dog is what I need? Should I bring all my personal research with me? Can a service dog live with a non-service dog? There are so many questions I have so I'm going to sum it up by saying if you have ANY info on getting a service dog please say below Thanks so so much in advance for any help and please feel free to say something if you're having the same issue x Tenshi -xoxo-

How to move forward in life when I am hideously ugly?

replies: 6

Just wondering what I should do if I am ugly. I don’t really know what the point of life is, or how I can enjoy life, if I am too ugly to find a girlfriend. Any tips would be appreciated

I feel stuck being discriminated for my disability

replies: 1

I’m at a state where I’ll just have to post this, even if my display name hasn’t changed. I’ve been dealing with Autism, and other mental health concerns including PTSD for a long time. But recently, I’ve been having random dizzy and cardiac spells which have made me struggle to talk, walk, or stand at home, and in public. In the end, I was diagnosed with a FND (Functional Neurological Disorder) called drop attacks. But this hasn’t ended discrimination I’ve been facing in the public. Public Transport, especially Trains have been a favourite for all my life. If something was wrong, the trains were a safe haven. But not anymore… I’ve been constantly harassed, humiliated, and discriminated. They think I’m on drugs, drunk, or sometimes a terrorist! I’m constantly getting customers trying to push me off the platform, staff thinking I’m faking my disability, staff and customers mocking my voice, and when I try to speak up about it, it gets shut down constantly! These examples, and additional research has shown that Public Transport services in Australia, have a significant lack of culture, with staff thinking that they’re transport trains, not people. With the rest of my family having to deal with they’re own concerns, I’m stuck in an abusive system in school, home, “work”, and out in public. I can’t say too much at the moment because I’m still shaken from incidents 6 years ago, to some from last night! Posting this will put me at risk for my safety in public, and will risk my future career, and will cause consequences within my circle. But I need to do this, it’s not only me who’s been through this. And I will continue this until a change is made.

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

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

Hi all, I have a question. replies: 7

Hustled a bit too much replies: 5

Am I mentally ill or am I just being dramatic? replies: 5

How to get a better sleep schedule (as a uni student)? replies: 17

New in Sydney and struggling to make friends replies: 3

idk what to do? replies: 4

I'm there again. replies: 1

HOW DO I GET A SERVICE DOG? replies: 14

How to move forward in life when I am hideously ugly? replies: 6

I feel stuck being discriminated for my disability replies: 1