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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Anyone else here understand what life is like with autism?

replies: 14

Hi, Ill keep it short, im autistic im having trouble with some parts in my life Is anyone else here autistic and understands what im going through Socially, sorry

things have become overwhelming and it is a struggle to find peace of mind and find my place in life

replies: 31

Hello to anyone who reads this I am Daniel, I am 25 years old, single, work as a civil engineer, I am an active person. I have been feeling more and more overwhelmed with where my life is at and feel hopeless more and more. A trigger for this is feeling very alone even though I have a close family it is more in a social sense. I have a small network of friends and have tried my best to get out there and date but cannot seem to get anywhere past a second date with anyone and this is a trigger for the way I get down on myself and go into overdrive. It has started to become very overwhelming experienced and I am very flat and lacking in energy when usually I can muster up the energy to be a more jovial type, it has worn me down. My mind races about a lot of stupid things that I know in my head are silly but I cannot find a way to stop it and then I get down/angry at myself for being like this and it spirals from there. For example in a dating sense it might be if a girl all of sudden stops contacting me out of nowhere after a couple dates I immediately hypothesise the reasons behind this and what I did wrong, how I came across, does she think I'm weird, why does this happen to me everytime I meet someone etc. I am more a laid-back character, no fuss type and it makes me feel maybe I am not loud and out there enough for people. Another example is I begin to think because I come across relatively normal on social media and I only really have a small network of friends (like 2-3 very good friends and the rest are acquaintances from sporting clubs etc) that it makes me look undesirable, unpopular and uninteresting. I know I should not worry about what others think and particularly about things like that but it just finds a way to invade my headspace and I struggle to cope with it. When my head is constantly ticking over with thoughts like this I get exhausted and again angry at myself for not just being normal and relaxing in the moment, the enjoyment of my life has rapidly been fading. I feel worn down with the pressures of finding a partner who likes me for who I am and ending this feeling of being alone I guess I feel lost in who I am, confused in how to act and frustrated that I cannot find a way to just relax and be myself and not stress over things like social media perception, dating experiences that don't work and how many friends I do or don't have for example. Apologies for the confusing post, probably a representation of how my mind races Daniel

Overwhelming

replies: 5

Next year I will start year 11 and honestly I am very scared. I dropped out of high school 4 years ago so I’m a bit rusty. My anxiety is also off the roof. I am terrified and scared. Any tips to survive year 11? thanks

failure

replies: 5

I’m only 16, I’ve already dropped out of high school, I struggle with applying myself to every single thing I do. I have no interests or hobbies; or anybody to talk to about these things. I’d like to go back to high school and make friends, get my HSC and get into uni. But I feel like it’s too late, and I know if I go back I’ll hardly ever attend or do any work. I wish I could be like a normal teenager. I’m stuck in a tafe course that I hate being in. I feel like I can’t complain about my current position and state of my mental health because it’s all a result of my own actions, and because I’ve always been told that there’s others a lot worse off, which is true. I don’t want to end up constantly struggling financially and emotionally, I want a normal life with normal daily thoughts. I really don’t know what to do anymore. I still can go back to high school, but I want to apply myself to the best of my ability, which I can never see myself doing. I also really want to go back for the social aspect, I have little to no friends, I want my social life back, but with that being said, I have really bad social anxiety. I hate having my entire life being taken over by poor mental health. I never wanted to be labeled or seen as mentally ill because of the stigma around it, I never wanted to become a lonely high school dropout, also because of the stigma around it. I’m really embarrassed about my life and my actions. I really hate my life, I wish that if I had to go through all of this self-loathing, loneliness and failing it could’ve been later in my life. I’m terrified for my future, also a future that I don’t even want. I think that I’m just an extremely lazy person. I don’t expect anybody to genuinely care or to respond to this, I just needed to let it all out somewhere.

Psychiatrist has diagnosed me with ADHD inattentive- Still in shock

replies: 3

Psychiatrist has said he is ready to go, he is ready to start medication. He has said I scored off the charts for inattentive ADHD, and have three hyperactive symptoms. I scored 9 and a half out of 10 for inattentive-ADHD. He has said women go underdiagnosed in childhood. He has said socialisation and masking played a part in me going undetected. I have requested a formal psychometric testing, because I am still in shock. My mum is going ballistic, saying that psychiatrist diagnosing you with brain problem will tamper with your record making sure you are unemployed forever. Mum is furious about me seeking psychiatrist help. Saying that I am a hypochondriac and tampering me with my health record. I am still shocked about my diagnosis.

I have an appointment with a new psychiatrist in less than 36 minutes: Very nervous

replies: 2

Today is the big day, I have an appointment with a new psychiatrist in less than 36 minutes. I am very nervous and anxious; I hope the psychiatrist believes me

Heard horrifying news about my Ex-Girlfriend who i care about and still had feelings for.

replies: 30

My Ex and i have been broken up for a year and all that time i was following strict NC (No Contact, when you completely block them out of your life). I am 19 and she is 20. We finally spoke after she reached out to me and i allowed the phone call, the news and information i heard about her life threw me into shock and trauma. She had a boyfriend that beat her, she got seriously into hard drugs (such as heroin and cocaine) and can't get off them, adding to this she took up a job as a stripper. This was a lot for me to handle as i had been struggling the entire year trying to get over her and then to hear all of this terrible news really shook me. In addition, i have mild jealousy issues and mood disorders such as OCD so it makes the whole ideal worse, i can't stop ruminating about the horrible things that would have happened to her in the past year and i often think this will scar me forever. The emotions i feel are Guilt, sadness and jealousy. We dated for 1.5 years, she was my first girlfriend, my first love and we had a very intense relationship so seeing her like this is very very disheartening and makes me extremely sad. I wish i could help her but i can't and i had to block her again and im just still in a state of shock. I alerted my parents about it just so they understand what im going through. Please help

everything is beginning to build up and im struggling

replies: 13

Hi, i'm a new member and i just wanted to get some advice about my current situation! im a very active person, and i constantly strive to get fitter and stronger but the last two years have been really hard, ive dived in and out of binge eating and bulimia and in a way i think its because when i get fitter and stronger my figure isnt as skinny as nice as models, and all my family members constantly make comments about my weight and my figure and keeping myself slimmer, or as a girl i shouldn't be aiming to to so sporty, i'm not going to become a professional athlete anyway. Of course im not going to become an athlete but i don't see any reason i shouldnt be able to play sport. ive been forced to quit sports that i love so dearly because it gives me broad shoulders, or big legs and ive been told to go on long runs which i hate just to lose weight because my parents think my muscle is fat. my mum is incredibly strict on her own diet, constantly weighing herself and showing off her weight, and even my dad says he wont accept it if im not a certain weight. this was a while ago but it still hurts so much. ive recently had both a meniscus and ACL injury from football and my surgery was in late August. that means a full year before i am allowed to play any kind of contact sports and its been about 48 days and ive only just started to be able to squat again. When i first heard about my injury i was so, so, so devastated. i was about to start my rowing season and i was ready to get fitter and fitter. being unable to do sport but still being hungry all the time while doing nothing is so hard. i cannot lose weight or get fitter being unable to do anything. my mum says shes glad i wasn't able to row becuase it would give me broad shoulders. i don't understand why its up to her what my body should look like. but at the same time while i love getting fitter and stronger, i don't like how my body looks and i still need to reduce my body fat %. my family members keep giving me backhanded compliments, saying oh your legs look SO NICE now, because i haven't been able to work out and theyve slimmed down to a more feminine shape and it makes me feel so bad when they comment on it literally everyday. i feel like im not understood and i really wish i was

its getting bad again

replies: 5

recently everything has been getting a bit overwhelming and hard to deal with. i feel like constantly venting to my friends will make them hate me eventually, and I don't want to ruin more of my relationships. I'm lacking the motivation to do anything and my parents contribute to that. they don't believe that their child has feelings and might not be constantly well. I've been really down; school work is piling up, I lost most of my closest friends and my boyfriend of 9 months broke up with me last month. the constant pressure im faced with is so stressful and scary. my brother is a high achiever and does well in school and many other things. compared to him im quite literally garbage. i have no one to talk to so I decided here might be a good place. I'm always the friend that gives advice and comfort when people vent. Although it may not be helpful I try my best to say things that will make them feel better. But no one does that for me. I told a friend I wasn't well earlier and all I got in response was "unfortunate". things like that make me want to never open up again. why cant they at least try to be there for me when im always there for them? i think im depressed, or maybe i have anxiety. a few weeks ago i was uncontrollably panicking after an argument and i had to shove my face into a blanket to calm down. I've never experienced that before and there was such a strong urge for me to self harm but i didn't. a few years ago i opened up to a friend and told her i was self harming. she was the only person i told and she said something along the lines of "if you don't want to talk about it we don't have to" then changed the subject. was it not obvious that i wanted to talk about it? i think she wasn't taking me seriously, i thought what i was doing wasn't even self harm for a while. anyways i think i might become a bit more active here on the forums

lots of pressure

replies: 6

Hi, I don't know if this where I should put this. lately I haven't been feeling great, I'm currently trying to get in to a very hard degree where I need really good grades and I feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself. I have this friend who is constantly in my space making me feel suffocated, like I'm constantly needing to compete especially when it comes to grades, a boyfriend who all he needs is space so its making me feel kinda not important (we're long distance due to covid), parents who are making me chose between my partner and them due to him not wanting to get vaccinated. I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed with my work load and keep having panic attacks at night when I got to bed. I feel very tired like the energy is being sucked out of me. I don't feel the urge to eat much and when I do I feel guilty, I've had an unhealthy relationship with food in the past and I got better but all this stress is triggering emotions and things I had already over come in the past. It feels like I've failed myself I go to the gym as my way to relax but my friend from earlier always comes with me. I feel incredible anxious, like I can't get my peace of mind

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

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

Anyone else here understand what life is like with autism? replies: 14

things have become overwhelming and it is a struggle to find peace of mind and find my place in life replies: 31

Overwhelming replies: 5

failure replies: 5

Psychiatrist has diagnosed me with ADHD inattentive- Still in shock replies: 3

I have an appointment with a new psychiatrist in less than 36 minutes: Very nervous replies: 2

Heard horrifying news about my Ex-Girlfriend who i care about and still had feelings for. replies: 30

everything is beginning to build up and im struggling replies: 13

its getting bad again replies: 5

lots of pressure replies: 6