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

Feeling trapped again

replies: 1

Hi everyone! I’m new and i’m hoping i can get some help or advice on here. I don’t even know where to begin, all i know is I’ve been suffering from severe anxiety since i was a young teen. The last time i went to seek professional help was probably 4-5 years ago. I actually thought i was getting better, i was doing all these things to distract myself such as doing things that i love, finding happiness in even the smallest things and i’ve also been trying really hard to love myself. I was feeling quite fine until recently, some family issues triggered me. My head started hurting and i felt like i’ve lost all my energy , what’s worse is that my dad thinks I’m an attention seeker (to him, there’s no such thing as mental illness). The only person i can really talk to about my problems is my mum. However, my mum tells me I don’t appreciate my dad enough, the reason him being frustrated. She understands my struggles but thinks I’m the one ruining the relationship between me and my dad. For a while, I’ve been trying to ignore him and i admit I don’t like waking up just to see him every morning. I do this because all he does is bring me down by his actions or words just everything he does doesn’t make my situation any better. And I’ve learnt to stay away from people who keep trying to drag me down. I feel like every thing i do, I would always be the first to be blamed on it really sucks. People who don’t understand me think I’m self-centred but honestly i just need as much help as i can get. I believe I’m stronger than i use to be but sometimes just one bad day can really trigger me and I really want to change that. In that moment I feel as if every step I’ve taken to heal myself was all for nothing. I know this will be a very long journey like it has been in the past and it won’t be easy. If you’re an anxious human being and you’re reading this well you need to know you are not the only one fighting this devil thats chasing you around wherever you go because you are never alone in this fight.

I have severe math anxiety

replies: 4

I'm a 13yr old girl, I fear math and I have math anxiety. Not the small "oh I can't do this question I'm going to fail the test" but my thoughts are "I failed one question. I'm going to fail in life". I'm REALLY bad at math, almost everyone in my class is either great or good at it--I however-- am bad at it. I applied to join the AAFC and I'm really excited to join. I'm also intending to join the Air Force because it just fascinates me. Thing is, the requirements to join is that you have to keep math all the way up until year 12. I'm not good at math, my head just can't think logically like that and whenever I think of it I either want to cry, do self-arm or just straight up die. Today-- my teacher told me these words when I was in math period 1 & 2, "I saw you doing nothing today in class. What is wrong with you?",she said with a stern face. I replied with"nothing". She then continues with, "is there something else? This is ridiculous! You can't just give up on math like that! So, when there's harder subjects over the years are you going to give up on them as well? It's ONLY YEAR SEVEN" her eyes stared into mine like a deadly disease. My lips quivered and my eyes threatened to spill. "So, is there something else?" she asks once more, "no. It's just the maths", I weakly respond, my knees about to fail on me. "Your father was really happy when you were practicing at home with him, what happened? You just went from--" she mentions with her hand to look like it was on top of a hill, and drops it down like a child sliding down a slide. "--to that." she ends. "If you want to, you can sit down next to me if you want some help", she raises a brow. I think. I knew what she was doing: She was going to put me in front of the class so I would feel embarrassed in front of everybody else. I might have made a short story just then but that was how it went. My mind goes into torture every time I go to math class, I don't have dyslexia or anything but, WHY AM I SO BAD AT MATHS AND CAN SOMEONE HELP ME?

Past friends

replies: 5

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum so hope you are all doing well. I am on the edge at the moment as I have left my friend for 10 years due to some reasons that I don't feel very comfortable saying. It hurts me as well that he has done these actions as we were very close as friends and we new both each other's families etc. Whenever I am out in public I am always on the look out to see if he's there (as we live pretty close) so I know when to hide, I hate doing this it really annoys me as I go out pretty often. I haven't given him a very good explanatory of why I am not friends with him (as I have basically given up on him...) I just blocked him on all social media contacts and left him on the edge although we did not talk often so I guess it doesn't really matter. I am thinking of changing my appearance in public so I don't get spotted but in reality I don't want to do that. Every day I am thinking of my friend and how I should have left him its just non-stop. Hopefully we can get this matter resolved...

So unsure of what to do. Family is a mess

replies: 2

Hi all, Basically my home life isn’t the best. For a long while now my parents have been through constant patches of being okay and not fighting. To fighting heavily And always dragging me into it with their comments. Today was another intense argument involving divorce papers (this isn’t the first time this has occurred) . I have a close relationship with my mum and she suffers from depression. My dad does not understand and always think she is under the influence of something else, he believes mental health is a “myth”. He told me today that I need to grow up and understand her adult problems. I’m 24 and have helped her through all of it after he has left because he can’t deal. This hurt me deeply I work part time and I’m studying social work, I wish I could just leave home but unable too, I’m meant to go on holiday next year. I just feel such a mess on what to do. I want to live my life, but things like this with my family happening a lot bring me down. It makes me question everything and what I’m doing. If anyone has any advice to share, that would be beneficial I would greatly appreciate it. I’m really stuck and unsure of a lot.

I'm over it... SO over it.

replies: 1

this time last year i was in a similar position- not going to school, depressed, days blurring together, etc, only by the end of the month, things were looking up again. This time feels different, because I'm not supposed to be like this right now. I was supposed to be happy and thriving. I was supposed to be studying for exams, looking forward to school holidays and hanging out with friends on the weekend. Instead I'm not going to be doing exams, I'm graduating in 2021 instead of next year and I feel absolutely nothing 98% of the time. My parents are supportive and would do anything to help, but they're busy with work. It's selfish but I always wish they put more time into my situation. I wish they called the psychologist when I first asked them to, and I wish they would talk to my school and sort something out. I'm sick of waiting for the psychologist to get back to us. I'm sick of feeling aimless, floating through life, not knowing what will happen next or if anything will happen at all. I'm sick of waiting for something to happen. No one barely ever gets what they want by simply waiting, I know, but I am paralysed. I can't talk to my mum about my feelings anymore because I know what she'll say- "you just have to try." Like geez, if only someone told me that 2 months ago, then I wouldn't be in this situation anymore!!! (note the sarcasm). I know my mum means best, but she doesn't always get it. I don't know what to do, I'm paralysed, I have no motivation most days or at least, motivation to do something that really matters anyway. The most productive things I've done in maybe the past month is bake and clean, which are rather mindless tasks really. I should be emailing my school, getting to bed and waking up early, studying, exercising, taking proper care of myself. But I simply can't. It's like the part of my brain that knows how to do those things is malfunctioning. I want to achieve great things in my life- get good grades, travel, go to uni, become a journalist, make a positive change in the world. But I can't think about doing any of that right now, because I can't do the bare minimum. I want to at least be healthy and fit, and a good student. But I can't go to school or exercise or eat properly or sleep properly. I'm so completely utterly absolutely over it. I just want to be happy and okay. I'm sick of just surviving, I want to LIVE. I'm so over depression and anxiety paralysing me and keeping me from being who i want to be.

Theo has joined the party.

replies: 11

Hello, world. My name is not actually Theo, but it's what I go by. I've decided to join the forums to find support in the case that I start to fall apart. I am a high school that struggles with depression and anxiety. I'm gay, a mega computer nerd and doodle artist, and I have a small group of friends that I joke around with. I hope I can make some friends here and help others out the best I can, as well as get help for my own problems. Theo.

My self esteem is incredibly low and i do not feel like i have any worth

replies: 3

From a young age my parents have told me that i was "special", my dad told me i was smart and continually told me that i was autistic, not as an insult or anything he meant it as a compliment of sorts or more like a fact (i do not know why he wants me to be autistic and i have never been diagnosed so i do not know where he got that idea from). In primary school i was put into a gifted class, but i never performed as well as anyone else, i struggled with basic maths from around year 4 onwards and complex questions about tax and Pythagoras confused me to no end. Now i am in year 9 and i am in compaction science but i am still struggling in class, i have been scraping Cs in maths still and have only ever gotten one A and that was in french. The delusion that i am "smart" is crumbling and my self esteem as never been lower, i have been thrown into the deep end and my self worth is suffering immensely. I often think that my life means nothing and i will never achieve anything i am terrified about the future, i do not know what i will do as a career even working at McDonalds feels like it would be challenge. Exams are coming up soon and i havent studied at all, it feels like theres no point cause i will fail anyway. I have zero talents i cannot play any instruments, play any sports, i do not excel in any subjects, even things i invest lots of time in trying to get better at like video games i am still bad at (ive only ever achieved low gold in one of the games i play a lot), i even get upset about small things like messing up the spelling of a single word, i cannot answer any questions on IQ tests (admittedly they were online and not that good but i still couldnt answer ANY of the questions). I do not know what to do, i do not know if this is just normal teenage insecurity or something else but i figured because i cant talk to anyone else i ought to post here.

Exams and expectations

replies: 7

I wasn't exactly sure how to describe this, I hope I make sense here. I have always been an above average student. I won a scholarship to a highly prestigious school and everyone that knew me knew me as a really smart person. This has translated into huge expectations of myself to perform really well in exams. I always study really hard, up to two months before the exams. However recently, my results have been slipping. It's not like they've been awful, but they've been getting worse. Besides, my school requires scholarship students to be in the top 30% of the grade. I've been doing that, but I've been really depressed lately, as my results are very mediocre. I've been doing really well in class, but when it comes to exams my mindset becomes flustered and I can't perform to the extent of my capabilities. This, combined with my peers' expectations that I will do really well, is really frustrating me, and I find it hard to cope at times. I'm not sporty or musical, and academics is my only main strength. Right now, I'm feeling really useless. I feel so stupid writing this. If you are reading this, thank you.

Panic Attack? Social Anxiety?? IDK whats wrong with me

replies: 5

So the other day, I went with my dad to a store to ask about getting a battery replacement for my phone. I was kinda scared to go ask for some reason, and so I asked if my dad could go ask instead. He was like no, this is your own phone, you've gotta do this yourself or we're leaving. So I went in and nervously approached this lady who seemed kinda uninterested and impatient. I was really nervous Idk why I was just sweating a lot and shaky. I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying or anything but luckily my dad was right there listening in on the conversation. My dad then asked me if I wanted to replace my battery, to which I responded that I didn't understand what she was saying. He got a little mad and told me to ask again then if I didn't get it. But at this point, I really didn't want to ask again, and I found myself starting to tear up. I was also struggling to breathe, and I started biting my hand to try and stop crying. I was really scared of something, I'm not sure what, but I had to run out of the store. My dad then found me outside and asked me if I was going to book an appointment or not, which meant that I had to go back in and talk to more people. So I asked if he could instead, as I was a big mess, to which he replied again, this is your phone and you're wasting my time, so hurry and decide yes or no. This made my state even worse, and I was just shaking and crying at this point, but he didn't seem to care. We ended up leaving without an appointment. On the walk home, my dad commented that I was being weak and needed to toughen up and talk to more strangers, I had a problem that needed to be fixed. I've been quite agitated recently and have been crying a lot. I cried last night, this morning in class, and 2 hours ago when I got home. I don't really know what's wrong with me. I don't believe I have social anxiety as I have a lot of friends who I am fine with conversing with, and I don't find it hard to make new friends. Sure, I sometimes get nervous when speaking to teachers or the cashier when I buy something, but it's never really been this severe. Can anyone help?

Hey guys! I'm 24 turning 25. Don't know where my career is heading

replies: 2

So pretty much ive studied multiple qualifications, and somewhat feel like im on a path, but can get disheartened quite easily. Any advice is appreciated, So pretty much I studied a bachelors in psychology and then moved into construction and will have my construction degree soon, initially i was offered a construction course but declined, im not sure why to be honest. However I feel as though I dont know exactly what i want to do yet in the industry. I'm working on site as a labourer doing renovations, but have the qualifications to be an entry level administrator or junior project manage or estimator, but im dying to work on site and be site based, i love being amongst it, i was thinking of doing a trade but my parents are really against this and im worried about work consistency and ongoing potential earning capacity (i have to support a few people). I would like to site supervise eventually, but cant really get there without a trade background. Whats the answer here? Just go against my parents and do a trade? It feels like my psych degree is somewhat wasted in this and i dont want to disappoint my parents

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

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

Feeling trapped again replies: 1

I have severe math anxiety replies: 4

Past friends replies: 5

So unsure of what to do. Family is a mess replies: 2

I'm over it... SO over it. replies: 1

Theo has joined the party. replies: 11

My self esteem is incredibly low and i do not feel like i have any worth replies: 3

Exams and expectations replies: 7

Panic Attack? Social Anxiety?? IDK whats wrong with me replies: 5

Hey guys! I'm 24 turning 25. Don't know where my career is heading replies: 2