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

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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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What should I do

replies: 2

Hi all. I’m 16. i grew up in a perfect home of 4. My mum, dad and my sister. Both my parents had good high paying jobs and I was loved unconditionally. Everything was perfect for the first 14 years of my life. And then in a matter of two years my life was completely thrown upside down. My parents started arguing and eventually things got so bad hey got divorced and my dad moved to the other side of the country, and I followed. I moved 3000km away from my mum and sister. I’ve struggled to make new friends in this town, and I’ve felt alone and depressed for about 1 year and a half now. Ive always done well at school and am exceeding academically at the moment(Not meaning to brag). But I still don’t feel good enough or like I’m living up to the expectations. All I do is study, I don’t go out, don’t have any friends. It’s like everyone is living this teenage dream and having so much fun. But I’m stuck at home studying. I see everyone else engaging in relationships, but I’m to scared and awkward to even talk to girls. I feel as though I’m just falling behind all my peers. It’s like all I’m good at is school, nothing else. It feels as though I’m if I never get into a relationship now, I never will, and will live an even more lonely life than what it is now. I don’t know if I should get over myself. But does anyone have any suggestions that could help me? thank you

I dont know whay to do uni student

replies: 3

Im 21 and a student at the university of new south wales studying maths/engineering. I just dont feel happy anymore, i think the stress has finally got to me, i had grand plans to pursue academics but this year it all came crashing down. I feel like the world has lost colour and i seem be very indifferent to everything. I just feel so tired that i just want to lie in bed and fade away. Im quite poor and have been at uni for 2 years now the only reason i could afford to do so was because of a scholarship which required me to maintain certain conditions as without the scholarship i would have to work to help support the family. With the new switch to trimesters for math just 1 subject i have 3 lectures and 6 online tutorials a week and 2 assignments due every 2-3 weeks for engineering i just cant keep up i feel like i am bound to fail, no matter how much i push how hard i try it's just one after the other. Im quite lost becuase as soon as i lose the scholarship i have to drop out. I will have let down my family, my parents, my grandparents which had high hopes for me. I dont know how i would face them i cant talk to them about it as they dont understand as im the first of my family to go to university. Im so done idk what to do i can't keep studying just the thought of books give me a headache but if i stop im definitely not gonna get my required marks for the scholarship. Should i just give up maybe uni is just not for me, maybe i was delusional to thinking i was smart enough to purse a phd, maybe im just not up to scratch. I'm praying night and day that the university reverts to semesters i just can't take it anymore. Maybe it's time i hand the towel what a pathetic dream thinking i could change something for my family that i could be someone. Im just born poor and will remain poor, born useless and remain useless sigh.... just wanted to express my thoughts even if it might not sound like much it is to me. As it feels like i have lost my ambition i lost my direction i dont know what else to do in life as this has been my goal since i could remember. As one chapter closes another opens i guess maybe working is where i go from here. Thanks for reading not looking for a reply just wanted to share my thoughts somewhere.

Anxiety and depression / what’s everyone’s story?!

replies: 3

Hi, My names Ashton and I’ve only had anxiety for half a year but depression for 4 years. I never knew what anxiety was and I never had any connection with it. I knew my mum had depression but my dad never told me he had anxiety so I didn’t know I was connected or what it even was. I obviously heard about it in school and people talking about how they have it but I never in my head thought I had it. My first panic attack was when I was out eating dinner at a food court with my partner and I started to freak out. Some disclosure I use to freak out all the time but I didn’t think anything of it, I started to really panic and it didn’t go away and I nearly fainted in the middle of the food court. I felt my skin go all tingly and my legs go jelly. I started to black out but stood up and focused myself back to my partner as I was panicking badly by this point. I told him we had to leave and when I got home I couldn’t stop panicking I had no clue what was happening and I couldn’t stop thinking that I was dying...I finally fell asleep and went to my doctor the next day I got blood tests and I had low iron not extremely low but enough for me to go on supplements. I told her about my episode and she diagnosed me with anxiety. I do not take any medication as I feel I can naturally get over it but I can’t and to be honest it’s gotten worse. I’m just scared to be on medication because of the side effects that can come with them. My depression tablets made me overdose on them and I just am too anxious to go back onto anything around medication. i hope to hear stories that won’t make me feel alone. I know I’m not I just feel like it sometimes. Thank you for taking the time to read my story I am really excited to hear from yours now. ☺️

Feeling a little down on life, I need some good advice

replies: 3

Hi I'm Otto and I'm just over 14 years old, Recently, I've been feeling very sad and angry. A lot of my friends have abandoned me and I keep having violent outbreaks. My mind is constantly racing all through the night because of how much I'm worrying about everything. My entire brain feels like it's in a state of turmoil, I have nobody to talk to anymore and I hate keeping my emotions bottled up. I don't know where I'm going and what I'm supposed to do. I hate being alone, I'm a really extroverted person but sometimes I just want to sit in the corner of my room and think. I want to be happy, so so so badly but I don't know where to start or how to do it. I've got no motivation, and nothing to look forward too really, I just spend my time listening to music and watching motorbike videos. In short, my life has become really bland and I hate it. Thank you for spending some of your time reading this, I needed to get this out. I know it's poorly written but it's all I can manage for now.

I don’t know how I’m feeling

replies: 2

I’m new to this, life at the moments been difficult. I don’t know how I should feel anymore. I use to be the cheerful girl that always worse a smile on her face, and now I’m the complete opposite. When people ask me “why do you feel this way” my mind comes up blank. I don’t know why I’m feeling the way I am but I just am. I know I probably don’t make sense... it’s been a hard year so far and it’s been a struggle to push through it. I was suppose to go to school today but I couldn’t bare the thought of moving so I messaged my mum saying I felt sick.. I really didn’t but in a way I did... just not the way she thought. I’m only 15, and I know I should be outside having fun or planning to see my friends but to me that is the last thing I want to do. My room is a mess and my minds going crazy, but I don’t want to talk to anyone. Depression runs in the family. My mum has it my brother has it my nan has it and so does my pop but I don’t want to assume anything. Please. I think I’m at a loss..

Alone and lost

replies: 3

I recently told my mum I can’t go to university anymore because I am so unstable right now but she doesn’t understand. She was the one person I thought would and it took me a year to tell her. Since she doesn’t understand, I don’t know where to go from here. I’m 21, I used to be so happy and confident and now I’m in my room all day because I can’t find the energy to go out. I dont see my friends anymore and they all think I don’t want to see them but that’s not it at all. If I told them how I felt they would never understand because I’m so good at hiding it. When I started uni I told myself I would stick to it and make friends but here I am dropping out. I just need people who understand what I’m talking about. Anyone.

Feeling isolated

replies: 1

I don't really know how to talk about this, I'm new to the forum. I moved to Australia to be with my boyfriend, but I feel totally isolated. My family live on the opposite side of the world so even talking to them can be difficult with the time difference but we manage it. It took me a while to get a job as where I'm living is very quiet so there's not much work, even then I only get a few hours in the evening, it sucks because my boyfriend works 9-5 so I'm home alone all day and then I go to work so we hardly get to talk, either that or hes playing games to unwind from work and is so immersed in it he often doesn't hear when I try to make conversation or gives short answers (honestly other than that hes an amazing partner). I'm trying to get to know people at work but our managers don't like us talking so I'm not getting the opportunity to talk to anyone. I've tried making friends with my boyfriends friends but there's only one person that's extended their friendship to me but we also work opposite hours so we don't get to hang out much. I'm still learning to drive and have no neighbours so I'm trapped in the house. Im on a working holiday visa so I can't really study and have no real qualifications. Its winter here and constantly rains so even going for a walk isn't really an option. I'm plagued with nightmares every night, its making me incredibly jumpy and I feel like theres always something lurking in the shadows, I'm very judgmental of myself, can hardly sleep or over sleep and want to cry constantly. I'm used to travelling and making friends and have done it for the past 4 years but this time things just aren't clicking for me. We've signed a year long lease so I cant move and my boyfriend has said if im still unhappy at that point we can move elsewhere. Im just feeling really lonely and the thought of this for a year is daunting

Telling teachers I’m depressed

replies: 3

I’m in high school and have been struggling with depression and anxiety. I got diagnosed a while ago and have been put on medication. I’m not sure if I should tell my teachers, as I’m seriously struggling, because that would mean telling 6 people (seperate teacher for each class) about my issues. I feel like I’ll be viewed as an attention seeker using any excuse to get an extension

Not sure how I'm feeling.

replies: 1

Recently I've really been struggling with just being generally happy. In fact my emotions feel so mixed sometimes I tend to just isolate myself. I'm literally in fear of the words that leave my mouth, like I want to connect and talk with people bit I just don't know what to say anymore/ how to have a conversation. Sometimes when I run into a colleague it's just hi how ya going 'yep good thanks, how about you? Good. That's good' type situation and it's driving me insane. I usually spend most of my lunches alone. It's only really recently starting to really effect me. Like I used to enjoy eating my lunch alone, maybe look at Facebook or watch a video at the same time. But now I think about how alone I am every lunch instead. It's starting to really demotivate me at work too. At home I live with my partner and of course there's good and bad days but I'm just feeling more and more alone and I dunno I'm scared it won't change. I try to engage with my partner a lot, but the last few days and particularly today I just haven't felt like trying and was hoping to receive some comfort from my partner but it was out of reach. I figured they're probably tired too, both of us work full time, so generally were quite tired by the end of the day. Ugh I Feel like ive digressed. A few years ago i got hooked on drugs and to be honest i dont think ive ever been the same since. Im clean now and have been for a while. But i remember there was a time before drugs where i was never so self aware of my own silence that its got to a point where it's started started to eat away at me.

what do you talk about to people when hanging out?

replies: 1

I'm getting to know people from school, but when the opportunity to hang out outside of school arises I feel anxious because I am not sure what we would talk about and if it would be awkward when we run out of stuff to talk about. How can I overcome ... View more

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

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

What should I do replies: 2

I dont know whay to do uni student replies: 3

Anxiety and depression / what’s everyone’s story?! replies: 3

Feeling a little down on life, I need some good advice replies: 3

I don’t know how I’m feeling replies: 2

Alone and lost replies: 3

Feeling isolated replies: 1

Telling teachers I’m depressed replies: 3

Not sure how I'm feeling. replies: 1

what do you talk about to people when hanging out? replies: 1