College has been very fantastic for the most part. I love my classes, the friends I made along the way, and how I have been letting myself get into clubs because I never got to experience these things when I was in high school. Now for the reason for stress: although I love college, I stated that stress is all with the exams and projects! These exams are not hitting the expectations that I want for myself. I know I can do much better, but I can’t balance my workload in all these other classes. The same goes for my projects at the semester’s end. The end of the semester is already coming up, and I don’t know how to start some of the projects, let alone begin it. The stress has made me so restless that sometimes I would fall asleep and wake up when something is due because of how stressed I am becoming.
Also, one more thing: my family’s expectation to get good grades and graduate on time is making me so stressed because my parents never went to college. I am a first-generation college student, so they want me to get a good education. They want me to do good for myself. On the other hand, I am scared that the classes that I am taking are not leading me to where my major lies. I won’t post as much as I can say!
I’m sorry you’re so stressed. I sounds like you are pretty overwhelmed with school and your families expectations. I can see why you don’t know where to start with your projects. Having your family’s pressures to do well is probably really hard to deal with as well and just adds to all the stress. It’s no wonder this is effecting you negatively.
Have you tried contacting Campus Services? They can probably help you with school stuff and make it a little more manageable for you. They also have mental health services to help you learn some coping skills so you can manage the stress better.
Hey Anne, I am so sorry you are getting so stressed out right now.
It sounds like everything is getting on top of you and when that happens it feels like you can’t breathe and then you start to panic. So firstly lets look at how you can try to control when stress starts to rise. How to Take Care of Yourself When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed - Mental Health First Aid.
If you can get ontop of your stress levels before they get too high you shouldnt find you get so exhausted by it.
I understand that your family want the very best for you, who doesnt? but If they knew it was having a negative affect I am sure they would not push so hard. Here is a site about Pressure to succeed.
I hope some of this is helpful to you Anne, you are very special to us here at SWAT 2 and we are all here for you. Thank you for reaching out. YOU are loved. xxx
College life can definitely be rough and stressful as I can relate even as I’m just completing my masters degree here in about a month. Exams and projects are really stressful especially with trying to figure out what content to study and what may be the most relevant material on top of trying to getting yourself kickstarted on projects. I would recommend taking it one step at a time and doing it in manageable chunks if you can. Putting things off only ratcheted up the stress for me (not saying you are putting things off though). An additional resource you could use is campus health services. Any college nowadays should offer some type of mental health assistance.
Also, being first-generation college student is definitely a large responsibility to shoulder and I understand your parents have expectations for you. But you are doing this for yourself and graduating on time should not define your college experience. It took me 5.5 years to graduate due to my own issues that I dealt including what direction I was going with as my major and finding the motivation to finally get my work done versus partying.
If you do not feel satisfied with the major you are currently in there is no harm in seeing what other majors are out there and what may spark your interest or you may be passionate about. I started as biology major myself, but ended up making it my minor and graduating as business management major. Professionally, however, it has been my work experiences and journey that have driven my career more than my undergraduate major.
Bottomline: take care of yourself my friend and do be afraid to take a hard look at what major you are in if necessary as it does define who you are. And remember you are also doing this for yourself, not to just meet familial expectations. Also we are always here in your SWAT 2 family if you need anything!