University Stress Levels!

[WakkoWannaBe]

I'm going to (try to) be short and sweet! I decided to post this here because it has to do with mental health, though maybe not necessarily depression. Feel free to move to the U of Peenix forums if this is more applicable there!

I've been doing graduate school for a year now. This semester has been VERY difficult and I've gone through a lot of disillusionment. I've been super stressed out since literally day 2 of the semester. I've been in my office every day this semester (weekends included, obvs) working or at least trying to work.

I've gotten to the point where I can't focus on anything anymore (actually, I got to that point about 5 weeks ago). I'm thinking that the stress level has been breaking me down, and I'm kinda surprised that I've made this this far tbh. I think that I need to go talk to a school councilor or something, because this isn't going to get better as the end of the semester approaches (2 weeks left!). I'm taking more classes than recommended, so the stress levels are way up there.

The thing that makes me think that I should see a councilor (read: school therapist) is that last Friday I had the weirdest mood swing in which I was AGGRESSIVELY energetic and positive for like 2 hours. Then I had NO energy (physical/mental/emotional) whatsoever. I walked only a part of the way to my car before I gave up and took a rest somewhere (to be fair the weather was nice). Then the other night (or maybe last night), I'm pretty sure that I blinked and 30 minutes passed. Granted, I was on Facebook but it didn't feel like that typical "oh I lost track of time" thing. It felt like I read a status, blinked, and 30 minutes had gone by when I was on the same page. I've tried googling "time gap" and stuff like that to see if this is a thing, but I get results for totally not related stuff so I think maybe I'm just making up things.

I feel stupid walking into a psych services office on a university campus and saying "hey I'm stressed what can I do?" because there's probably 30 000 other kids who are in the same boat. But it's gotten to the point where I'm no longer confident in my ability to manage it anymore. I feel like I've done everything I can, and that I need to get a professionals opinion on how to increase my ability to focus and reduce my stress levels. There are a few other factors playing around that I won't get into in detail, such as my position as a graduate student, and the new stuff that I've implemented into my routine thanks to a google search for "reduce stress" (read: cardio and bigger breakfast).

My question, really, for y'all is: should I go see someone? I honestly feel like an idiot trying to seek help for an issue that everyone else has. But I'm seriously considering going in tomorrow and the only thing stopping me is this anxiety over whether or not it's dumb.

Thanks for the read. Sorry I haven't posted much in the community lately. Don't worry, though, I still lurk from time to time!

[Diapered Jason]

Should you seek help? Absolutely.

[Bettypooh]

Yes, go see if they can help. They might have ways and methods which can help that you've not been aware of. At worst another perspective can help you know where you're at I have a lot more thoughts on this but you'll be better off talking with someone who as more experience dealing with this than me given that you need results fast. Since the resources are close at hand use them. And good luck!

Bettypooh

[WakkoWannaBe]

I'm glad for some positive replies. I was going to go today, and I even walked by the room, but I chickened out. I think there's just some anxiety involved in going.

Betty you can ramble don't worry xD.

And to reply to Jason, I honestly don't see my advisor that much. I reach out to him about twice a semester to just check up on things and get his approval/thoughts on classes that I'll take in the future. I had a meeting with him last week in which we discusses the MA exit exam (I'm getting a masters in the humanities, that might help contextualize things) and that reduced some long term anxiety because he gave me a few good tips and resources. Otherwise, he doesn't reach out to me to check-in. Which I don't blame him for, honestly, he's a prof, he's busy. But everyone else I talk to about him seems to think that he could do a better job. I don't know. He's pretty good when I reach out to him. So I think he's holding up his end of the deal just fine. I will say that I will hopefully be able to switch advisors, not because I dislike my current one, but because I want to switch to someone who specializes in something that is more attuned to my interests.

And I will DEFINITELY say that I day dream a lot about how I'm going to spend the summer. I've definitely identified a few tricks that I need to get get a (better) hold on. One of those things, as you mentioned, is planning. I'm hoping that I can just survive this semester and then once I get the chance to breath I hope to meticulously plan out my summer (with daily/weekly/monthly goals). I'm doing a lot of things this summer (summer class, studying for MA exit exam, moving, thesis research assuming that I get to write a thesis - something still up in the air), so doing everything will be difficult. But I've asked a few colleagues (advisor included) if my goals are reasonable and I've gotten a solid "yea but you'll be busy." Which I'm okay with (although, I got the same answer from people last semester when I told them I'd be taking 3 classes and teaching 2 sections, and this is where it got me).

Thanks again for the replies. Maybe tomorrow I won't chicken out when I get to the counseling building!

[Dill_Pickle]

Wakko:

Go, get help from your school.

[WakkoWannaBe]

^ Insightful, to be sure. And yea I've gone through some....disillusionment with the department/school here this semester, and I've been keeping a passive tab on jobs that I could apply for (though this is semester 2 of the MA phase). So, yea I'd say that that adds to the anxiety/stress.