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My attendance is really quite low, and I skipped all of my classes today too. Some of my classes I haven;t attended since January; some, before that . At the moment, my motivation is really in the pits.
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Something I picked up from David Burn's book "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy." Motivation often FOLLOWS action. If you can convince yourself to get up and start the activity that you are not motivated to do, you'll often find that you get motivated WHILE you are doing it. Little successes build on each other. Take baby steps and don't apologize for them. Try shutting off your computer, brushing your teeth, and going to sit through ONE class. Don't force yourself to take notes, or get there on time, or listen closely. Just make it your goal to attend one class.
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I'll look out for that book. Thanks. That's a good idea. Some classes I can go to and do nothing, but others I have to contribute to, especially in my German oral class
. That's one of the classes I haven't been to since January because I have hated having to speak in German and have the rest of the class listen to me.
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I'm so far behind in my work it's unbelievable (uncompleted coursework since November) but what's worse, I don't have the motivation to even pick up my pen to do the easy work , never mind write 2000-word essays.
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That giant pile of work would be scary to someone who wasn't depressed, of course it's discouraging to you. You CAN'T catch up on all of it today. Pick some small tasks that you know you can finish in an hour [or a half hour] and do those. This is very possible and will probable make you feel a lot better.Don't worry about the giant pile so much. The worse that can happen is that it can all go away.
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The thing is that there *aren't* that many things that can only be done in an hour or so. I suppose breaking down the task in hand though would help to solve that problem a little.
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I've told my personal tutor ( a kind of teacher we have who we go to about problems with work) about my depression, since he also handled the paperwork when I withdrew last year, but I'm reluctant to tell him the full extent of how I'm doing, and besides, I haven't seen him since before Christmas. talking to people in authority like him scares me... so I don't.
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It sounds like he helped you then, he will probably be helpful now even though you haven't seen him since last year. He probably has seen many students with problems like yours and might have some helpful suggestions.
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Yes, very probably. It's just I don't want to tell him how badly I'm doing at all this because if I do, maybe he'll think that this is happening purely out of laziness on my part. And also, there's going to be a limit on just how much help and advice he can give.
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If I could, I would withdraw from university again and take a year out somewhere, somewhere relaxing - maybe New Zealand, lol. But of course I can't afford it and I would never be allowed to do it. So all I am left with are fantasies and piles of work...
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....or you could cut back on your course load for a year until you catch up, then resume full-time classes
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That's not possible in the way the classes are organised. I have to take all of them, and do the same next year too, and in further years.
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...or you can work something out with your professors to make up the unfinished work over the summer
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Yes, I've thought of that and that's what my counsellor suggested too. I'm not sure just how possible it is, but it's something to look into.
Thanks for all the suggestions, Feynman. Sorry it took so long for me to write back.