[Charlie-Is-Anxious]

Hi guys,

Sorry if this makes no sense I'm currently sobbing because of a Uni assignment. So iv been at uni for about 6 weeks and I'm having my first mental breakdown, I have an assignment due Thursday that I tried to start Monday (couldn't do it earlier because I had 3 assignments & a test last week) but I'm not sure how to do it, so I tried to do it yesterday but the assignment sheet is very vague and I don't know exactly what to do and I have an Anxiety disorder along with OCD symptoms and low self-esteem so I'm really scared of doing anything wrong I need someone to tell me what to do so I know im doing it right. But anyway i tried to do it Monday and I couldn't figure out how to do it and I can't get any help from lecturers till Thursday & thats when its due so I spent hours yesterday sobbing & iv been trying for hours today but I cant do it because I'm scared ill do it wrong so Iv have done nothing and I cant stop crying & im like 80% sure the uni won't give me an extension even though I have a disability access plan because of my mental illness becuase its not an excuse to get an extension apparently & im to ashamed to ask coz I look unorganised and weak. I haven't gotten a grade less than a High Distinction since I started uni so I'm really worried I won't get an HD.

What do I do? I can't stop crying & I kind of want to die.

could you talk to other students about it?

perhaps students who have done the paper/ doing the paper, so you can get some clues on how to do it?

maybe if you can, you can have a brainstorming session with them- and see what they did.

are their people at home you can talk to like family?

good luck

[Skeezyks]

Hello Charlie: I see this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral! I hope you find the time you spend here to be of benefit.

Your dilemma made me think back to my first assignment years ago in grad school. I had basically given up everything & moved halfway across the U.S. to attend. The first assignment I was to be graded on was given out by a teaching assistant who basically gave us no direction at all. And when we received our grades everyone in the class got what amounted to a failing grade on the assignment. I think for most of the class, it probably didn't make that much difference. But I had always struggled in school in general. And so this experience scared me to death! I was sure I was going to flunk out! And, as a result, I spent the rest of my time in grad school studying as if my hair was on fire. I ended up with a 4.0 average. So the moral of this story is... try not to put too much emphasis on what's happening at this early stage of your university experience. Don't allow it to define you. You have a long way to go yet &, I would presume, plenty of time to do well.

There is also one other point I'd like to make with regard to this. Again, when I was in grad school, several of the professors encouraged us not get caught up in trying to graduate with a perfect 4.0 grade average. They pointed out that the pressures in grad school could be intense & that trying to do everything to perfection was simply not worth the stress it could put on a person. Of course, as I described above, I didn't listen. But I should have. I really drove myself crazy trying to make sure everything I did from that point on was perfect.

So my suggestions would be first of all to try, if you can, to relax & not see this one assignment as the "end all" experience of your university career. If you've only been at university for 6 weeks, you have a long way to go yet. Talking to other students, as shattered sanity suggested, is certainly a good idea if you can do that. Other suggestions might be to talk to someone in the office of the head of the department your class is in. It may also be worthwhile to talk with someone in your school's student counseling center if there is such a thing at your university.

And, beyond that, I would say just do what you can with the assignment. At least from my perspective, it's probably more important to turn in something, even if you feel it's not your best work, than it is to turn in nothing. To my mind, at least, I think there is a sense in which the situation, as you describe it, can be viewed as a good learning opportunity for you. As you go through life, you're likely to be confronted with many situations, both in school & beyond, where the appropriate way to proceed is vague & you simply have to "figure it out as you go along"... to "wing it", so to speak. So one way to view this situation is to see it as an opportunity to learn how to handle these kinds of situations.

My best wishes to you...

hey.

how are you doing....

hope you are feeling better