Taking a semester off?

My mom is pushing me to take this upcoming semester off from school because mental health wise I'm not doing great and she doesn't want to see me crash and burn. I get where she's coming from, especially looking at how last semester went. However, I really don't want to take the semester off. My school is my home, and my friends there are my family.

I also want to graduate on time which will be impossible if I take the semester off, and I'm also afraid that if I take the semester off I won't go back to school.

I told my mom that I would consider taking the semester off and that I would talk to my therapist to see what she thought...I did, and she agrees with my mom that I should take the semester off. Ugh.

Has anyone else been in a situation like this? How was taking a semester off for you?

Anyone?

I've made a pro/con list, and here's what I've come up with:

PROS (School)

• Be with friends
• Keep momentum for school
• Graduate on time
• Away from home
• Close to pdoc

CONS (School)

• Stress
• Away from home
• Unable to see T

PROS (Home)

• At home
• Parents right there if needed
• Able to see T
• Things to do (work, church stuff etc)

CONS (Home)

• Away from friends
• At home
• Farther from pdoc
• Lose momentum for school
• Won’t graduate on time

The pros outweigh the cons in number, but not necessarily in magnitude...

I can understand your dilemma and the pros and cons list is helpful. I know there is value sometimes in stepping away and "regrouping" or grounding yourself again before getting back into the mix of things to be refreshed to retackle the school environment. School is not going anywhere it will be there. On the other hand, it can be hard to be away but know it is there and you want to get it done but at what cost. The list is very logical. How are you feeling? Do you need/want some time that it might put you in a better position/state when you go back if you took just a semester away or not really feeling it? What are they seeing that you are discounting? I know there are times when others close to me do see/hear things from me that I do not pay attention to myself. I have to really look at this. In the end, I have to go with logic plus my gut. School will be there no matter what you decide; your health is what is most important whether it be to continue, or to take a break and regroup. do whatever you have to to take good care of yourself.

Way back when, when I was in college, I started my last semester of college, my student teaching semester. Things went awry mentally and emotionally and my therapist and pdoc both suggested I take incompletes and go home to recoup for a semester. It actually was harder for my parents to agree to this decision than for me to actually do it. They were worried I wouldn't go back and finish my degree (remember I literally was in my last semester).

But I did end up taking that semester off and it was a wise decision. I went home with express instructions to rest, not watch soap operas, not listen to depressing country music. To literally do nothing until I felt like I was getting my feet back under me again.

My pdoc found me a pdoc near my town and off I went. After a couple of months I was ready to actually do something, so my mom was able to get me a job in her office, nothing too stressful but at least I was getting out of the house now and doing something.

I went back to school the next fall and resumed the classes that I had left. I did my student teaching and graduated, only one semester later than originally planned. In the range of a lifetime, one semester is small change.

It was the right thing to do at the time. I have absolutely NO regrets.

I feel ready to go back. I've felt ready for about 2 weeks. (Before that I was still enjoying vacation, but now I'm over vacation and want to go back).

I've even come up with a schedule that I could do that's fairly low stress...It's 13 credits:

It's 3 classes that I need to take and don't think would be too intense and one class that I just genuinely want to take: American Sign Language (I used to be almost fluent in ASL and it's a beginning class), English (I've always been good at English, and it's with a professor everyone loves), statistics (a class everyone has said is super easy) and ballet (I've been dancing on and off for most of my life, and again, it's an intro class).

My schedule would look like this:

Monday

Stats 12:30-1:20

Tuesday

Ballet 8:30-9:45
Stats lab 3-3:50
English 5:30-6:45

Wednesday

Stats 12:30-1:20
ASL 5:30-8:30

Thursday

Ballet 8:30-9:45am
English 5:30-6:45

Friday

Stats 12:30-1:20

I think that it's completely doable and not over doing it...and actually seems kinda nice.

...I guess I am taking the semester off