AndyRx7
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2004
- Posts
- 329
- Likes
- 0
Background...
I'm a professional student (law), this is my 7th year of school. I used to be seriously easy-going, never worried about much, was ultra-confident, etc... in short, stress was not an issue, particulary during my undergrad. I had total confidence that I would prevail with stellar results in anything. During grad school, I worked my ass off like never before, did very well, but about halfway through I developed a very bad 'habit' of feeling really bad anxiety to the point where I sometimes could hardly concentrate, was worrying like crazy, and had trouble sleeping at night. This lasted about 2 months. Somehow I worked through this, with the help of my infinitely patient girlfriend, and ended up getting even better grades after that period that I did at first. However, it really scared me, because I had never felt like that before. Subsequently, the feeling went away and I've been feeling good for about a year.
Anyways, fast-forward to now, so far in law school I've been working really hard, and have not been feeling stressed at all, in fact I think less than most of my collegues. Part of that is probably because I live w/ the most wonderful girl in the world, and she basically takes total care of me lol, so I don't have to worry about much. All of a sudden, I got hit with a bunch of added work due to volunteer commitments, at a really bad time (assignments, exams in 2 weeks)... and all of a sudden I'm starting to feel like I did a year and a half ago. Today I worked about 8 hours, took a break for dinner, and when I came back I could hardly concentrate, couldn't read a thing. It's a familiar feeling - sort of like a tightness in my chest, and feeling like I can't relax. I know this is a warning sign, and I dread heading back down the road I was on before.
I know that this is a sign that I need to take a break, spend time w/ my girlfriend, relax, etc... the problem is it's particularly the wrong time of year for that lol. It's totally impossible to have a 'normal' weekend, whatsoever - there's massive piles of work to do. To top it off, I don't get nearly enough sleep, probably about 5-6 hours a night, which is not enough for me.
Has anyone felt like this before? It's like my body just generates anxiety, and although I understand it's not productive, that I should stop worrying, that it won't get me anywhere, and that I'll do better if I relax and just do what I have to do, it's like my concious self can't reassert control. It gets very hard to concentrate on work, I lose my natural curiosity, I lose my critical thinking ability... it's not good.
It leads me to question why I decided to go to school for 10 years, get 4 degrees, just so I can end up working long hours at a job later... as soon as the 'stress hits' it's like I want out - makes me feel like I should run away, forget about all this, and be a ski bum or something (which I've always wanted to do). Particularly, it makes me feel like I've made some kind of mistake, and that if I could do it again I wouldn't go for so much 'on paper' success, but rather just aim to be happy. It makes me feel like I have my priorities mixed up.
Does anyone have any tips? What do you do in these situations?
I'm a professional student (law), this is my 7th year of school. I used to be seriously easy-going, never worried about much, was ultra-confident, etc... in short, stress was not an issue, particulary during my undergrad. I had total confidence that I would prevail with stellar results in anything. During grad school, I worked my ass off like never before, did very well, but about halfway through I developed a very bad 'habit' of feeling really bad anxiety to the point where I sometimes could hardly concentrate, was worrying like crazy, and had trouble sleeping at night. This lasted about 2 months. Somehow I worked through this, with the help of my infinitely patient girlfriend, and ended up getting even better grades after that period that I did at first. However, it really scared me, because I had never felt like that before. Subsequently, the feeling went away and I've been feeling good for about a year.
Anyways, fast-forward to now, so far in law school I've been working really hard, and have not been feeling stressed at all, in fact I think less than most of my collegues. Part of that is probably because I live w/ the most wonderful girl in the world, and she basically takes total care of me lol, so I don't have to worry about much. All of a sudden, I got hit with a bunch of added work due to volunteer commitments, at a really bad time (assignments, exams in 2 weeks)... and all of a sudden I'm starting to feel like I did a year and a half ago. Today I worked about 8 hours, took a break for dinner, and when I came back I could hardly concentrate, couldn't read a thing. It's a familiar feeling - sort of like a tightness in my chest, and feeling like I can't relax. I know this is a warning sign, and I dread heading back down the road I was on before.
I know that this is a sign that I need to take a break, spend time w/ my girlfriend, relax, etc... the problem is it's particularly the wrong time of year for that lol. It's totally impossible to have a 'normal' weekend, whatsoever - there's massive piles of work to do. To top it off, I don't get nearly enough sleep, probably about 5-6 hours a night, which is not enough for me.
Has anyone felt like this before? It's like my body just generates anxiety, and although I understand it's not productive, that I should stop worrying, that it won't get me anywhere, and that I'll do better if I relax and just do what I have to do, it's like my concious self can't reassert control. It gets very hard to concentrate on work, I lose my natural curiosity, I lose my critical thinking ability... it's not good.
It leads me to question why I decided to go to school for 10 years, get 4 degrees, just so I can end up working long hours at a job later... as soon as the 'stress hits' it's like I want out - makes me feel like I should run away, forget about all this, and be a ski bum or something (which I've always wanted to do). Particularly, it makes me feel like I've made some kind of mistake, and that if I could do it again I wouldn't go for so much 'on paper' success, but rather just aim to be happy. It makes me feel like I have my priorities mixed up.
Does anyone have any tips? What do you do in these situations?