Advice?

Hi all, I'd just like to point out that this is my first time posting here and chances are it's gonna be pretty long, rambly, and generally all over the place so bare with me ;P

I just turned 18 a couple weeks ago and am in my second year of 6th form. Last year I was studying art, psychology and textiles. I was very unhappy last year (and still am) and become stressed incredibly easily. Last year I had a lot of issues with my art teacher which made things worse, and since then I have lost all interest in art, despite it being something I've loved for as long as I can remember. It also took up a lot of my time last year and affected my other studies. I generally did very well in psychology last year during lessons but completely flunked the exam and am retaking it this year and right now things are looking to go the same way (I'm doing well in lessons but I don't handle exams well).
At the start of this year I was retaking psychology, continuing textiles and I picked up sociology and media studies. I was becoming very stressed and unhappy very quickly due to the workload, lack of motivation as well as issues at home which I'd rather not discuss. Around the same time my granddad who I was very close to passed away very suddenly, which made everything much worse and I ended up missing more school, which led to me dropping media studies.
Things aren't a lot better right now. I have no motivation for any of my subjects and still feel very stressed and unhappy, and don't know what to do next. My coursework for textiles has been to make a dress which I ended up very behind in for various reasons, and I hate the result anyway, and it just feels like a waste of time and money. Psychology is going okay seeing as I know must of the stuff from last year and my teacher is very nice, but I feel like I'm barely learning anything from sociology.

I don't really know what to do, I really don't want to carry on at 6th form but I have no idea what I would do instead or in the future, as anything I think I would want to pursue just seems too impossible, and makes me feel even worse (for those wondering I've considered psychology, but seeing how school has gone I don't think I would be able to handle university. I wouldn't mind working with animals either, but don't really know how I would pursue that. I also love music, but this seems like the most impossible idea, even though I think it is the one I would want to pursue the most. I don't play any instruments, but I want to start taking singing and guitar lessons, and eventually other instruments too, but money is an issue so I can't afford any of that right now).

If anyone has any suggestions or wants to share a similar experience, I'd love to hear it. It's got to the point where I just don't want to do anything, and rarely feel very happy. It's starting to affect my attendance again too, as more and more often I just feel to exhausted and overwhelmed to go into school, and know that even if I did go in chances are I'd end up going to see the counsellor or talking to my tutor and missing the lessons anyway.

I don't really know what happened, up until year 10 I was doing very well in school, and even though I didn't particularly enjoy school I definitely didn't hate it like I do now. I think around about year 11 was when I started becoming much unhappier, but still managed to somehow do well that year, but since then it feels like everything has just gone downhill.

But like I said any advice is welcome so post away

One of my grandparents got terminally ill when i was the same age as you and some days i really didnt want to go into sixth form but i still did as i found it made me feel better to be around people rather than be at home. There were many times i considered quiting sixth form but in the end I finished with BEE and managed to get into uni through clearing.
I would say your health and happiness is the most important thing so dont force yourself to go into school if its making you feel worse but if you can find a way to pass any of your subjects then do that. Maybe look into learning how to play the guitar by watching youtube videos

Thanks for the reply
I get where you're coming from with the being around people rather than being at home but that's kinda a problem as well. I've know some of the people at school for quite a long time but feel like a bit of an outcast since our interests changed as we got older (especially this girl who I was best friends with for as long as I can remember until about year 8 when we sort of drifted apart), and my best friend now is at college so I don't get to see her as often. I'm also very shy and find it hard to talk to new people so for a while I've stayed with the group I've always been with but I often feel like I don't fit in and that they don't really care if I'm there or not.
My mum suffers from depression so she's very supportive in that if I'd rather stay home she'd let me because she just wants me to feel better, but that makes it harder sometimes because it makes it easier to stay home and miss school (if that made much sense).

I'll definitely look into other ways of learning the guitar too like YouTube and I've been looking into apprenticeships instead of 6th form but I'm not really sure what to look for. Like I said I do enjoy psychology but as far as I know there are no apprenticeships so I would have to stay on at sixth form to do that and then go to uni. I'm also interested in animals and costume making (which if I did I'd like to do with hair and makeup) and have looked into apprenticeships in those but can't find anything that would lead to something I'd like to do.

I feel like I haven't made much sense in this reply but oh well

Made perfect sense to me have you spoken to the group of people you do hang out with, you say you feel they don't care but you could be completely wrong. It's good you ve got a supportive mum, maybe you could try a compromise and set yourself a goal as to how much you ll attend school. I think to into psychology you would need a degree but there might apprenticeships in more creative things.

Setting goals for my attendance makes sense, I might talk to my tutor again when I see her this week (I didn't go in today either but I will tomorrow).
With the people I hang out with it's a bit of a weird situation. I know it's partly my fault for sticking around even though I don't feel like we enjoy each other's company very much but I feel like if I left I would just be completely alone.
I don't really feel like I could talk to them about it either just because of the way they are. I know they're not horrible people but there have been times when I've clearly needed some support and they've just ignored that, even though there was no way they couldn't have been aware.
There is another girl in the group who I've known for a while but only recently started talking to a bit more and she said she feels a bit outcast by them too sometimes, and she's the only one that actually seems to listen when I talk and make an effort to talk to me, so I think I might talk to her about it. Another thing is that even if I did stay with them, they're all in their last year of sixth form, whereas I'll have another year if I stay because I changed my subjects, and like I said I'm not very good at talking to new people

I'll keep looking into apprenticeships and other stuff but I'm not really sure who to ask for advice about it. My head of sixth form tends to be quite harsh and negative even though she means well, and I feel like talking to her about it would just make me feel worse and that I'm just being stupid about the whole thing

Are there any teachers who you feel you could talk to instead of your head of sixth form?

I'm not sure. I get along quite well with my textiles teacher but I don't really know if she's the right person to talk to, + she tends to be quite busy and it can be hard to catch her to talk to sometimes. Other than her I'm not really sure, especially since I feel like my other teacher's don't know me as well since they haven't been teaching me as long (+ my textiles teacher is also my tutor and is aware of bits and pieces of what's been going).

I've also considered instead of doing an apprenticeship or something just changing to college since some people seem to think that a change in environment and new people would be good for me (my sixth form is the same school I've been in since year 7), but I don't know if I agree, + since I've already kinda started again once by changing my subjects I don't really feel up for doing it again, especially since I won't know anyone there and I don't wanna move there and then feel like it was for nothing if I end up in the same situation

If shes your tutor thats what shes there for so speak to her you could always look into whats on offer at a local college you dont have to apply there.