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Life as a year 13 student…

bsg2088

I’m absolutely tired and crying internally. It’s not the fact I am unmotivated to revise it’s the wait going into these exams where I am continuously recapping and learning preparing doing everything I can, I know motivation is not needed in year 13 it’s all about discipline but sometimes I forget why I need to be disciplined or work hard at all. What should I do? I have been revising a lot over the winter holidays and still am currently. Give me a shout

Reply 1

tiredgiraff

Hey, I’m sorry you’re having such a tough time. Sixth form can be really hard and really pressurising. These are some thoughts about what to do but the main thing is to remember that you and your health (mental and physical) are way, way more important than work and results. And I say this as a current uni student who also struggles to put this into practice sometimes.

Are you burnt out? Burnout happens when we work hard and/or stress hard over a period of time, and our overall energy just crashes. If this is the case you should have some time off. It’s not lazy to rest and to take care of yourself, and you’ll be able to learn and focus better if you’re rested, I was really burnt out towards mid December and took more than a week off and I feel a lot better now and can work a lot better too. I hope some rest might help you too.

Talk to someone. Your school might have a nurse or counsellor, but if not see if a teacher you trust, a parent or older sibling who can listen a bit. If you can afford it there are ofc online and in person therapists around. There’s no shame in it and more people than you realise go to see therapists fairly often.

Try working out your feelings a bit on your own. What triggers negative feelings? What is it that makes you cry? Is it work? Pressure? An external situation? When you’ve identified these things you can work out what you need (rest, less pressure from others or from yourself, distance from a particular person etc).

It’s cliché and easier said than done, but do your best to get 8 hours of sleep and to exercise (whether that’s walking, yoga, or something more intense) if you can. This shouldn’t be something you hate doing so please don’t put pressure on yourself to add these into your schedule. Rather, repeat to yourself that you are allowed to use time to look after yourself, that you’re allowed rest and deserve to spend time doing activities you like as well as revision. Find a physical activity you actively enjoy if you can, whatever that is, and take the time to move away from brain activities and just live in your body for a while. There are some really great yoga teachers in YouTube who also cater to all body types and alL livjng spaces, so it’s definitely worth a look if you think that would be worth a try

Have a cut off time each evening for work. When I did a levels I didn’t work after 9.30. As a student my cut off is now 11, but I also get up later than I did. All the time after the cut off is yours to do whatever you like witb, and that can include socialising, TikTok, exercise, sleep, and whatever else you enjoy.

I really hope things get better and feel free to dm me if you’d like to talk about it a little. I really get it and it feels awful when you get stuck in these emotional cycles. Look after yourself and even when it’s hard, keep telling yourself that work matters but you matter more.