things are not working out for me. Going through so much shizzle right now. What should I do?

Question

I am a college freshman male, and I am currently going through a lot of ****. I finished my first semester pretty strong, but this semester I am so struggling. I bombed all of my first exams: organic chemistry, multivariable calculus, and biology. Everything I thought I was pretty good at. I take my poor performance as a wake-up call and am trying to make some changes. I rearranged things in my room, hid everything that seems to distract me, and etc. However, I am so stressed out. I keep telling myself that I will literally kill the next exams, but the school is so full of hard-working ppl that I am sort of going crazy.
There are also other things that bother me greatly. I had a knee injury while doing squats in November, and it is still affecting my mood. And there is a girl of my interest, but things aren't working out the way I want them to be. For example, I was gonna ask her to lunch today, but she was sick and didn't come to class. I have to wait till next monday for counseling.

i need to get the f out of this depressed state. Even though I didn't start this semester strong, I really want to finish strong by accomplishing all of my goals; getting straight A's, winning the girl's heart, and gaining additional 10 pounds of muscle. Please help me out. I need help, but I don't need God's help, for I would like to learn how to solve my problems myself. Thanks for reading this.

Answer 1

Whoa...let's breath for a minute. I noticed that you are in a very vulnerable and stressful state. College is fun, but it's not always one big party, which you've come to understand. It seems that you want to accomplish a lot of different things at once, which isn't an easy task, but its not impossible. My suggestion to you is to start setting smaller, more attainable short-term goals (e.g., getting an A on at least 1 of your midterms/upcoming exams or assignments, meeting the girl you're interested in for a study session or just an improptu ice cream or coffee run, possibly consider seeing a physical therapist for your knee). Continue to set goals like these for the duration of the semester and as you accomplish each one, set a new one that a little more challenging and progressive than the last.

I think setting these goals like these for yourself, will help to settle your anxiety and put things in a perspective that does not put so much pressure on yourself.

Lastly, I must admit, I went to a diffcult school for undergrad and even considered pre-med (for a minute), but that's one heck of a schedule you got there, especially for a freshman. I'm sure those other hard-working ppl that you refer to are not freshmen. So, even if you scrape by this semester with all Bs, I'm sure your transcript will still glow to any Medical/Dental/Pharmacy (or whatever you're thinking about) admissions panels when they review simply because of you undertaking such an ambitious course load in your first year.

Good Luck, I wish you all the best!