Tough time this semester please help

Student Lounge College Life
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Hey everyone

So this is my second semester of college and everything was going good for a while until recently I’m afraid of writing this because some people may say that Im overreacting or Im acting like a child since I’m in college and I should act like an adult now which I agree 100% but please hear me out

In one of my courses its a lab and this lab is called welding. For those who don’t know I basically have to make metal join together with sparks and some metal rod. The thing is I have never done this before and I was extremley scared to even touch the equipment since I thought it was going to kill me. As I was trying to preform the task I kept having many difficulties with it and I eventually got extremley frustrated that I just dropped everything on the floor and went to go sit down. I just couldn’t understand how everyone else was doing this so easily meanwhile I’m here looking stupid not knowing what I’m doing. I explained this to my professor about me getting frustrtated easily and how I try not to do this anymore since Im in college now but thankfully he was nice enough to understand as well as one of the other students in the class. They eventually convinced me that it was going to take some practice and lots of patience.

This also happened in my other major classes where I couldn’t preform a certain task and I ended up getting frustrated and giving up. I told my professor I just couldn’t preform what he wanted me to do meanwhile everyone else could Im just out here looking like an idiot. He told me the same thing which was practice. Apparently practice is what I need in everything.

Today was the worst. In one of my lab courses I didn’t quite finish a task on time that the professor wanted me to so he offered me an extra hour to work on it so I happily agreed and there were still some areas that were missing so I decided to come later today to finish it up since he said that another instructor is teaching the same course so Ill have time to make it up so I did and ended up finally finishing it. When I got done with it I was just sooo tired my legs are killing me and my eyes just turned red. Also as soon as I got back to my dorm I went to go pull out one of my binders that had all my notes so I can review them because I have a quiz tommorow but I wasn’t able to find the binder then it hit me that I left in one of the classrooms. I cussed at myself and had a very bad rage going on inside my head.

Now I know that some people might say that Im just overreacting or whatever but please understand that its difficult when you or anybody is in this situation especially if you have old bad habits like me and are trying to quit them such as not giving up easily or being forgetful I was always like this and now im trying to stop it Im trying to stay more positive but ocasionally I have a breakdown and just give up. Can anyone please tell me how I can break my old habits or how can I be a better person in terms of not letting myself get frustrated or being forgetful? I know this post is long and I thank anyone for giving their time to read this. If anyone has any advise please share it thanks.

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I forgot to mention when I went to grab the binder the doors were locked so I have no choice but to wait until tommorow

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Deep breath. You are not overreacting. You just have a pile up of frustrating learning situations. And guess what? You aren’t acting like a child, you are trying to solve the problems and it isn’t going smoothly. Welcome to adulthood. Some days or weeks are just plain hard. Problem solving is an ongoing process.

You are struggling with some learning tasks that sound difficult. You are doing the right thing by being honest that it scares you or you aren’t getting it with the professors and asking for help. Rather than compare yourself to others and feel stupid, find someone who is getting it and ask them if they would spend some time with you to show you. If you can take your time without so much in class pressure you might feel more comfortable practicing. You can’t expect to know how to do these very different new things in one or two tries, it will take practice.

As far as preventing forgetting things, having a checklist that you look at every time you make a transition,might help. Staying as organized and keeping routines can help.

Keep trying hard, keep problem solving, you can do this even if it is hard.

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  1. Read whatever material you have been given about the topic
  2. Go to office hours/help sessions and ask about the topic
  3. Go to the tutoring office and get a tutor

General ideas:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1920853-college-is-a-step-up-from-hs-16-tips-on-doing-well-in-college.html

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Life is nothing but a string of obstacles we either go around, go over, go through or retreat from. College is a great transitional time where you (the universal “you” - not singling OP out) don’t have parents around to jump in and fix things - you have to do a lot of this on our own. Every time you overcome something, you will gain a little bit more confidence and belief in yourself that you CAN overcome stuff as it comes your way. We are all human, with strengths and weaknesses. This too will be a distant memory as you move past it.

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It sounds like your teachers and fellow students are stepping up to help you, which is a real blessing, so just take a breath, gather yourself and be ready to accept their assistance when you need it. Recognizing when frustration is rising is not the same thing as dealing with it, but it’s a very important first step and one you seem to have in hand.

There’s no magic to changing habits: it’s a slow soak in repetition, wearing away the old and building up the new. Try to keep your calmer perspective, recognize earlier when your frustration starts to rise, make an effort to slow yourself down sooner or shake it off a bit quicker, basically just try to do a little bit better each time. And be appreciative to those who are helping you. One thing about long journeys like this is how valuable the people around you can be.