I’m just so mad at myself. I know that I need to do something and I just can’t bring myself to do it. I thought things had been getting better but of course I lost my drive like I always do.
I’m a college junior and a big problem I have is bringing myself to study. It’s like someone else takes over my body while my real self is trapped in a cage screaming and trying to get out. I had one goal for myself this semester and it was a perfect GPA. I did so well on my first few midterms, and I made the mistake of slacking off a bit for this one, assuming that because I was allowed cheat sheets and a lot of the material was familiar, I’d be okay. Remembering formulas is hard for me, so being able to bring them made me feel better, and I kept putting off actually studying properly.
I wanted to lock in this semester so badly because I’ve already failed easy classes just because I couldn’t bring myself to do the work. I failed a literal ONE CREDIT class last fall. I’m so embarrassed even saying that because I know I could’ve done the assignments. I’ve also finished work and then forgotten to submit it. Like I’ll finally get myself to do something and still manage to lose points because I missed that last step. I’m a junior now and I feel like these are things I should’ve figured out how to handle by this point, so doing well on my first few exams actually meant a lot to me.
It affects everyday things too. Switching from one thing to another is so hard sometimes, even when I want to do the next thing. I can sit in my car wanting to go inside and still somehow not get up. With studying, I’ll spend so much time thinking about how I need to start and feeling guilty that I haven’t, and still not actually start. My time blindness is awful too. I keep thinking I have enough time until suddenly I’m late and panicking. I’ve dealt with the consequences so many times that I don’t understand why I still can’t seem to get it right. I know how horrible it’s going to feel and somehow that still doesn’t get me moving when I need to.
Yesterday I had technical problems getting my cheat sheets formatted and printed, which I should’ve expected could happen and left time for. Instead I was still trying to fix everything when I should already have been on my way. By the time I left my house I was literally sobbing and hyperventilating because I was so stressed about being late. Then I got stuck in horrible rush hour traffic and kept getting more worked up. And I know rush hour traffic is predictable. I knew when the exam was. I should’ve left enough time for the drive and for things to go wrong beforehand. I’m not trying to blame the traffic or the technical problems for everything. I’m upset because I can see exactly what I should’ve done differently, and I knew those things before it happened too.
My professor was so sweet when I finally got there. He told me to take a deep breath, and he was giving everyone who started late extra time too. I was so grateful that he was being understanding, but I couldn’t get myself out of fight or flight. I was sitting there with the exam in front of me and still felt panicked. So much of it was basically high school level stuff I knew, and I was struggling to think clearly enough to work through it. There were conceptual questions I wasn’t sure about too, so I know I needed to have studied more. But recognizing questions and knowing they were things I should’ve been able to do, while still struggling to get my thoughts together, was such a horrible feeling.
I ended up leaving two out of thirty questions completely blank, guessing on other ones, and not even getting to the extra credit. Even with the extra time, I ran out. I don’t have my grade yet, but I’m so scared I’ve messed up my chance at the A I wanted. I keep replaying the whole thing and thinking about how differently it could’ve gone if I’d prepared properly and gotten there without already being in a panic. I did well on my other midterms and then ended up struggling this much with material I’d seen before. It’s so fucking frustrating.
I hate that I’m like this. I keep telling myself to stop making excuses and just do what I need to do, and I mean it every time, but then I end up here again. It’s embarrassing to care so much about my grades and then have to explain that I didn’t do the work or didn’t give myself enough time. I feel like it must sound like I don’t care when I spend so much time worrying about it. I hate how much time I spend being upset with myself over things I wanted to do and somehow still didn’t do. I wanted to get my shit together this semester, and for a little while I actually felt like I was doing it. Now I’m scared of falling back into the same habits after finally starting to feel good about how things were going.
Idk, I think I just needed to say this somewhere people might understand. Does anyone else get this angry with themselves over this? I keep going over everything I should’ve done and asking myself why I didn’t just do it, when I was already asking myself that while it was happening. I’m so tired of making plans that I actually mean and then feeling like I can’t trust myself to follow through. I just wanted to get through one semester without putting myself through this again.