How to make it through college?
I have a really short attention span and have a short mental battery. I also can’t process a lot of information at once. Most of the other students I know can work on the same project for eight hours straight without getting up once. They get so much more done than I do. They’re able to do things like skip meals and pull all nighters and still be OK.
Meanwhile I need frequent breaks. My brain is like an old iPhone that needs frequent charging otherwise it dies in a couple of hours. I often work until I can’t think anymore and for me I reach my limit after about 3 hours. After that I can only renew my focus by having a snack, doing something physical (usually taking a walk), or doing something relaxing where I don’t need to think much like listening to music. If I keep going at this rate, I’m never going to graduate.
I can’t get away with the kind of stuff the other students do. If I get less than 4 hours of sleep or don’t eat my brain does not work period. So many people call me lazy because of it but it’s not really a choice. I’ve actually tried to pull all nighters like the others and end up passing out at some point no matter what I do.
I also have low blood sugar. Instead of 1-3 big meals I need to tiny meals about every three hours to keep my blood sugar stable. Otherwise I get the shakes, brain fog, or really irritable.
As for my issues, focusing, I have tried to just push through and it doesn’t work. Once my energy has run out, I make a lot more mistakes. I misread instructions and write things down wrong. It gets harder for me to pay attention and retain information. It’s not even that I’m bored. It’s just that I don’t have any energy left. sometimes I’m able to push through if it’s not something that requires close attention to detail, but if it’s something like mathematic, I’m bound to make a lot of errors and have trouble understanding things after that point.
Dropping out isn’t an option for me, even though it’s probably what I should do given I’m not very smart. I’m not trying to be self depreciating when I say that. I am just being bluntly honest with myself.
I need a degree because working retail isn’t going to pay enough for me to live on my own. I do not want to go back to living with my parents - they treat me like I’m 2. Also most jobs that don’t require a degree have a lot of physical labor involved and as someone with a physical disability I’d like to avoid that. Also, if I drop out, or if I make anything less than a B+, they’re never going to let me do anything again. Failure is not an option, so is there anyway I can work around this?
Posted Sep 5, 2024, 5:22 AM UTC