Dr. Steff reveals the epidemic of first-week-freak-out:
First-week-freak-out (FWFO) is a condition suffered by many university students on commencement of or return to study of an academic course. [Note, I say academic course with reference to courses requiring text book readings, minimal practical experiences, and large assignments. Students of creative courses, such as the fine arts, are more likely to experience last-week-freak-out, corresponding to their last-minute folio work.] It varies in its degree of severity, from mild daunted sensations to earth-shattering identity crises.
Causes and triggers:
* Reading unit outlines
* Text book readings
* Ambiguous assignment descriptions
* Detailed assignment descriptions
* Word limits
* Assigning tutorial presentation groups
Symptoms:
* Feeling overwhelmed
* Feeling exhausted and/or starving by 10am
* Feelings of confusion regarding assignments
* Depression and/or anxiety
* Feelings of inadequacy
* A tendency to become more emo
* Questioning why you are even in your course
* An inexplicable desire to defer and become a fruit-picker in Queensland
There is hope! What to do:
1. Read your outlines and mark the dates of assignments with the aid of a nerve-friendly substance (eg. chocolate) to cushion the blow.
2. Get organised - develop a triage system to tackle the insurmountable!
3. Remind yourself how glad you are that one day you will have a degree and not be picking fruit in Queensland for a living.
4. Treat yourself right - fix your sleeping schedule, stop eating uni food, exercise if you're able, buy the odd veggiechips.
5. Don't get sucked into the latest time-sucking fad of your uni friendship group - make time for what's really important (it might be the time-sucking fad after all).
6. Find something each day to laugh at.
8. Find a simple way to help someone else, even if it's only holding a door open for someone.
9. Ask yourself: Is this going to matter in ten years? More importantly, is it going to matter in Eternity?
10. Take a deep breath and wait it out until week 2!
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4 comments:
My first week freak out...
* Have to change 50 passwords in one day
* Have to explain how to add a printer 15 times in a day
* Have to explain 5 times a day that when internet AND e-mail AND printing aren't working on a teacher's laptop, it's not 3 different problems, but it's that their wireless dropped out as it's not 'magic'.
haha Stoz you're funny!
My continual freak-out in the library is people who want to send an email when they don't have an email account. They try to type the email address into the internet address bar!
The conversation then goes:
Susan: You need an email address to send an email.
Patron: Why?
Susan: Because you have to send it from somewhere.
Patron: I want to send it from the library. Can't I use the library's email.
Susan: No, you need your own.
Patron: How do I get an email address?
The other day I had a patron who took 2 hours to get an email address and send one email!
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