Published on 12, July, 2020
Just curious about people who slipped through the net, so to speak. How did you cope with school? I developed quite good ways of hiding how much i struggled. It helped that i was in most of the bottom sets, as no one really cared back then. I was in the top set for biology, i excelled in that area. Nothing else part from sport. I hated going in every day, i was like a zombie....i literally cant remember my last year in school. Ive blanked it out completely.
My experience was rather different to some of the other comments. Academically, I did very well except at PE and practical things like design. Socially, I did very badly, making few friends and being bullied quite a bit. I think I used to feel anxious a lot about school without being aware of what I was feeling. I mean I had butterflies in the stomach most days on the journey in, but never really questioned it. Then when I was sixteen, I had what was probably burnout, but it wasn't really recognised.University was different, though. I could not cope with making friends, I overworked (probably to have an excuse to avoid socialising), I was desperately lonely and by my third year had ground to a complete halt with burnout and depression, which would haunt me for years to come (including through a postgraduate degree). The workplace has been closer to university than work, sadly, and I feel a bit like all my work was for nothing.