saeriyas
Member
I like what you've written here, Klytus. I think you're right.
But I feel lost and confused as to what it is that I really like, that could become a career or could be learnt about in school.
What is Your Major? Is it proving therapeutic for your anxiety, and if so, how?
- Thread starter Blue Teardrops
- Start date
I like what you've written here, Klytus. I think you're right.
But I feel lost and confused as to what it is that I really like, that could become a career or could be learnt about in school.
Blue Teardrops
Banned
Thanks! Though I'm not sure I could manage to put a complicated sentence like that together yet. I'm still learning numbers =P
Avery
Well-known member
After this semester I'll have my Associate of Arts degree -- generally worthless in and of itself, but a stepping stone nonetheless.
I've stressed myself out for months now deciding what to do after that. I'm debating between simply earning a bachelor's in one liberal arts field or another, or pursuing a degree in computer information systems (computer science lite, basically: not as lucrative or high-minded as raw CS, but I'm not confident of my ability to pass class after goddamn class of calculus and such). I'm hoping CIS will set me up for those stable jobs I know I can withstand (librarian, IT, maybe even a teacher/professor) while at the same time giving me a chance (however small) of making a living at game development, hopefully through independent means.
My interests and abilities actually lie more in the liberal arts (English/psychology/sociology/history/philosophy) sphere, but given the lackadaisical (and oftentimes biased) nature of the modern university, those subjects are just as well studied in private. That's what I hope to do; I think I'll use college as the simple vocational training ground that it seeks more and more to be.
I've stressed myself out for months now deciding what to do after that. I'm debating between simply earning a bachelor's in one liberal arts field or another, or pursuing a degree in computer information systems (computer science lite, basically: not as lucrative or high-minded as raw CS, but I'm not confident of my ability to pass class after goddamn class of calculus and such). I'm hoping CIS will set me up for those stable jobs I know I can withstand (librarian, IT, maybe even a teacher/professor) while at the same time giving me a chance (however small) of making a living at game development, hopefully through independent means.
My interests and abilities actually lie more in the liberal arts (English/psychology/sociology/history/philosophy) sphere, but given the lackadaisical (and oftentimes biased) nature of the modern university, those subjects are just as well studied in private. That's what I hope to do; I think I'll use college as the simple vocational training ground that it seeks more and more to be.
Scrabbl
1
sick!
math and chem eng are also cool =)
I'm a proud ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING student
I suppose it's not very good for SA because it's easy to avoid all social interaction and still do okay -- like I did in my first year. but next term I'm gonna try to talk to my classmates a lot more: ask for help, offer to help, socialize etc..
NormanBates
Well-known member
Maybe our universities need to all become montessori schools where they allow us all our freedom of space ? If it's therapeutic on elementary kids, why shouldn't it work on adults too?
Anyway, I'm a math major at the moment. It looks like I'll be taking my time with this.
Anyway, I'm a math major at the moment. It looks like I'll be taking my time with this.
Blue Teardrops
Banned
sick!
math and chem eng are also cool =)
I'm a proud ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING student
I suppose it's not very good for SA because it's easy to avoid all social interaction and still do okay -- like I did in my first year. but next term I'm gonna try to talk to my classmates a lot more: ask for help, offer to help, socialize etc..
This is what has caused a lot of my downfall in my overall performance. I'm too shy to ask for help or study in study groups. I hope I can overcome this handicap.
Anomaly
Well-known member
Grades are a good motivator for me to go outside of my comfort zone.
aboobooboobooo
Well-known member
Criminal Justice, I'm hoping to become a cop. Hopefully SA won't get in the way
Blue Teardrops
Banned
aboobooboobooo, you have the coolest name, hehe
Scrabbl
1
Yeahh... I zone out a lot in lectures, not necessarily due to anxiety... so I'm always afraid that if I raise my hand and ask the prof something, I'll be saying something retarded or something that's just been answered a minute ago..
Don't know if you have the same problem.. But I think it's perfectly okay to ask your peers. Most of the time, if they're not busy, they would feel flattered if you asked them to explain something, and would be very happy to do so.
I'm actually planning to join a tutoring group next term. It's a volunteer position where I get to tutor high school or international students.. If your uni has this kind of thing definitely go check it out because I think it's a great opportunity for getting mild exposure and meeting new people
RedRibbons
Well-known member
My major... Is awesome..
Major Awesome.. I'm learning about how to be awesome. I have like 5 classes a day.. My "Being tubular" class has the most homework.
Major Awesome.. I'm learning about how to be awesome. I have like 5 classes a day.. My "Being tubular" class has the most homework.
I majored in archaeology and theology in my undergraduate degree. Now I'm doing a Masters in social work. This is forcing me out of my comfort zone constantly and I'm finally at a place where I can take that and use it constructively instead of running away.
It's also therapeutic for me in that it helps me get my mind off myself and see all the people out there struggling with problems worse than mine. Plus it gives me a sense of purpose and self-worth.
I have to say though that all the group discussions and endless classes devoted to learning how to do one-on-one counselling have been absolutely torturous.
It's also therapeutic for me in that it helps me get my mind off myself and see all the people out there struggling with problems worse than mine. Plus it gives me a sense of purpose and self-worth.
I have to say though that all the group discussions and endless classes devoted to learning how to do one-on-one counselling have been absolutely torturous.
There are plenty of people online, in various subject-related communities and chat-rooms, who have the required understanding to help you. Like, IRC, with the FreeNode network. There are channels for all major scientific fields. Someone will certainly be able to explain to you something you don't understand.
I think it's wrong to seek for help if you don't understand something - unless there is no other way. It interrupts the learning process, because the lack of understanding of the current material is certainly due to an insufficient understanding of prior material. And in the future, you won't have anyone to ask for help, since you will be working on a research project no one has ever done before. The ability to solve problems or fill in missing knowledge is paramount. I suggest you self-teach what you can't get immediately by consulting other text-books and online sources. -- This is why I find group work silly, too. The only positive aspect of group assignments is the teaming ability which may be learned there. I am not sure, though, if it's worth the drop in epistemic self-reliance.
German is basically my native language. So, it wasn't a particularly impressive feat.Blue Teardrops said:
I suppose you have a textbook from which you learn the language. If not, get one. And then skip a couple of chapters and try to understand what's taught there. This will calibrate your view of the field, the chapters ahead of where you stopped and you will be able to put the new pieces of grammar into their intended context much better than you could have, had you followed the book's flow linearly. And put a special emphasis on vocabulary. There is no way to build a (stable) house by just using mortar - without bricks, that is. (The grammar of certain natural languages is sufficiently fascinating to be studied in isolation, though.)This is usually the case when a person hasn't seen enough. Without knowledge of what there is out there, there is no way to choose reasonably the path to walk.
Well, I am not sure if 'being into' something is enough. The point is that the subject's names are misleading. Computer Science isn't really about computers. CG isn't just about digital drawing or painting. Veterinary medicine isn't at all about (curing) animals - just like 'Math isn't about numbers', and Electrical Engineering isn't about printed circuit boards. Those things are all just tangible manifestations of the underlying abstract concepts.
Last edited:
Hey man was checking out the Cult of Random website and dig it. All hail the un-religion.
worrywort
Well-known member
my major was media production with animation
i think the whole uni experience in general helped my anxiety in a few ways. Firstly it just opened my mind and taught me to think for myself, which has helped a lot. Learning to survive on my own for 3 years helped a lot too. And then all the artistic/creative parts of my course helped in a therapeutic way, and still helps today.
i think the whole uni experience in general helped my anxiety in a few ways. Firstly it just opened my mind and taught me to think for myself, which has helped a lot. Learning to survive on my own for 3 years helped a lot too. And then all the artistic/creative parts of my course helped in a therapeutic way, and still helps today.
Nicholas
Well-known member
Ah, nice to see that some of your guys have had the same problems as me.
I am basically dropping out because I didn't manage to concentrate anymore with all of these problems. When you have hyperhidrosis and have to avoid all hot places, anxiety that makes you feel tired all the time for doing nothing, etc, it's not easy. It's impossible.
But I have realized that... I loved what I was studying, but I love a lot of other things too. And what I was studying would cause me to work on my own, not meet enough people, etc. Fine, it's good for SA, but the truth is that I have realized I NEED people, and I would love to meet a lot friends, talk with a lot of interesting people, travel, be social. That's the truth. If I ignore all this, I won't solve my problems and will always be sad. I don't want to. So now I'm changing everything... I'll try to find out what I REALLY want, even if I'm afraid of it... I'll fight my fears, but I want to do what I feel is right, not what is easiest, not what my fears wants me to do.
I have always studied pretty technical stuff (engineering) but now it's very clear I have always been attracted by art, music, people, the world, but my phobias have been ruling my life and didn't let me choose freely... even though I was convinced I was free. I was not.
I seem to notice that the "successful" ones have been doing stuff that has to do with art, music, being creative, while the ones who have been less satisfied or failed have been studying technical subjects, like engineering, math, etc. I am one of the "unsatisfied" people. It's not that I didn't like what I was studying, I love it, but... It's definitely not the "best" thing I could do, I believe. It seems it's not exactly what would be more likely to make me the most happy in the future
I am basically dropping out because I didn't manage to concentrate anymore with all of these problems. When you have hyperhidrosis and have to avoid all hot places, anxiety that makes you feel tired all the time for doing nothing, etc, it's not easy. It's impossible.
But I have realized that... I loved what I was studying, but I love a lot of other things too. And what I was studying would cause me to work on my own, not meet enough people, etc. Fine, it's good for SA, but the truth is that I have realized I NEED people, and I would love to meet a lot friends, talk with a lot of interesting people, travel, be social. That's the truth. If I ignore all this, I won't solve my problems and will always be sad. I don't want to. So now I'm changing everything... I'll try to find out what I REALLY want, even if I'm afraid of it... I'll fight my fears, but I want to do what I feel is right, not what is easiest, not what my fears wants me to do.
I have always studied pretty technical stuff (engineering) but now it's very clear I have always been attracted by art, music, people, the world, but my phobias have been ruling my life and didn't let me choose freely... even though I was convinced I was free. I was not.
I seem to notice that the "successful" ones have been doing stuff that has to do with art, music, being creative, while the ones who have been less satisfied or failed have been studying technical subjects, like engineering, math, etc. I am one of the "unsatisfied" people. It's not that I didn't like what I was studying, I love it, but... It's definitely not the "best" thing I could do, I believe. It seems it's not exactly what would be more likely to make me the most happy in the future
Last edited:
Might be true for you, but I am very happy with my scientific subject. Just like most others with a technical subject who have responded to this thread.
The reason why there may be -some- people in technical fields who are not satisfied with it, is that most people appear to begin their studies with insufficient knowledge about the field they choose. Many of them simply aren't aware of the complexity they will have to deal with. And those people usually drop out relatively fast.
Nicholas
Well-known member
That's not really my case. I made the best decision I could made at that time, but at that time I didn't know all the things I know now: I didn't know about anxiety, I didn't think I was different from the others, I didn't have too much SA, I had never experienced depression. I have a weird personality, half way between the artist personality, the idealist personality, and the scientist/researcher personality. That's why it's a problem for me to understand what I really want to do. I'll be talking with some kind of psychologist soon though, I hope.
But you seem to be very different: I just checked what you scored on my test about HSPs, and you scored less than four!!! You are definitely not an HSP.