Think I'm going to drop out of college
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: MN
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Originally Posted by freedomfries 
I'm just not in the right place for it right now. I'm only 29 days sober and I recently had a siezure. It's a lot of stress for me right now. I'm going to contact my head of dept and ask if i will be able to return next year to complete my degree.
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,937
I'm a big believer in education, freedomfries, but taking a break is probably a great idea. I was already struggling with my drinking by the time I went to college right out of high school. Basically I drank and partied for two years and only actually completed ten credits! Quitting was the best option at the time as I was spending money and wasting my time. And I did go back later, once my life was under control. Get sober and get healthy! A degree won't do any good if you die trying to get it.
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Join Date: May 2019
Location: UK
Posts: 3,944
Can I suggest you give it a day or two to think it through?
My only concern is what you’ll do with your time if you pull out of college for this year? If you have nothing planned, this is a very bad idea indeed. How does the saying go about the devil and idle hands? That’s no more true right now when I see guys with crates of beer to drown their lockdown sorrows.
Only pull out for this year if you have a plan, some sort of project or target to work on. It seems the best thing is to stick with college. If you’re thinking of getting a job for now, think about what’s going on. I’m in college right now, sort of, doing teacher training. It’s as stressful as anything I’ve done before - including an engineering degree - but in the current climate, it’s the best place to be.
Good luck either way, but don’t plan yourself into a bad situation.
My only concern is what you’ll do with your time if you pull out of college for this year? If you have nothing planned, this is a very bad idea indeed. How does the saying go about the devil and idle hands? That’s no more true right now when I see guys with crates of beer to drown their lockdown sorrows.
Only pull out for this year if you have a plan, some sort of project or target to work on. It seems the best thing is to stick with college. If you’re thinking of getting a job for now, think about what’s going on. I’m in college right now, sort of, doing teacher training. It’s as stressful as anything I’ve done before - including an engineering degree - but in the current climate, it’s the best place to be.
Good luck either way, but don’t plan yourself into a bad situation.
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Join Date: Jan 2020
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Originally Posted by Hodd
Can I suggest you give it a day or two to think it through?
My only concern is what you’ll do with your time if you pull out of college for this year? If you have nothing planned, this is a very bad idea indeed. How does the saying go about the devil and idle hands? That’s no more true right now when I see guys with crates of beer to drown their lockdown sorrows.
Only pull out for this year if you have a plan, some sort of project or target to work on. It seems the best thing is to stick with college. If you’re thinking of getting a job for now, think about what’s going on. I’m in college right now, sort of, doing teacher training. It’s as stressful as anything I’ve done before - including an engineering degree - but in the current climate, it’s the best place to be.
Good luck either way, but don’t plan yourself into a bad situation.
My only concern is what you’ll do with your time if you pull out of college for this year? If you have nothing planned, this is a very bad idea indeed. How does the saying go about the devil and idle hands? That’s no more true right now when I see guys with crates of beer to drown their lockdown sorrows.
Only pull out for this year if you have a plan, some sort of project or target to work on. It seems the best thing is to stick with college. If you’re thinking of getting a job for now, think about what’s going on. I’m in college right now, sort of, doing teacher training. It’s as stressful as anything I’ve done before - including an engineering degree - but in the current climate, it’s the best place to be.
Good luck either way, but don’t plan yourself into a bad situation.
My main plan is to avoid the psych ward again. And it seems stress landed me in here this time since I wasn't drinking or using.
I'm going to prepare for my return to college. Plan a final year project. Revise the first, second and third year material I drank through the first time round. Put myself in a position where college won't be a source of stress to land myself in the psych ward.
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Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 103
I think it is a good idea to put school on hold for a bit, but it is imperative, as Hodd said, to have a plan for your time - a plan that gets you well.
If you think you won't have a plan, and think you won't be able to get help putting one together, that's a tougher call. Just be honest with yourself about your intentions.
If you think you won't have a plan, and think you won't be able to get help putting one together, that's a tougher call. Just be honest with yourself about your intentions.
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Join Date: Jan 2020
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Originally Posted by Ringside
I think it is a good idea to put school on hold for a bit, but it is imperative, as Hodd said, to have a plan for your time - a plan that gets you well.
If you think you won't have a plan, and think you won't be able to get help putting one together, that's a tougher call. Just be honest with yourself about your intentions.
If you think you won't have a plan, and think you won't be able to get help putting one together, that's a tougher call. Just be honest with yourself about your intentions.
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Join Date: May 2019
Location: UK
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Agree, Dee.
Lockdown has been a classic example of how people act. There are those who ran marathons, read masses of books or learned to speak a foreign language. No one without a plan did well. The boxes by the supermarket checkouts containing 24 cans of beer are piled high ready for those without a plan. I don’t want to turn this into a Covid thread, but the consequential health effects, mental and physical, are going to be grim. I’m so so glad that I had a year and a half of sobriety under my belt when this craziness came. I was on the verge of wrecking my liver, and I reckon if Covid had come 2 years ago, I’d have developed cirrhosis in lockdown. It’s scary to think what I’d have been.
Luckily, I also had a load of studying to do in lockdown and more importantly a weekly target to hand work in. No choice but to do it.
A major lesson learned from all this is my retirement in the far but not too far future. A bit of gardening, tinkering in the shed, walking the dog ain’t gonna cut it. That’s a one way ticket to sitting in a chair and going senile and probably drinking again to speed up the decline. No thank you. I’ll need a job, a course with deadlines and some stress thrown in. No one lives to 99 by watching TV all day.
FF, you need a bit of stress in your life to motivate you to carry on. The very vague plan of going over previous years study without any control, exams or coursework, isn’t a plan, is it?
I am stressed to hell nowadays trying to do a career change to a science teacher. Not only do I have to teach physics but a few other subjects including biology which I have no interest in having not seen the inside of a bio book for 30 years. I’ve had a few tellings off for rubbish lessons plus the teenagers I teach have been at home for 5 months without a plan too,
But without alcohol to mess us up, so much more becomes possible. We have talents we didn’t know existed. I can function well on 5 hours sleep if need be as I’m not hungover.
Think it through carefully, Have a plan. Think of all the people who went into lockdown with no plan. We all need a push.
Lockdown has been a classic example of how people act. There are those who ran marathons, read masses of books or learned to speak a foreign language. No one without a plan did well. The boxes by the supermarket checkouts containing 24 cans of beer are piled high ready for those without a plan. I don’t want to turn this into a Covid thread, but the consequential health effects, mental and physical, are going to be grim. I’m so so glad that I had a year and a half of sobriety under my belt when this craziness came. I was on the verge of wrecking my liver, and I reckon if Covid had come 2 years ago, I’d have developed cirrhosis in lockdown. It’s scary to think what I’d have been.
Luckily, I also had a load of studying to do in lockdown and more importantly a weekly target to hand work in. No choice but to do it.
A major lesson learned from all this is my retirement in the far but not too far future. A bit of gardening, tinkering in the shed, walking the dog ain’t gonna cut it. That’s a one way ticket to sitting in a chair and going senile and probably drinking again to speed up the decline. No thank you. I’ll need a job, a course with deadlines and some stress thrown in. No one lives to 99 by watching TV all day.
FF, you need a bit of stress in your life to motivate you to carry on. The very vague plan of going over previous years study without any control, exams or coursework, isn’t a plan, is it?
I am stressed to hell nowadays trying to do a career change to a science teacher. Not only do I have to teach physics but a few other subjects including biology which I have no interest in having not seen the inside of a bio book for 30 years. I’ve had a few tellings off for rubbish lessons plus the teenagers I teach have been at home for 5 months without a plan too,
But without alcohol to mess us up, so much more becomes possible. We have talents we didn’t know existed. I can function well on 5 hours sleep if need be as I’m not hungover.
Think it through carefully, Have a plan. Think of all the people who went into lockdown with no plan. We all need a push.
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Join Date: Jan 2020
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Originally Posted by Nathan57
FF - I'm in the US - I don't how it works where you live but here, you can just take a class or two instead of dropping the entire semester.
Maybe think about doing that, if it is an option??
Maybe think about doing that, if it is an option??
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: California
Posts: 13,044
Hi FF,
Sounds like you’ve made your decision regarding school, I hope this will lessen the anxiety you’ve been feeling. I know you’re working on getting your mental health in order, and like several others have said I think having a plan is going to be very important. Maybe you can ask your department head if they can recommend a job, or some outside coursework you can do this year that will support you when you return to school next year.
❤️Delilah
Sounds like you’ve made your decision regarding school, I hope this will lessen the anxiety you’ve been feeling. I know you’re working on getting your mental health in order, and like several others have said I think having a plan is going to be very important. Maybe you can ask your department head if they can recommend a job, or some outside coursework you can do this year that will support you when you return to school next year.
❤️Delilah
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: MN
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Just a thought FF, going back and giving "thanks" to those who are desperately trying to help you is a sign of respect. There is no requirement, but it makes us think you are actually reading some posts and if you disagree, post that as well. Jeff.
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Originally Posted by thomas11
Just a thought FF, going back and giving "thanks" to those who are desperately trying to help you is a sign of respect. There is no requirement, but it makes us think you are actually reading some posts and if you disagree, post that as well. Jeff.
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I think you have made a really good decision. There is no need to put yourself under additional stress and pressure in early sobriety. You are young and another year won't make any difference in the overall scheme of things. I hope you can use the year productively, stay sober, build up your sober tools maybe take on new hobbies or voluntary work which would be great on your CV. Many congrats on your sober time too- you're doing amazingly 
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Join Date: Dec 2012
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Originally Posted by thomas11
Just a thought FF, going back and giving "thanks" to those who are desperately trying to help you is a sign of respect. There is no requirement, but it makes us think you are actually reading some posts and if you disagree, post that as well. Jeff.
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