Social advice for postgraduates?

[noradurst]

Hey! So I'm 23, did my undergrad degree, did well, but I was hopelessly unhappy, depressed, and anxious. I'm physically disabled and experienced a long period of declining mental and physical health. So what did I do? I decided to take a gap year and go back to do my MA!

I really love my subject. That was a huge problem for me during my BA but I've come to terms with it and I am prepared academically and I really want to do it. Except for the social stuff...

I'm living in, moving away from my parents again, and most of my friends. But -- I'm scared.

I was going to go up next Monday - the beginning of Welcome Week (or so I thought). However, turns out that there's a postgrad mixer on the Sunday and I was considering whether to go up then. This triggered a lot of negative, anxious feelings around uni social life, but I can't tell if I'm projecting my bad experiences as an undergrad onto my potential postgraduate experience.

I am medicated for my anxiety and I have techniques for managing it, but I still don't find socialising easy, especially given the physical demands of any uni socialising which may involve a lot of moving around.

My more specific question when I opened this up was 'do you think I should go against my original plan, and go up early solely so I can go to one event? (which may be crap and would mean messing up some of my plans). How important is one social event?' Especially if a lot of the people you're studying with are doing PT or distance learning.

But as I've been writing this, I was thinking about the number of MNers who have surely done MAs and can lend a hand to me. Has anyone got any general social advice for a nervous postgraduate student to make friends, how uni events work, and/or how they differ from undergrad?

Thank you. Sorry I sound so neurotic.

[MsUnderstanding]

postgrad mingles are different to the ug equivalent. People tend to have more focused interests by that point, talk to your personal tutor before you go if you feel anxious. Just remember, everyone else probably feels the same.

[noradurst]

So would you recommend going despite my reservations, MsUnderstanding?

[FaFoutis]

I think you should go.