I am putting way too much pressure on myself to get a first

[PippiLongBottom]

So don't say it doesn't matter, and no-one asks what classification you got, it does matter and yes they do.

I neex to beat DH who got 69 and never got over it and has a massive chip about it. I need to prove to lots of people that I am clever and worthy. But mainly to myself.

I got a first in my first year (which doesn't fucking count) but obviously this year is harder and my reading list is heavy (English lit). I do my degree full time and work 16 hours a week. I have 3 kids 9, 4, 2 who don't sleep through.

I am beginning to feel very stressed and am
eyeing up the razor blades.

Please sort me out.

Good luck HSMM x

Thanks

If you are stressed out in the first term of your 2nd year, you really need to relax about this 1st business.

If you want to get the best result you can and actually enjoy your course, my advice would be to take the workload steady, don't slack, start assignments as soon as you get them. And most importantly, enjoy your holiday and free time. Those breaks are for a reason. All the predictable stuff.

Don't get competitive. If the reason for your stress if that someone has been negative about your ability to achieve, just shrug it off. Getting stressed about the need to achieve is the best way not to. Just focus on step by step and use your ongoing success to bolster your belief in your abilities.

If you are perpetually stressed until next June, you will either burn yourself out and mess up or just not enjoy the studying at all. That will make a 3rd year a virtual impossibility. You really need to be 'into it' at the end of this year to make a good final result achievable.

Sorry if that's a bit bossy, but I needed a good talking to at one point about stress, taking it too seriously and crying over one of my reports. It helped me a lot to lighten up a bit.