Written by Ellen Bolger-Rowe
Disclaimer: This blog discusses themes that may be distressing to some readers, including grief and loss. If you are struggling or need support, please reach out to the Charles Sturt Counselling Service or contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
You’ve been accepted into your desired degree. You’re excited about the new prospect of better finances and a career. You’ve just left high school or taken a gap year, and you’re still not quite 20 years old yet.
You attend Orientation week, excited to meet new people and nervous to begin studying.
You sit down in you first lecture and you’re hit with a terrifying amount of anxiety. You don’t understand what the lecturer is talking about as you didn’t study year 12 chemistry, BUT you PERSIST!
You ask your friends and your lecturer for help and you’re back on track! You press pause on living your life and you pass you first semester exams and you’re feeling better about yourself and your ability to accomplish this degree.
But then you experience your first family death, not once, but twice, and your world is shaken to its very core.
Life happened.
This was me. I began my Bachelor of Pharmacy in 2013 after accepting early entry in 2011. Fresh off my Gap year where I travelled and performed Highland Dancing all over the world in 2012. I had a loving a caring family, I had seen a large portion of Europe and performed on a world stage at the Edinburgh Tattoo, and I was about to work towards my passion of becoming a pharmacist.
Life was sweet and I knew no pain that was going to stop me in my tracks. This was very naïve of me to think this, but when you are young, you are blissfully unaware that life still rolls on for those around you and the changes that occur can impact your studies.
If you find yourself in a situation that feels like you cannot see a way through, may I encourage you to follow these tips below that helped me through the rough times of juggling university studies as well as handling life’s curveballs:
- Take some time off if you need. You can apply for a leave of absence for a semester or two and then come back to your studies after that. I did this. I called it my “Gap Year: Part 2”. I did some things that filled my cup so I was ready to come back. However for me, I completely withdrew from my degree after this time as I fell out of love with pharmacy.
- Talk to a professional or someone you trust. A professional could be your doctor, the Charles Sturt University counsellor, a psychologist or your family and friends. If you struggle to understand how your mind and body are coping during difficult times, these people can help you ground yourself from the mind-numbing chaos going on around us.
- Schedule yourself some time to do something for yourself. For me, this is a massage or time in nature. Possibly booking yourself a trip to Europe
or even the next town down the road for some change of scenery can really help!
For me, after doing all three of these things, over and over again, I found that I just wasn’t ready to take on my Bachelor of Pharmacy just yet. It’s ok to explore different options if you feel like you simply cannot track forward. I tried travel writing, a Bachelor of Social Science and completed an Advanced Diploma of Performing Arts before landing back into the Bachelor of Pharmacy again 10 years later in 2023.
Choosing to study isn’t the end of living — it’s the first step toward building your life.
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative.
