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[Imperfect]

Hi guys, so I'm a last year bachelor marketing student, I have finals coming up, I have to turn in my thesis, I have a bunch of team project(anyone who ever had to get people to do something without being able to take away their money will understand the pain) coming up, and I have to study for both graduation exams and entrance exams for my new uni. I've been preparing for about half a year now for my second bachelors - a degree in computer science. I studied a lot of math and programming and I hope I made up during that period for what I missed in elementary and high school. Everything was running smoothly, until about six weeks ago, when I realized that I haven't touched the second half of my thesis yet. I freaked out, wrote the whole thing in two god-awful weeks,  and then went on to other projects. Time itself that I spent writing the thesis was not so much, a few hours a day. My real problem is the stress that came along with as I realized the amount of the work I'll have to do, the uncertainty of passing the exams, and the futility of most of it. I would appear to function normally to an external observer, but my brain is running at about quarter of the capacity. I cannot bring myself to study on my own anymore. I procrastinate all the time, unlike before. My throat is dry, days seem long, I get a stress spike as soon as I wake up... It's a grotesque parody on the life I had before.

The issue with this long time stress that I've been having is this: It makes my life miserable, I know it, but I can't reason it away. It's somewhere out of my control, just like physical pain; you can't think it away if you decide that it is bothering you. No calculating of how much work do I need to do(Not so much, actually. Some people would kill for that schedule), no telling myself that I passeed exams before, no reminding myself that there are people with real problems out there is of any help. I suspect that rather than the amount of work, the uncertainty of the outcome paired with the consequences(My parents promised me a chunky sum of money if I pass; if I don't, I don't get shit and will have to do the exam again). Has anybody here experienced this before? I'd really like to know how to get this psychological tumor out of my head.

[Vector]

Realize that stress is a bodily function, and then start obsessively taking care of your body.  This is the only thing I've found that has ever worked at all.  Focus especially on calming your breathing.  When things are really bad, I go completely off caffeine, cover all clocks and any way at all to measure time (cover the windows and clocks--anything you'd usually tell time by) and then just work until I'm finished.  Stop trying to think about the big picture.  Just think about the very smallest step you can take, and then do that.

Citation: I'm... under a lot of stress.  I'm a last year pure math major with a history of mental illness and a really weird point of view as to how much I can bite off and chew, so I'm continuously overworked.

[weenog]

When I get to the point where I just can't work on a particular project anymore, I don't.  I do something completely different, and don't even think about the thing I'm unable to do.  It might take a few hours, or it might take a couple days, it varies.  But it usually turns out that I've just exhausted my attention span and need to change up what I'm doing for a little while.

[Vespulan]

    On the rare occasions I get stressed, it always comes with an angry, red ball of rage in my head as well.  I know it sounds rather thuggish, but honestly the only thing I find relieves me of it is exerting a large amount of force on inanimate objects/the ground (by which I mean punching the hell out of something, preferably one that won't break).  As a general word of warning, my preferred thing to do is go for a seriously hard run (500 Metre full on sprint down a small plot of land outside my house) and then just lay into a soft patch of ground, but last time I did this there happened to be a tiny piece of flint jutting out from behind some evil bastard piece of grass, and the whole thing went into the webbing between my first and second finger.  Apart from that it worked a charm...

    P.S. My stress/anger always comes from the same thing, and it's not work (work seems irrelevant for me compared to this :/) so that helps me direct my fury.  Dunno if that would help you as well.

[alway]

Realize that stress is a bodily function, and then start obsessively taking care of your body.  This is the only thing I've found that has ever worked at all.  Focus especially on calming your breathing.  When things are really bad, I go completely off caffeine, cover all clocks and any way at all to measure time (cover the windows and clocks--anything you'd usually tell time by) and then just work until I'm finished.  Stop trying to think about the big picture.  Just think about the very smallest step you can take, and then do that.

This, but also combined with meditation before bed with some soft space/ambient music. I find most episodes of Echoes to be a good one to listen to for that; and on the 'where to listen' tab, you can pretty easily find NPR stations that play it on a webstream about any time of evening or night.

[ChairmanPoo]

If I can I take a warm shower and/or a nap before doing anything which might have repercussions

[Eidolon]

I suspect that rather than the amount of work, the uncertainty of the outcome paired with the consequences(My parents promised me a chunky sum of money if I pass; if I don't, I don't get shit and will have to do the exam again). Has anybody here experienced this before? I'd really like to know how to get this psychological tumor out of my head.

Maybe try to find somewhere you don't feel as much pressure. I don't know where you currently spend your time studying and working on stuff, but i would suggest talking to people who really don't give a shit whether you pass or fail so you don't feel that external pressure as much. Other than that, get some exercise if you can.

Realize that stress is a bodily function, and then start obsessively taking care of your body.... Just think about the very smallest step you can take, and then do that.

Yeah, like this.

I dunno, you said you can't think the problem away, but just try to realize your response to the situation isn't really serving your self-interest, and see what you can change in your environment that would help change your response.

Also props for going for two degrees. I'm currently taking six classes and working, shooting for computer science as well. However i'm doing some bullcrap gen-eds at a community college, so it isn't really the same.

Edit: Oh yeah, make sure you're eating enough. I don't know if you're like me, but when i get stressed, I tend to stop eating, and that can really mess with my performance.