Week 3 down. Still on top of my academics which is good, but my health is declining slightly... seems like I spend more time de-stressing than cleaning or cooking, and I haven't worked out enough.
I feel like this is how my spirals always start and I'm trying hard not to start the shut down process. Also've been hit with waves of anxiety the past several nights and haven't gotten any sleep. SCAD is expensive and I feel really guilty about my parents paying for it (not that they do, they just want to see me succeed and be happy and sustain some kind of quality of life for myself), but I feel like I always put myself in these mars-or-bust situations. As I do more and more research on ADHD and Anxiety, I begin to freak out at all these horror stories I hear of people who just can't hold down jobs for more than a year or less at a time--and I feel like I fit the bill exactly. My therapists have been really supportive of my endeavors, but some of the other people I express these sentiments too tell me I am wasting my time and to just suck it up.
It's making me nervous and depressed. I don't want to be a burden on my family, but I'm starting to feel like I'm incapable of supporting myself. SCAD is a super awesome place, and I've seldom had better teachers all around, but I begin to wonder if I should maybe plan ahead and transfer back to a state school closer to home for the reduced cost and put the extra money towards supporting myself before my creative endeavors become profitable. I don't even want to think about what's going to happen to me if I break down again... maybe it's the anxiety, or just lack or sleep, but I can't seem to find any sustainable paths through life... it feels like shooting for this difficult thing is my only chance, but at what cost to my friends and family and myself?
IDK, I feel adrift. The art has been going really well, even a bit better than I initially expected, and it's even easier to focus on than writing, but... all this stuff it makes me think I should try to hedge my bets a little bit... maybe get a degree in illustration instead and prepare for a freelancer career as a back up???
EDIT: It feels like every year I find some way to struggle on, some way to put in a whole lot of work to save my sinking ship, and every year it feels like I am incapable of repeating that feat and have to find some even more difficult and challenging way to keep things afloat.