I am currently halfway through a three-year marketing degree. This semester, I am taking courses that focus heavily on mathematical theory, which I find extremely challenging. Most of my previous courses have involved essays or oral presentations. While I find some parts of the content (such as the essays) mildly interesting, the rest is quite boring. To be honest, I'd rather be doing anything else, but I push myself to study. I’m reaching out to all the university veterans out there: how do you stay motivated during your degree? What’s your secret? Because right now, I can’t even bring myself to attend class, and I know that missing classes will only make things worse.

I am currently halfway through a three-year marketing degree. This semester, I am taking courses that focuses heavily on mathematical theory, which I find extremely challenging. I have never been good at maths and have always struggled to understand concepts. Most of my previous courses have involved essays or oral presentations. While I find some parts of the content (such as the essays) mildly interesting, the rest is quite boring.

To be honest, I would prefer to be doing anything else, but I push myself to study. I’m reaching out to all the university veterans out there: how do you stay motivated during your degree? What’s your secret? Because right now, I can’t even bring myself to attend class, and I know that missing classes will only make things worse.

Hello! I am currently second year of bac business major in marketing.

My study plan doesn’t include an internship subject for year 3… do I assume I don’t need to compete one?

Thanks!

I’m 23F and have been with my boyfriend (23M) for over a year. Our relationship is genuinely healthy and he’s an incredible partner. The only recurring issue is that he wishes I would open up to him more about how I’m feeling.

The problem is, I don’t even realise I’m not doing it.

When I was 12, my dad died by suicide. My parents were about to separate, and after he died, we never really spoke about it. My mum understandably had her own grief, and I was never taken to therapy or given any support to process what happened.

Looking back, I think I learned to keep everything to myself.

I’ve never really talked about my emotions with anyone, so now that I’m in a relationship with someone who genuinely wants to know how I’m feeling, I don’t know how.

When my boyfriend asks me things like, “How are you feeling?” or asks me to be more open, my mind completely shuts down. It’s like I go blank. My chest feels tight, I get a lump in my throat, I want to cry, and I freeze. It’s not that I’m hiding anything or don’t trust him. I genuinely can’t seem to access the words.

He has never been angry or pushy about it. I know it frustrates him, although he’s incredibly patient and understanding. I think he simply wants to feel closer to me and understand what’s going on in my head. I want that too.

I also find myself wondering what he actually wants to hear. Am I supposed to tell him every little thought? Every emotion? It feels like everyone else somehow learned how to do this naturally, and I missed that lesson.

Has anyone else experienced something similar after childhood trauma or losing a parent?

Were there things you practised that made opening up feel less impossible?

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been on either side of this, whether you’re the person who struggles to open up or the partner of someone who does.

Therapy is super expensive where I’m from so it isn’t a viable option unfortunately- although I wish it was

TL;DR: My dad died by suicide when I was 12, and we never really talked about it as a family. I never had therapy, and I think I learned to keep all my emotions to myself. Now I’m in a healthy relationship with an amazing boyfriend who wants me to be more open, but whenever he asks how I’m feeling, my mind completely goes blank and I freeze. I want to let him in, I genuinely don’t know how. Has anyone else experienced this, and did anything help?

For context, we are both 23 and have been together for a year.

My boyfriend has OCD and was previously on medication. He came off it in December and was fine for a while. However he says his medication was for sadness, and not ocd, although he has told me it was previously.

Around 6 weeks ago, he started experiencing intense intrusive doubts about our relationship. He keeps saying we are “too different” and gets stuck in loops of guilt and anxiety because he says he doesn’t want to hurt me. He only told me this about a week ago.

We talk about it, but it keeps going in circles. It feels like nothing really resolves and the same fears keep coming back.

I’m really struggling because I feel stuck between two things. I care about him a lot and don’t want to lose him, but I’m also starting to feel emotionally drained and anxious from the constant uncertainty.

Some of the “differences” he focuses on don’t feel major to me. For example, our social groups are different, my friends are mostly single and a bit wild, and his friends are mostly in relationships and quiet. He also fixates on us having different careers, as he is an engineer and I am studying marketing.

He doesn’t currently believe this is OCD-related and doesn’t want to go back to treatment.

I feel like I’ve become the main person he processes all of this with, and I’m starting to lose my own sense of stability in the relationship.

I don’t know whether this is something that tends to pass with time and communication, or whether I’m ignoring a bigger issue.

Has anyone experienced something similar where a partner suddenly becomes unsure like this? How did you support them without losing yourself? I don’t want this relationship to end but it has come as a sudden shock and I don’t know how to process it.