Most people have breakdowns depending on different things. Unfortunately for me, I had a breakdown in the middle of my dorm hallway.
The breakdown happened because I was in a group project. My group originally had six people, but two to three weeks into the project two group members dropped out, which meant I had to pick up their parts of the project since the rest of my group were not the most reliable. I do mean this in the most respectful way possible, but my group members were always late or not showing up, didn’t do their part, and put their work on me. It also didn’t help that when I went to the teacher about the problems I was having with the group, he did not give a shit and told me to figure it out.
Well the day before the original due date we needed to record a podcast in the library. One group member did not show up, and the other two showed up 30 minutes late. Thankfully, the professor pushed the due date back by a few days. Even though he pushed back the date and my part was done, my groupmates did not finish their part on time and had me helping them finish their parts on time.
The pressure and stress to get this project done on time, that was worth 20% of my grade, just kept mounting. Everyone kept messaging me non-stop, asking for help with their work. It was so much that it was the only thing I could focus on, so I had to step away from my computer which led me to the hallway. In the hallway I just started to think so much that when my roommate and RA saw me, they asked if I was okay. I just broke down to the floor crying, explaining what was happening to them. Thankfully they helped me calm down with some techniques and even had me take a mental health day. Some techniques that helped me through this and other breakdowns were focusing on my breathing, meditating, eating ice cream, drinking water, coloring, and exercise. At the end of this experience I learned that working with a group can be difficult and it’s better to do an individual project instead.
Photo by Joey Nguyễn on Pexels.
