1st Year physics Student :)

(I only have a week left and some days I’ll be to busy but oh well, I guess)

Practice French plaits

Revise

Walk the dog

Rowing training

Something creative

Why did it start randomly snowing and hailing for about a minute today? It’s literally nearly April? Some sheep in the field on my dog walk, they’ve got lambs now!! I’m happy I didn’t miss that while at uni. The pain au chocolats I ‘made’ (I rolled some pastry around some chocolate).

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Saturday 28/03/2026

Today I woke up at 11:00. I feel like I’m still recovering from when I got 3 hours of sleep a couple of days ago. I got ready and ate some breakfast and then started on some revision. I remember how to do homogeneous differential equations now, however when the notes started explaining linear first order differentials my brain stopped working and I decided to call it a day. I think I did about two or three hours of work, which for me is pretty great. Usually I get home for the holidays and can barely bring myself to do anything.

After that, I walked the dog, watched tv and ate dinner. I also assembled so pain au chocolats from a tube in the freezer just to do something fun.

After dinner I spent a while procrastinating starting the exercise I have to do for Easter training for the rowing team. Today it was 10x1 minute intervals. It’s good that it’s shorter, but I really hate doing the all-out workouts on my own. I’m not motivated by the other people there, and when it’s just me it takes so long to convince myself to do it.

After that it was pretty much bedtime, so I got ready for bed and now I’m just procrastinating actually going to sleep.

I feel like my days are very monotonous when I don’t go out. It’s revise, walk the dog, rowing training and tv. That’s not a terrible thing, but I think I’m going to consider maybe making a bit of an effort to do something different everyday, like something creative or a mini side quest / random activity.

A hot chocolate I bought whilst studying. The problem with revising in cafes is that my drink was £4.55, and I feel like I can’t be spending that much every day when I could be revising for free at home. Photo from my night-time dog walk.

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Friday 27/03/2026

I woke up at 10:30 today, had breakfast, got ready and then was picked up by my friend at 11:30. We picked up another friend on the way and then drove to a town. The town is very nice, but it's 40 minutes away. My friend says she only feels motivated in a nice place, which I get, but at the same time, it's a lot of time wasted travelling when we have a perfectly good town that's ten minutes away.

In the the car we read a couple more chapters of ATYD. When we arrived, we wanted to have a picnic, but there wasn't really anywhere to go, so we at our lunch on a bench on a green.

At 13:30, we started work in a café. I didn't really know where to start with my revision. There is honestly so much content that went completely over my head, because I can never focus in lectures and last term I was sleeping really badly. Luckily, I tried making a plan on some paper but it wasn't fitting properly, so I switched to using 'mindview' which I got as software from my DSA. I hadn't used it before, but it seems pretty good.

At 15:30 we went to the library. By this point, I had started revising differential equations. I'm just working through the notes from the beginning, which I really don't think I have time for, but I can't think of a better way to do it.

We drove home at 16:15 and by the time I got back I was super hungry, so I made some tea. After tea, I did an exercise circuit because the uni rowing team has given us an easter training plan. It was getting really dark by the time I got round to walking my dog, so we didn't go that far. After that I pretty much just chilled and watched YouTube, until getting ready for bed at 21:30. Now it's nearly 23:00 and I think I'm going to go to sleep now.

The geese where my dad works. The pretty spring day.

Diaries of a Burnt-Out student

Thursday 26/03/2026

Oh my god. Today started off horribly. I woke up at 07:00 after about three hours of sleep. I sat down and did my lab report and didn’t stop until 12:00, I handed it in 11 seconds before the deadline.

I actually was really quite enjoying it. I so wish I could focus like that without an impending deadline looming over me - well the focus might have had a bit to do with the ADHD meds, but I can’t really notice much difference with them. I didn’t even properly finish the lab report. The first two thirds I think were pretty good but the last bit was just really bad. I didn’t even do the references properly, just pasted the links ar the bottom.

After the deadline, at least it was finally other with. My friends called me up then, and I read out a couple of chapters of the fic we have been reading together (ATYD). After that, I went on an little side-quest to let some dogs out into the garden where my dad works at my neighbours' house. The sky was so lovely and warm for that part of the day.

By this point, I was very aware I still hadn't eaten anything yet, so I made myself some lunch and watched Netflix for a while. I was watching 'the a word' which I'm honestly just finding depressing for how the parents are treating the child, I hope they get better over the series at least.

Then I had to walk my dog. It was nice, just a pretty average walk; I threw a stick for her to fetch. Afterwards, I ate tea and chatted to my dad. At 18:15 my friend picked me up and two of us went to watch a play she was in. When we got back, we sat in my driveway and just chatted for ages - it was one of those easy conversations where no one wants it to end.

When I got into my house it was 23:00, but I made myself some food because I was so hungry. Then I got ready for bed and wrote this blog!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Random march weather of the uk. It was hailing today. And also raining. And also lovely and sunny.

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Wednesday 25/03/2026

Woke up at 10:45 today. I ate breakfast and pottered around the house until 12:00, when I had a zoom call. After that, I did a bit more of my lab report and watched YouTube (not at the same time).

I'm supposed to follow a training plan over Easter so I though it would be nice to go on a run with my dog. It was kind of nice, but I forgot how difficult it is to run with her, because you spend the whole time trying to yank her away from the road. I probably won't take her with me again, unless we're only going in the fields.

After that I ate dinner, and chilled for a bit on YouTube and Tumblr, then got started with some more work on my lab report. My friends called me at 22:00 and we read a chapter of the ATYD, then I carried on with the lab report. God, it's due tomorrow but I still have so much left to do. I think I'm going to go to bed now, then wake up really early and pray that the urgency kicks in for the six hours I will have left to hand it in. Why do I get myself into these situations?!?

My cat sat with me for a bit while I was writing my lab report, I miss him at uni. The cafe where I was writing my lab report.

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Tuesday 24/03/2026

I woke up today at 09:15, after a pretty bad night sleep - I woke up so many times in the night. Nevertheless, I got up, ate breakfast and got dressed.

I got started on my lab report after that. Today was the first full day of take ADHD meds. I can't say I notice that much in terms of getting my work done at this point. I can notice some of the side effects though, like, my heart beats faster, my appetite is lower and I couldn't sleep. I do feel like maybe I sat at my desk longer without getting bored, but that didn't mean I was actually doing my work.

My friends called me and asked if I wanted to go somewhere to do some revision at 12:30, and I thought, why not? One of my friends says she feels inspired to revise when she's somewhere nice, so we drove (oh, the joys of having friends with cars) to a pretty market town and did some work in a café, then in a library.

Towards the end I just got really frustrated by the lab report and all of PowerPoints for it etc, and I didn't really get much work done after that. I felt kind of bad for the rest of the day.

When I got home at 18:00 my dad made dinner and we finished watching 'I Swear' (a film on Netflix my mum has been telling us we need to watch). I spent the rest of the evening just chilling and watching YouTube. I do feel like maybe I felt a difference between being on and off the medication by this point - like, it did feel like a bit of a crash, but then, I was in a weird mood before then anyway, so it could just have been that.

My friends called at 22:00 and we read a couple more chapters of 'All the Young Dudes' together. It wasn't great because my signal was particularly patchy today so a lot of the time I could really hear what was going on, and I couldn't talk to them properly either. It just made me feel more left out, because I've probably felt a lot more sensitive than normal this afternoon anyway.

Pretty photos from my dog walk. We walked through a bit of woods, and there were loads of dens people had made which was really cool.

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Monday 23/03/2025

Today was my first full day back at home!! It still surprises me quite how much I fall back into old routines.

I woke up at 11:00, had breakfast and chilled in the living room watching YouTube. At 14:00 I walked my dog whilst listening to ‘choices’ (a podfic), which was quite nice. This was activity I had been missing most at uni, so I’m going to try and make sure I make time for longer walks this holiday.

After my walk, I basically just sat around watching YouTube. I had to go to the pharmacy later so I was sort of just waiting around until then. I don’t mind giving myself a few days of not doing much at the start of the holiday because I feel like need some time to recover. I just need to make sure those ‘few days’ don’t stretch out to the entire holidays, because I really can’t afford to waste that much time.

I went to the pharmacy at 17:00 to pick up my first ADHD medication. I wasn’t expecting them to have it yet, but they actually did which was amazing. I can’t actually believe I’ve finally got it because there have been so many issues with the whole process so it just felt like it would never happen.

I took a tablet at 18:00 and then had dinner. Afterwards I did a little bit of work on my lab report. I’m on a low dose of the medication right now so I wasn’t really expecting it to do anything, and I’m not sure how much it did do.

Here’s what I noticed: usually when the tiniest thing goes wrong with any school work I feel a big surge of frustration/anxiety and that felt a bit dampened. The music that i pretty much always listen to just to get me through boring tasks was suddenly just distracting and I didn’t need it. I think I persisted a bit longer than I normally would when doing work I find difficult, and resisted more temptations to just give up. I still got distracted a lot and would stop working when it got too hard, and I still stopped entirely after only an hour. My heart rate did feel a bit higher sometimes. The brownie I was going to have for pudding just tasted really sweet and I didn’t fancy it anymore. When I’m describing all these things, it seems like there was a big effect, but, to be honest, it didn’t really feel like the medication was doing that much and I didn’t feel much difference at all. I’m not sure how much is just a placebo effect / novelty. That being said, I did get ready for bed early and without much fuss, which was lovely. Normally it takes so much internal negotiation and it’s just painful, so who knows.

Forgot to take photos today. The only one I had was of a service-station piano. I had to take a random picture of my pillow just so I had two photos.

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

(who is home for the holidays and did no studying)

Today my friends and I woke up at 07:00, so we could leave my uni at 08:00 and drive home. This drive was the longest yet of our mini road trip, and less enjoyable. I was tired and I think we were all a little short with each other sometimes - it's hard to be around people non-stop for four days.

It was nice to be home again. I went with my dad to run errands, helped him put up a washing line, and chatted to my parents a lot.

I want to spend quality time with my parents, but I do find it a bit hard to be home sometimes, because I spend quite a lot of my time on my own and wearing my headphones at uni, which I find very comforting, but I feel guilty if I do that too much at home.

After dinner I watched tv in the living room, and my dad watched a bit too. I haven't watched tv at all this term, but it's kind of my mine and my dad’s routine at home, and it's weird how automatic it was for my brain to come up with that idea for my evening plans.

Pretty hill views from the car, picnic lunch and some ducks trying to steal my dinner 🦆

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

(Who’s currently on a mini road trip and not doing any studying)

Saturday 21/03/2026

Today we drove to my uni. We woke up at 09:00, ate breakfast then headed of. Pretty much the staple of this trip is that one of use will be reading ‘All the Young Dudes’ aloud, and that’s what happened for the majority of the drive.

We stopped at Tebay, which is a really fancy service station and ate lunch on a picnic table outside. The weather was so lovely today and the views on the drive were wonderful, so it was a pretty nice journey al in all.

When we arrived at my uni we looked around for a bit because one of my friends has never seen it. We sat and ate tea on some steps by a pond as the sun set. A duck came up to my friend and stoles some chips out of the box on her lap, which was hilarious - I didn’t realise ducks would be that bold.

After dinner we went back to my room and finished the night by reading some more of ATYD - we’re up to the beginning of fourth year now. We want to try and finish that year by the end of our trip - we’re driving home tomorrow.

The cathedral we walked through and a book I took a picture of because I thought I might buy it (all the other photos are stuck on a digital camera right now :( )

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

(Who is currently not doing any studying)

Friday 20/03/2026

We had a pretty slow morning on Friday, my friend who got too drunk last night was quite hung over so not feeling like doing much right away.

At 13:00, I had a doctor’s appointment. FINALLY, I have been prescribed ADHD medication. It’s a low dose for a whole month, so I’m worried that they might not do anything yet, but still, it’s something, and getting to this point has been such a nightmare.

After that my other friend carried on reading ‘All the Young Dudes’ to us. It’s become somewhat of a regular group activity, and I think it’s great. (The friend who hasn’t read it before is getting really into it -yay!)

In the afternoon we went out to a cafe for lunch. I got a cheese toastie. Then, I bought a Mother’s Day present for my mum, and we did a bit of Waterstones shopping. As the sun was setting we walked back from town, this time via the cathedral and the botanical gardens.

Very yummy French toast for breakfast (why did it come with a whole ice cream?!), rubbish from Starbucks that kind of looked like like a flower, and blurry digital camera photo from pre-pres.

Diary of a burnt-out student

(who is currently not doing any studying)

Thursday 19/03/2026

Right now I’m visiting two of my friends. For the first half of the day, we drove from where we were staying for a concert, to one of my friend’s university. My friend and I are trying to get my other friend into the marauders, so she spent most of the journey narrating ‘All the Young Dudes’ to her while she drove, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Before we arrived, we stopped at Aldi to buy tea, then we got to her uni. We went on a walk, then cooked dinner and chilled for a bit before pres.

Pres were actually so fun, I got to meet some of my friend’s uni friends who were really nice. I hardly ever drink so I forgot that it could be that enjoyable when you’re with the right people.

My other friend drank loads though, and right before we were about to leave she threw up. We thought she’d be alright after that so we still got in the uber since we had bought tickets for a queer night. Unfortunately we spent the next two hours in a toilet cubicle with her. At first it was still pretty fun because me and my less-drunk friend were just laughing and having fun together in there, but then it started to get stressful because my sick friend was getting worse and couldn’t stand up and wasn’t having a good time.

Yummy kinder milkshake snack, view out the train window, Renee Rapp, and all the people watching her!

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Tuesday 18/03/2026

Today I woke up at 10:30. I spend the morning scrambling to get the last of my homework done, doing laundry, tidying my room, and packing my stuff. Basically everything ready to leave uni, because today, I’m going to a Renee Rapp concert!

I got a bus to the train station at 15:00, and then got on the train at 15:30. I probably did about half an hours worth of work on the train, just adding to my lab report. It’s pretty slow progress, but I feel significantly less overwhelming by it than the last times we’ve written sections of one, because now I at least have something to base it off of, and feedback on what was good/bad on my last attempts.

I got off the train at around 17:00 and got the train to where I was staying with my friends that night. We all got the tram and got McDonald’s, before walking to the concert at 19:00.

The concert was pretty fun, to be honest, I used to listen to her music loads, but haven’t really listened to the new album, so I think it would have been better if I knew the words more.

My friends and I got back to the flat at about 23:30, and we stayed up until 02:30 just chatting, which was really nice.

My midnight study session and a nice sunset. It really felt like spring today - I went out without a jumper, and I could smell all the daffodils.

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Tuesday 18/03/2026

God, everything feels like it's pilling up again. I can't seem to stop myself stretching out every task until the last minute. Like, even if I sit down to do some uni work early, suddenly I can't focus and it takes 3x as long as it should.

Today I woke up at 12:30, which was not the best start to the day. I had a mentoring meeting and then I headed to the library at 14:00 to try and finish off watching a circuits lecture so I can start the homework (that was due last week...). Then my computer ran out of battery so I went to the end of a lab session at 15:00 to do a bit more work on my lab report. I didn't get that much done, but I've added my graph and my sketch to the file so that I'll be able to finish it off on my own computer, outside of the labs. It was nice that I got to chat to my friends there too.

At 18:00 the rowing team had an erg session. It was quite hard (10x250m) but pretty short which was good. Then I went back to my flat at ate tea. My friend asked to call me which I knew would be a grave mistake for my study plans, but I really miss all my friends from home and sometimes you just need to blurt all of your feelings out to someone who's known you for a long time. Anyways, because of that I only started watching the rest of the lecture at 21:30, and because of the whole not-being-able-to-focus thing, I didn't finish watching the last half an hour until 01:00. I probably should have gone to the library, but, it's really hard to bring myself to get ready to go out again that late. (The solution to that would probably have been to have not called my friend and left earlier, but hey).

Daffodils I saw on the way to the gym (the spring flowers are at their peak right now), circuits revision in the library, and an update to the Mother’s Day card - I added felt tip :)

Diary of a Burnt-Out Student

Monday 16/03/2026

Today I had to wake up at 06:30 because the rowing team goes to the gym together at 07:00 most Mondays. I was really tired because I didn't finish my homework until late last night, and then decided the best thing to do after that was to doom scroll Tumblr. I was seriously considering not getting up, but I'm so glad I did, because only three people out of the fifteen of us were at the gym this morning, and later on we all got a message about how unacceptable it is for some many people to be missing. I can already tell I'm going to be stiff tomorrow because I haven't been to the gym in ages - I always seem to be up at ridiculous hours trying to finish my coursework, then sleeping through the Monday morning lectures (not this week though!!!).

After I got back to my room, I went back to bed for a little bit but by 09:00 I realised I was not going to be able to have a nap, so I got up to start the day properly. I skipped my first lecture because I'm still a bit behind for that module, so I thought I'd just watch last week's lecture during that hour. I did get a bit distracted and started adding to the mother's day card I made on Sunday, but I still got through a chunk of the circuits content.

I went to my maths lecture at 11:00. Somehow, this was the first lecture I've been to for this module on complex numbers. I'm not behind, and I think I understand the content reasonably well, I've just been watching the lectures online instead. It was alright in person, it felt really fast though, because, of course, I couldn't pause it.

By this point, it was 12:00 and I went to the library to get through a bit more circuits content. At 12:40 I went back to my flat for a bit of a break and lunch.

I had labs at 14:00. I was really not looking forward to it because right now we're writing lab reports and it's a bit of a slog and the session is three hours long, but by the end, somehow, it was sort of... enjoyable? I'm still not sure how I'm going to have finished it by Monday, when it's due, though.

The final lecture of the day was at 17:00, on thermodynamics. I sat there for the hour, but almost nothing went into my brain. I don't no what it is, but I just constantly zone out in the thermodynamics lectures and so the whole thing is just a mystery to me.

Then I went home again and ate dinner and chilled. I've set a 1hr time limit on YouTube and Instagram etc, so its become a bit more difficult to fill the chilling time. I guess that is probably a good thing, but all I can think to do is listen to audiobooks or music, or look at Tumblr.

I procrastinated until 22:00, at which point I went to the library. I continued struggling through the circuits work, but at 01:00 I gave up and went home. I'm just going to take the L on this one and submit the work late - I'll get a one grade reduction, but I think that's not the end of the world. I might try applying for an extension.