A
male
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:Forgive the long intro, My LDR question at the very end. Please start your response with LDR if you respond to just that so I know. I am your average guy. Called attractive by some, not by others, called smart by some and not by others. Overall my life is progressing towards a job I'd like to have with some hiccups along the way. I had to drop out of university and go into college instead (I'm bad at applying myself and my laziness trashed my university gpa). So as far as smarts go I'm capable but not the brightest of the bright. Even considering all this, the girl I am dating, who I love dearly, looks up to me as a very intelligent person, she sees me as more than I see myself. And at first when we were just friends she would let me help her with assignments and felt more confident in herself with it all. But recently as we started dating, spending more time together, and moved into the final year in college her life got far more stressful. She experienced significant family stress (I won't go into detail out of respect for her privacy but just imagine a very serious situation) and because of this she, and to some extent I, missed out on a week of school. And as the hardest semester we ever had to work through thus far even under perfect conditions, we struggled to catch up, understand, and finish. I barely pulled through, but she didn't do so well. Even with a slightly reduced course load which may be part of the problem I will refer to later. Instead of being reasonable with herself considering what she was going through she became very toxic about it. Constantly demeaning herself, calling herself, stupid and worthless and a failure. I tried to talk to her and help her through it and although I do manage to cheer her up and help her in those moments I feel like I'm not helping her heal and move forward again overall. She had a string of academic defeats that may be partially my fault. I pushed her to continue trying each time she would do poorly and she would get shut down time after time. It was understandably demoralizing. But at the same time knowing her goal is to graduate with us (rest of the classmates) I couldn't find it in me to tell her to take time off or give up on some of the harder courses which would have set her back a year. She ended up failing some of the classes anyways so perhaps I made the wrong decision, but I chose to believe in her and I don't know if sometimes that's not the best thing going forward. What I'm here to ask for is advice on how to help her build her self confidence back up. Should I be offering my help as much as I am or is that subconsciously making her doubt herself more as she starts relying on me. Her happiness is really important to me, and so I'm looking for any perspectives I can get on this. I don't know how much this matters but she is also just under 2 years older than I am. TLDR;Girlfriend is struggling with self confidence because of school. How can I help her believe in herself again. ** Please begin your answer with TLDR if you're responding based on this. Thanks =).
View related questions:
confidence, moved in, university Reply to this Question
Share |
Fancy yourself as an agony aunt? Add your answer to this question! A
female
reader, aunt honesty  +, writes (4 January 2016):
 It is normal for her to feel let down if she is failing at college, in the future I think you should guide her but let her make her own decisions. Talk to her, tell her that maybe Uni is not for her, maybe the course she is doing is not meant for her.
Talk to her and ask her to think about what her dream for life is? What job she would love to do, and what she sees for herself in the future. Tell her you are proud of her no matter what decision she makes, and tell her you will support her academically as well as all the other aspects of her life.
A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (24 December 2015): I think I may have mistagged this question. It is NOT long distance. I don't feel that it is trust issues either but I'm sure that one can be argued for so it's fine. Just don't want people misunderstanding. I see her nearly everyday in person even if only for a short time.
...............................
|
