What Getting Through It Actually Looked Like
Recovery and healing rarely look like the movie version. What did the real, unglamorous version look like for you — the version nobody put on a poster?
3 replies
sandeepmishra
10 days, 17 hours ago
Everyone talks about standard college burnout, but nobody talks about the absolute pressure cooker of being an international student. It’s not just "homesickness", it's a constant state of survival.
The Financial Catch-22
You are trapped by a broken system. You’re paying massive fees, but your visa legally handcuffs you. Because you can usually only work 20 hours a week on campus, you end up juggling two or three low-paying campus gigs just to afford groceries and rent. It leaves you with absolutely zero time to sleep or rest.
You are trapped by a broken system. You’re paying massive fees, but your visa legally handcuffs you. Because you can usually only work 20 hours a week on campus, you end up juggling two or three low-paying campus gigs just to afford groceries and rent. It leaves you with absolutely zero time to sleep or rest.
Isolation & Cultural Exhaustion
You lose your entire safety net overnight. When you’re drowning, you can’t just go home for the weekend. The time zones mean when you desperately need to talk to your family, they’re asleep. On top of that, your brain never gets to go on autopilot. Every single day takes massive cognitive energy just to decode a foreign culture, navigate slang, and handle the subtle isolation of being an outsider.
Overall, it’s an exhausting, high-stakes environment where your mental health is constantly pushed to the edge.
You lose your entire safety net overnight. When you’re drowning, you can’t just go home for the weekend. The time zones mean when you desperately need to talk to your family, they’re asleep. On top of that, your brain never gets to go on autopilot. Every single day takes massive cognitive energy just to decode a foreign culture, navigate slang, and handle the subtle isolation of being an outsider.
Overall, it’s an exhausting, high-stakes environment where your mental health is constantly pushed to the edge.
Danielle
9 days, 13 hours ago
@sandeepmishra - What kind of support or resources are available to International students to help with this. On some levels, I do think U.S. students experience some of this, too. For many students, it's not Visa issues that hold them back from working to stay afloat financially, it's managing a full-time class schedule with their studies. Likewise, many students across the country don't have the finances to go home when they need support and the time differences for some can make communications difficult; however, the issues you point out regarding decoding a foreign culture, slang and other nuances of being in a foreign country are extremely unique to those studying abroad.
What's the answer:
What's the answer:
- Are the benefits of a U.S. education worth the emotional toll?
- What support would make the transition better?
- Are there mental health strategies or resources that you have found particularly helpful?
daniel0724-007
21 hours ago
(edited)
You know i really want to connect w others and get involved w the actual steps and challenges we all face through mental health crisis and addiction. There are things i have not shared on camera but in all sincerity i have had many losses and traumatic moments and i understand the war we all go through…. Ive lost houses careers family marriage i have even forgot what love looks like and let other things take its place….. today is different its a new day w hope and sometimes just the little things i get to experience are more than enough to be grateful for!!!! I want to say yes i have experienced what its like to pass away and also come back bitter and ungrateful wanting to go back out and numb even that trauma…. I was paralyzed i had to learn to use the other side of my body to pick up slack ……. I want to encourage you to not give up on yourselves as i once did….. a lot of what i lost has made its way back into my life…… yes i carry the weight of years lossed bit i have today and today alone to be the person i always was inside through my struggles
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