Hello, im currently in a poly and i have been very stressed as of late. Stressed about my classmates, i don’t know why but i just have that feeling that they all have something against me. I even feel like my friends in the class secretly hate me, and it’s really messing with my emotional capacity. I know that im probably just anxious and stressed from studies but i genuinely can’t stop thinking about it sometimes. I need some advice on how to manage and control these thoughts, because right now they genuinely are making me spiral.
Hi @easygoingorchid2771 ,
It sounds like you’re going through a really tough time right now, and it takes self-awareness to recognise that your anxiety might be driving some of these thoughts. That’s a meaningful first step.
On whether there’s a real reason, it’s worth asking yourself honestly if anyone has actually said or done something specific that made you feel this way, or is it more of a general, nagging feeling without a clear trigger? Sometimes when we’re overwhelmed, our brain starts looking for threats everywhere, even where there aren’t any. That’s not a personal failing, it’s just how stress affects our perception.
The most practical thing you can do when a spiral starts is to challenge the thought directly. Ask yourself: what’s the actual evidence that they hate me? Usually, when you examine the thought closely, it starts to lose its grip. It also helps to limit how much mental energy you spend “reading” people’s behaviour. When we’re anxious, we tend to over-interpret neutral expressions or silences as hostility, and that just feeds the cycle.
If these thoughts are persistent and really affecting your day-to-day life, it might be worth speaking to a counsellor at your polytechnic. Most polytechnics have student counselling services that are free and confidential, and they’re well-equipped to help with exactly this kind of thing.
You got this, all the best with everything! 