Semester 241 Was Rough

August 8, 2026

Semester 241 was probably one of the hardest semesters I have had in university so far.

I registered for 24 credits. At that time, I thought it was still manageable. I knew it would be heavy, but I also thought that if I worked harder, slept less, and pushed myself enough, I could get through it. Looking back, that was not a very smart way to think.

The semester became overwhelming pretty quickly. There were too many classes, too many deadlines, and too many things happening at the same time. I started falling behind in some subjects. My grades were lower than I expected, and the more they dropped, the more I felt like I was losing control of everything.

It was not just about grades. I was stressed almost all the time. I got sick, had fever, and felt tired for long periods. I also drank too many energy drinks just to stay awake and continue studying, which eventually gave me kidney pain. That was honestly scary. It made me realize that I was not just “working hard” anymore. I was damaging myself.

At that point, I really thought I had lost everything. My confidence was gone. My study rhythm was gone. I felt behind, and I kept comparing myself with the version of myself that I thought I should be. It was a bad feeling, because from the outside I was still going to class and submitting work, but inside I felt very stuck.

I did not recover in some dramatic way. There was no sudden comeback. I just slowly accepted that I had overloaded myself and that the way I was studying was not sustainable. I had to admit that I made a bad decision with my workload, and that forcing myself through everything was not the same as doing things well.

After that, I tried to fix things little by little. I reviewed what I missed, changed how I managed my time, and stopped treating every bad grade as the end of the world. My progress was delayed, but I still kept going. I kept studying, kept doing projects, kept improving my CV, and kept trying to find the direction that fits me better.

I am not writing this because everything is perfect now. It is not. I still have a lot to improve. But I think that semester taught me something important. Ambition is good, but if it comes with no balance, it can become harmful. Working hard matters, but health matters too. A bad semester can delay you, but it does not have to define you.

I slowed down for a while, but I did not stop.

And for now, that is enough.