9 years ago
1
Campus Suicide and the Pressure of Perfection
Kathryn DeWitt conquered high school like a gold-medal decathlete. She ran track, represented her school at a statewide girls’ leadership program and took eight Advanced Placement tests, including one for which she independently prepared, forgoing the class. Expectations were high. Every day at 5 p.m. test scores and updated grades were posted online. Her mother would be the first to comment should her grade go down.
Continue Reading http://www.nytimes.com
Join the Discussion
This article shines a light on a very important topic. A big part of my depression was, aside from the fact that I had a misdiagnosed case of ADD, the fact that I could not handle failure and not meeting up to the standards I felt were expected of me even if those standards were set by myself. I find one of the biggest changes I have experienced since then, is similar to that of the girl in the article, I the sense that somehow, somewhere along the line, I have managed to bring myself to view failure as a means of learning rather than the end of the road. Ironically I fail a lot less now that I fear failure less. But that could also be because now when I do fail, I allow myself to asses it objectively and learn rather than have a panic attack (which I often had pre-emtively before failure) allowing me to avoid repeating it in future. It also allows me to tackle things I would never have dreamed trying simply due to being willing to accept the consequences of failure.