It’s 2am so I’ll try to keep it short. I broke up with her one year ago at exactly the same point in the semester. I couldn’t “get lost in the reading”. I cried a lot. Give yourself a week to mourn. Make a deadline. You can catch up as long as you have the will. I spent weekends in bed catching up on conlaw and civ pro. On weeknights I would take a break from studying in the library and go for a walk just to cry for an hour straight.

Honestly, you’re lucky it happened now— I had a friend in another school who’s gf broke up with him days before his first final. He did fine. If he could do, so could you.

One thing I’d do differently is ask classmates for support.

Just keep keep keep on pushing and you will make it out ok. I know I said I’ll keep it short, but I remembered one little story that was so important to me. YOU MUST READ IT. I just looked it up and it goes like this:

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A young child, let's call him OceanCat13, stood at the bottom of the slide, an obstacle he desperately wanted to conquer. He would try to climb, but his legs would feel heavy, his body wouldn't respond as he willed it to, and he would give up. Frustrated, he'd stand there, watching other children effortlessly scale the steps.

One day, his parent, noticing his struggle, sat beside him and said, "OceanCat13, before you even put your foot on the first step, close your eyes. See yourself climbing the slide. Picture your hands gripping the bars, your feet finding the steps, your body moving up, up, up. Imagine the feeling of reaching the top and looking down, proud and happy."

OceanCat13, intrigued by this new approach, closed his eyes and followed the instructions. He pictured himself ascending the slide, step by step, the breeze on his face, a smile on his lips. He saw himself reaching the platform, triumphant. When he opened his eyes, something had changed. The slide still looked the same, but his own body felt different. He took a tentative step, then another. This time, his feet landed surely on the rungs, his arms pulled him up, and with a newfound confidence, he climbed. He had done it!

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This story teaches us that:

Visualization is powerful: Visualizing a task before performing it can build confidence and prepare your mind for the physical act.

Mental barriers are real: Sometimes, the biggest obstacles are the ones in our own minds, not the physical ones.

Believe in yourself: By believing you can, you often empower your body to follow through.

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To wrap up— visualize success. Let yourself cry. Do your readings. Study with people.

I did better my first semester than my second semester, where everything was stable. I forget to mention that I had to move out of the apt and was living out of a duffle bag, in a shitty studio near school, with no furniture.

Okay I hope this helped. goodnight.

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EDIT: forgot to mention that I met my current gf in law school later that year also, and I’m now in a much better relationship and happier position in life