Dealing with Bad Grades as a Perfectionist

Since I started university I realized that each term I was getting obsessed with my grades. I loved studying, so doing so was never a burden for me. And when I started seeing A’s in my transcript, getting B’s would literally broke my heart because I was spending most of my time studying, trying to get the highest grades. The thing was, I never felt like I was in a competition with my classmates. I was in a competition with myself. I was trying to do better than what I did before. And that is tiring. It was not good. 

I realized that having the highest grades, getting straight A’s actually meant nothing because I was feeling mentally drowned. I was not happy about forgetting about myself, not paying attention to my friends and family. It came to a point where I was only focused on my studies that I stopped caring about myself. That was when I recognized that I needed to have a break from the never ending need of perfect grades.

Accept that not everything will go as you planned.

There can be questions that you don’t know and it is OK.  We cannot possibly know everything. Or the study session that you have planned did not go as decent as you desired and that is OK too. There will be plenty of time to work things out.

Your transcript does not define you.

The figures or the letter grades do not show people your worth. It only means that you are academically really successful. That is a wonderful thing but has nothing to do with your own worth.

It is not the end of the world.

There is still time for us to fix things.  There is a chance for us to learn from our mistakes to move on. The problem starts if we get attached to them.

Let it go.

Just let it go. There is nothing more important than you and your mental health. If your great ambition to be the best in class is affecting you physically or mentally it is when you should stop.