Struggling with self-worth lately
Assalamu alaikum, I (22F) just needed to get some things off my chest about the self-esteem stuff I've been dealing with. On the outside it seems like things are fine - alhamdulillah I'm in a tough medical program and I'm active in the community - but underneath I have a lot of doubts about myself. In my first semester I nearly failed and would have had to repeat the year. Alhamdulillah I worked hard for the finals and insha'Allah I won't repeat, but at the time it left me feeling so foolish. It made me feel distant from my classmates and from people who kept saying how smart I was. Also, there was a man I liked from undergrad who I reconnected with recently. I thought there might be something more, so I asked, and he turned me down. We haven't spoken since. That was a few months ago, but whenever I think about it I feel down. It makes me feel like I can't do anything right - academically or in relationships. I wonder why I feel so unworthy when others seem to find someone easily. I worry that my personality is different - I have almost no close friends in medical school, I struggle to connect even with the other Muslim girls, and I often feel left out - and that because of that I won't meet anyone I click with. I also wish meeting someone could happen naturally; these matchmaking groups feel demeaning sometimes (I feel like a person, not a commodity), but with the demands of medical training it seems hard to meet people the easy way. Lately I just feel ugly and stupid and even when good things happen, like doing well on exams, I can't enjoy them because my mind goes to everything that's wrong. JazakAllahu khayran for listening.