My experience in University has been particularly bad. Med school is not easy, and I chose a rather hard University in Italy as well - as for the why, I don't really know. It could be that I suffer from crypto-sadomasochistic tendencies. Who knows, really.
One day I was writing and suddenly I got sidetracked while doing some research on gun manufacturing. As I was looking at YouTube, I got an email reminding me to pay my tuition. Now, tuition in Italy is not expensive. Not compared to the crazy US, at least. Even with some malus added because I'm taking longer than I should to finish the university, my fee is around 3500 euro. And that's because I didn't submit some tax statements to the university that would have gotten me some much needed cuts.
Long story short, thinking about University gives me this sinking feeling in my stomach, makes my shoulders and trapezius cramp up. I start feeling hopeless as soon as I have to face the bureaucratic monster that is taking exams and following some of the insanely arbitrary rules present here.
I realize that, over the years, this anxiety greatly penalized me while trying to study. It always disrupted the natural flow of learning, and it created an adversarial disposition toward the subjects, the professors, and, more broadly, the faculty. The problem is that a lot of moving components of this system are unfair; and as a result, I, and many other, feel hopeless.
I never felt such feelings toward writing. Sure, some times I feel insecure, I wonder whether my next chapter is going to be well-received by my audience. But never in my life I have felt so judged like in University. However, what worries me is that some authors might be experiencing similar feelings. Some authors might get banned by a platform or might have to follow special rules if they write something outside the boundaries of what's considered normal. And that means they might start developing the same kind of anxiety I got for studying.