(NOTE: For reference, I am in law school, which absolutely does put you through about 40 hours of work a week at the least, so I'm justified in referring to my studies as "work"). 

It's the only thing that works to stop the sting anymore, to stop me from further spiraling, to stop me from fully understanding how lonely I am, to keep me from realizing how I just want somebody to hold me. Video games have stopped working, my music has stopped working; I enjoy them, sure, but I'm perpetually left with a sense of how lonely I am while doing them. 

I can't afford the brain power to think about loneliness and depression while I'm doing work for law school. The readings require too much from me for that. So I throw myself into every reading I'm assigned, every supplementary material I'm assigned, any extra study aids I can get, anything just to numb myself. I don't even want to leave the law building anymore because I know it'll hit me when I get home. This is hell.