- I can't edit the post title , but I would want to say that the fact that I made this post shows that I actually care about their opinion lol sorry

I am a freshman in college. I'm enrolled to a relatively small college where everyone seems to know each other. Words spread around fast, and there are high chances that you'll eventually work with everyone. I have many commitments outside academics like being part of the football team, and an active member of our theater org. I make sure to prioritize my academics over these, but football training ends at 8:30pm, which causes me to pass my group contributions later sometimes. I give my partners a heads-up and communicate this with them. There are group members who doesn't mind this, as long as I pass it within the deadline. However, some people that work with me didn't seem to see this as an excuse. One girl in my grade has been going around and telling people how I have shit work ethics. I took no offense to that because I understand that I might've not meet their standards or expectations. However, I am really bothered by how they treat me. Whenever I present in front of a class, they would laugh at me and make faces with their friends. This was a trigger for me. I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and public speaking was something I worked hard to gain confidence in. I don't want to use my mental illness as an excuse, and I want to do my best despite having GAD. But in some instances in groupings, especially when a group member is an academic achiever, It's a trigger for me when I keep messing up, or when my groupmates are tense, I also feel pressured. Whenever this happens, I experience shortness of breath and actually goes on full panic and this causes me to not submit my contributions on time. And I communicate this to my groupmates. I'm not sensitive to criticism and I actually appreciate it if you'd say it to my face rather than go behind my back and spreading it to every one. My triggers are more focused on me messing up and my confidence in my work performance and quality of my output. Like I said, I may be hurt about how they treat me, but I will only use their comments to improve myself, and I won't let their comments define me or my worth. As much as they have worked with me in college, they don't know what type of person I am. Am I the asshole for defending myself?