y'see I'm like your cranky big sister who bosses you about
Do what is right for you Nat, but do it for the right reasons.
Talk to professional people who know how to help people make decisions like this (do I sound like a broken record yet?).
If deferring will definitely give you better career prospects (as opposed to better results) then it might be a good idea, but you can't be sure that you won't have other problems next year at the same time.. If I could get my hands on all those twins who distracted you last year It is really good that you did let your hair down last year though, that is so much about what college is about.
Don't make any rash decisions.
Look after yourself,
S.
PS(Remember I mentioned my brother was having a hard time with his finals? Well he texted me on Friday morning really early to say that he wasn't going to sit his exam at 2.30 that day, that he was just exhausted. He is so cool and laidback all the time that I was really worried. I phoned him and we chatted a good bit and said he'd probably sit the exam. Of course me being a fusspot I phoned him another 3 times to check in on him. He was fine by about 11, he just said that he was in bits when he woke up. I tried to get him to go for a sleep but he said he couldn't as he had last minute lookbacks that he couldn't sit the exam without doing. In the end it went OK, but for someone like him to admit any weakness at all it had to be very bad. Hope he gets a OK grade in it now.