Recovering from a bad gpa in my first semester

I'm in my second year now but my first year's first semester GPA still haunts me. Not only that but it actually demotivates me. I don't want to get into the reasons why it was so low (bc it's a really long story) but it makes me feel like all hope is lost and that I shouldn't try my best anymore because no matter what good grades I get, it's going to always pull me down massively. My second sem grades last year were milesss better but once again my overall gpa is still pretty low and idk how long it would take for it to recover or if it even will by the time I graduate.

It just sucks because it's not really representative of my capabilities at McGill and is already harming my chances of going on exchange, grad school, etc.

Some of my friends have told me to speak to an advisor about e-flagging because they think my reasons and are valid but I think McGill got rid of that a few months ago and it's usually very unlikely..

Any advice?