30th Anniversary Of The Fall Of The Berlin Wall - November 9, 1989.

☁️ 10 tips on studying when your motivation’s nowhere to be found

i got an ask about this yesterday and decided to turn my reply into a post because having trouble focusing when you’re super unmotivated is really common, so i thought more people might find this helpful :) buckle up kiddos, this is gonna be a long one!

1. i want you to remember that this is a universal experience.

every student out there struggles like hell sometimes, and that’s completely normal; you’re not a machine and that means you can’t possibly churn out work 24/7 without burning out. so try not to beat yourself up too much okay, you’re doing great!

2. take a deep breath and identify the reason you’re feeling like this

are you burnt out because of stress or overworking yourself? are you overwhelmed by the amount of tasks on your plate? is there a particular assignment or exam scaring you to the point where you don’t want to start studying? these are all normal reasons for lack of motivation and knowing the why will help you figure out the how - you gotta know the problem to solve it.

3. i know you feel like you’re months behind, but start small

small achievements accumulate. repeat this sentence to yourself daily, write it on a sticky note and keep it on the wall above your desk (it’s exactly what i did). break up daunting tasks into smaller ones; got a billion formulae to know by heart? memorise 3 every day (you’ll have memorised more than 20 by the end of the week!). got a long chapter to study? divide it into smaller chunks and just focus on 1-3 pages a day. slow and steady, you can do it

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*enters my own password* i’m in

things I wish i would have known my first year of University

1) Make an outline for your papers. it doesn’t have to be detailed but having one will help you keep on track when writing. it will only take you a few minutes to brainstorm one. 

2) always carry a spare charger and a backup battery for your phone. honestly, our phones are an extension of us now, so nothing is scarier than when it dies halfway through your class. a backup battery and a charger are always handy.

3) set smaller deadlines and stick to them. you might flounder if you decide to have your 2000 word essay all done and edited for March 14. but you might have an easier time deciding to have 500 words written by March 8, 1000 words by March 10, 1500 words by March 11, 2000 words by March 13, and to edit it on the 14th. these smaller deadlines have really helped me to get my work done and to not to stress about deadlines. splitting up my assignments into smaller chunks makes it more manageable. 

4) email your professors if you have questions. or go to their office when they’re in. don’t sit there in confused silence, it won’t help. 

5) Do practise Self-care and take breaks. these don’t always have to be full days off with a spa day. it can be having a bubble bath after studying for hours, or watching a movie that makes you laugh after finishing an essay. or just making sure you're eating healthy and drinking water. 

6) do put important dates in your calendar. weather its a psychical calendar, or one on your phone/ computer. I have all my major dates on my computer laptop, it helps when I am studying and wondering when I have an exam or need to remember when to hand in a paper. 

7) always have a highlighter, a pencil, a pen, and spare paper. you never know when you’re going to have a pop quiz or an activity in class. 

8) reach out to friends and spend time with them/ your family. people tend to isolate themselves during exam/paper/midterm season. while you definitely need to study, you also need to have social connections. make a study date at your library or even get a coffee with a friend. 

Eradicate “Smart Kid” Norms

The goal of this post is to raise awareness to damaging behaviour towards a group otherwise ignored due to their academic prowess and supposedly problem-free lives, but not to hurt or offend other people. Fine if you agree that school isn’t important, but this is purely an education-based opinion.

PSA: SMART KIDS …

 - hate being compared to 

if you are the top of your class, every test is a problem. people will turn around when they get a result and try to see yours in order to evaluate themselves instead of take the grade they’ve been awarded. for example, instead of accepting you got a B, you see that the “smart kid” got a C and instantly feel better about yourself, or vice versa if they got more than you. this kind of behaviour is not only damaging to who you’re comparing to (since people often express their negative views on their grades towards you, commonly getting the “of course you would get an A” or “I can’t believe I got more than you!”) but also to yourself - of course in school you’re taught to compare yourself, but your biggest competitor is yourself and you should always be aiming to outdo your best attempt rather than what the “swot” gets.

- need to be supported regardless of their grades

a particularly sad experience I personally have is collecting my exam results last year. I went in with all my friends, they got their envelopes, jumped up and down in joy at what they got … it came to my turn, I saw what I got, I turned around to tell them - and they told me not to say a thing. they didn’t want to know! to an extent, I get this (see previous point about comparative self-worth) but when you achieve something, you wanted to be recognised and appreciated, especially by your friends. telling your smart friend not to share what they got on a paper is purely bad friendship - everyone’s successes, no matter how small or frequent, deserve to be celebrated.

- aren’t always bragging

this is a problem I’m facing even now. they rarely talk about their achievements or grades in fear of being disliked or viewed as competition. if somebody gets an A on a mock, they feel like they can barely say a thing because they don’t want to come off as lacking modesty or over-confident. how do you say things about how well you’re doing without offending, belitting or annoying other people?

- shouldn’t carry your group projects

all I’m going to say on this one is that if you let the “smart kid” do all the work in school, you’re wasting your own time. if you have to be in lesson for fifty minutes anyway, you might as well learn, rather than waste another fifty minutes elsewhere revising for your exam!

- don’t always revise

some people revise. others don’t. be nice to your local “smart kid” - don’t assume they revised all day and night for that A, that they put in 100% effort all the time to validate yourself, or get mad when you hear them say they didn’t revise or are screwed for a test. People frequently don’t revise for tests since they have more important exams coming up for but it’s not their fault if they still get a decent grade. some people are more suited towards a particular subject and that’s okay, because you are too!

- have just as many worries

smart kids have worries too. they still fear about university applications, tests, job interviews, boyfriends, all the jazz that everyone else does. competency in a subject doesn’t ensure you a place. the worrying fact that exists is that there will always be someone smarter, someone more experienced, someone generally better than you, regardless of whether you are smart or not, therefore you shouldn’t get frustrated at people who are worried when you think they shouldn’t be.

- aren’t always well-behaved

they don’t all wear glasses. they don’t not have social lives. they don’t all care about school. just like everyone else, intelligence means squat if you’re not having fun. whilst you should always respect the school system, don’t assume that being smart means not making jokes or goofing off, or that doing those things will impact your intellectual performance in any way.

- have bad days

yes, I know I knew the answer yesterday. yes, I know I can do better than that. yes, smart kids have bad days! if an overachiever gets a lower mark than usual, be nice. it may make you feel good to have done better than the “nerd” but imagine how they feel about it if they are academically-conscious. if they’re nice to you, be nice to them. that’s all there is to it.

- want to help you

of course “smart kids” aren’t out to get you, they will obviously give you assistance if you ask for it. nonetheless copying someone’s work or getting them to do the work for you is wrong. it’s unfair to ask the “smart kid” for last night’s homework if you didn’t do it, or coast off their work because they sit a desk too close to you. keep your integrity when doing work.

- aren’t only good at academic subjects

2018 should be the year we reject the concept that only STEM subjects count, that anyone who majors in English or Art or Drama isn’t as intelligent as someone who does physics. recognise a degree for a degree, talent for talent, ability for ability. anybody can be a “smart kid”, it doesn’t mean you have to score perfect As or have some quantifiable measure. redefine smart to mean knowledgeable and suddenly everyone you know, even you, is a smart kid.

- can only have an academic job

leading on from this, don’t think that someone’s ability defines their future career. someone could be a killer biologist but want to go into dancing. let them! it’s their choice and nobody should be defining it as wasted potential.

- don’t feel intellectually superior

chances are, they don’t care about intelligence. it’s nice to have but you know what’s nicer? talking about Netflix, or football, or other interests with their friends we’re not numbers and grades, we’re people with passions, and intellect is a small part of a huge thing called personality that everyone has. especially at school age, an A* student isn’t thinking they can’t be friends with a D student. they’re thinking about what they’re having for dinner tonight, and when they can next hang out with their best friend.

- should never be belitted by teacher

finally, this is a general point that has affected a million students regardless of ability. teachers deserve respect but they can also lose it if they begin to treat the class unlike equals. smart kids may stereotypically be seen as teacher’s pets but in reality, it is often the other way round. they can’t count the times a teacher has deliberately skipped them when searching for an answer, even if they’re the only one with a hand up, or the amount of times they’ve been asked not to contribute, on both hands. everyone is entitled to an education so fair enough if a teacher wants to push less talkative students, but if it gets to the point where a smart kid has been stopped from talking for lessons on end, put on the spot with a particularly mean question or been downright bullied by the person who is supposed to be fair, speak up. the effects of being dampened can be long-lasting and hurtful, resulting in smart kids who no longer participate or enjoy school.

Again, this post wasn’t meant to offend anyone, or put myself up on a pedestal as a “smart kid”. Of course, there are positives to doing well at school, like good job opportunities and academic success, but I see lots of awareness raised for students who don’t do so good and feel like there should be balanced representation out here. The general moral from all of this is that everyone in education should be treated with respect and allowed to develop surrounded by support from peers and teachers regardless of their ability. This includes underachievers, overachievers, the coasters, the tryhards - any name you have for a type of student - 2018 is the year we’re eradicating education-based shaming.

Orange County

types of dark academia

classic academia: beige trench coats, wool sweaters. plaid skirts. think femme fatale, but educated. sobbing in bed late at night over the secret history or dead poets society. tea with milk and sugar. subsequent tea stains.

darkest academia: running through the rain, dimly lit by streetlights. brown tweed jackets, dress shoes. cold fingers and colder gazes. french-pressed black coffee, piping hot. dark, candlelit rooms with ancient wood floors/walls. 

light academia: white cable-knit sweaters, sparkly eyes and foggy glasses. going to art museums and falling in love with every portrait, every sculpture. caressing the petals of a rose, hearing the crinkle of leaves underfoot.

witchy academia: burning candles while reading or doing homework. black turtlenecks, velvet skirts. walking through the forest in autumn. passing a graveyard and feeling a greyish presence. waiting anxiously for samhain.

romantic academia: writing flowery poetry about someone you’ll never speak to (guilty oops). a cozy alizarin sweater, pleated skirts. slow dancing around your room to the beatles. curling up with warm, pallid cups of tea and a book.

scholarly academia: impeccable notes in class. leather bound bags crammed with textbooks and pens. lots of coffee with scones, and even more late nights. a wide vocabulary (that people constantly comment on). lives in the library.

theatre academia: shakespeare, all the time - quoting, reading, praying for a school production of a midsummer nights dream. or the crucible. memorizing lines in the wings. taking on your character’s traits, even outside the theater.