Being Compassionate To Yourself Involves Making It A Discipline To Do The Things That You Love, No Matter

reblog for a perfect second semester

the universe knows you will learn from your first semester mistakes

second semester is when we all get 4.0s

we got this. 

reblog to help a friend

2 cool for u !!!

it takes years to develop your craft. do not romanticize the idea of an ‘overnight success’. be a student. grow organically. get really good. hate your work. start over. find new ways to express the same ideas. the student becomes the master. your time will come.

Things I wish I already knew going to University

Here are some reminders to myself. Hopefully, they are also helpful to some freshmen or anyone who’s curious:

1. University is not school.

You can’t shilly-shally around, take your sweet time and expect to just roll with it. Trust me, you will be in for a rude awakening. Find a goddamn studying method early in and stick with it. Flashcards and quizlets, whatever works for you. The deadlines and exams will draw closer faster than you think they will.

2. Your profs are not decoration.

Ask. Questions. Seriously. And go to office hours if you have any particular problem to resolve. Make use of that time. A lot of them will actually be thankful anyone is showing up. Against popular belief, professors indeed do make a mental note of a lot of their students. Don’t be one of those 20 people standing infront of their office for the first time a week before the exam.

3. Get as much work as possible done until noon.

It’s 12 and you have already studied for three and a half hours? Amazing. Look, I know, I am not a morning person either. But at least try it out. Get your sleep schedule in check. It will feel so much better than to procrastinate until evening and then you HAVE to do it anyway.

4. If you can explain it, you have understood it.

Done studying? Bet you’re not. Try explaining yourself the material loudly like teaching it to a clueless person. Or get yourself a study buddy and explain your subjects to each other. It’s even better if you don’t have the same majors. If you are able to explain the topic and have the other person understand it, you actually know the topic. If not, you now know where the shoe pinches. It’s also great practice!

5. You may feel a bit lonely at first.

Okay, I don’t want to scare anyone. I did find a lot of friends. Especially at first, everyone is your friend. Because everyone is scared of missing the boat and feeling left out. There will be so many people around you. Still – or maybe that’s the reason – you will probably feel a bit lonely at first. I want to tell you that this is normal. It’s because everyone is still a stranger to you and maybe you’ve just moved out! Maybe you are far away from home for the very first time. I’ve struggled with this. That’s fine! Everything will be fine. You will feel at home eventually.

I hope everyone is doing well. Take care! :)

Bill Hader as Richie Tozier in It: Chapter Two being iconic™ [ 1 / 2 ]

and gay af

bonus:

‘am i Having A Brain Problem or Being a Shithead’: a short procrastination checklist

aka why tf am i procrastinating on The Thing (more like a flowchart, actually)

lots of people who have executive function difficulties worry about whether they’re procrastinating on a task out of laziness/simply wanting to be a jerk or mental struggles. this checklist might help you figure out which it is at any given time! (hint: it’s almost never laziness or being a jerk.) (obligatory disclaimer: this is just what works for me! something different might work better for you.)

1) do I honestly intend to start the task despite my lack of success?

yes: it’s a Brain Problem. next question

no: it’s shitty to say one thing & do another. better be honest with myself & anyone expecting me to do the task.

2) am I fed, watered, well-rested, medicated properly, etc?

yes: next question

no: guess what? this is the real next task

3) does the idea of starting the task make me feel scared or anxious?

yes: Anxiety Brain. identify what’s scaring me first.

no: next question

4) do I know how to start the task?

yes: next question

no: ADHD Brain. time to make an order of operations list.

5) do I have everything I need to start the task?

yes: next question

no: ADHD Brain lying to me about the steps again, dangit. first task is ‘gather the materials’.

6) why am i having a hard time switching from my current task to this new task?

i’m having fun doing what i’m doing: it’s okay to have fun doing a thing! if task is time-sensitive, go to next question.

i have to finish doing what i’m doing: might be ADHD brain. can I actually finish the current task or will I get trapped in a cycle? does this task really need to be finished?

the next task will be boring/boring-er than the current task: ADHD brain. re-think the next task. what would make it exciting? what am I looking forward to?

I might not have enough time to complete the task: ADHD brain wants to finish everything it starts. (if task is time-sensitive, go to next question)

i just want to make the person who asked me to do it angry: sounds like anxiety brain trying to punish itself, because I know I’ll be miserable if someone is angry at me. why do i think I deserve punishment?

no, I seriously want to piss them off: okay, i’m being a shithead

7) have I already procrastinated so badly that I now cannot finish the task in time?

yes: ADHD brain is probably caught in a guilt-perfection cycle. since I can’t have the task done on time, i don’t even want to start.

reality check: having part of a thing done is almost always better than none of a thing done. if I can get an extension, having part of it done will help me keep from stalling out until the extension deadline. i’ll feel better if I at least try to finish it.

no, there’s still a chance to finish on time: ADHD brain thinks that I have all the time in the world, but the truth is I don’t. 

reality check: if i’m having fun doing what I’m doing, I can keep doing it, but I should probably set a timer & ask someone to check on me to make sure I start doing the task later today.

8) I’ve completed the checklist and still don’t know what’s wrong!

probably wasn’t honest enough with myself. take one more look.

if I’m still mystified, ask a friend to help me talk it out.

hope this helps some of you! YOU’RE DOING GREAT SWEETIE DON’T GIVE UP ON YOU

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before University

You are going to feel like dropping out. I would say to stick it out for the first year and sit for finals. If you get a good grade for your finals, that could really give your confidence a boost and motivate you to keep going. And then, if you still feel like dropping out or changing majors, you should do as much research as possible.

Feeling pressured to do more things. During my first year, I said yes to everything–even things that I didn’t feel like doing. I felt like if I didn’t, I’d be missing out on something really important or fun. FOMO, basically. However, more often than not, I wasn’t missing much and these opportunities will arise again very soon.

Buying too many unnecessary things. I bought so many stationery and notebooks before I started uni in hopes that they would motivate me to study. I ended up not using even half of them my first year. At least, I’d be set for supplies until I graduate.

Revising in uni is not the same as revising in high school. I used to think I could study last minute for a test, like I did in high school. I learned the hard way that that wasn’t the case at all. Now, I review the topics after every lecture. The key is to keep up because all those lectures are going to pile up really fast.

Past papers are your new best friend. I find that professors have their favourite questions that they like to give out. During finals, they might even use the same exact questions as they did in tests!

Failing/Getting a low grade in a test isn’t going to ruin your life. I once got so caught up on that one test. But luckily during finals, I snapped out of it and just tried my best. My final grade wasn’t too bad. You live and you learn.

Wear whatever you want (as long as it doesn’t get you in trouble). When I wear a hoodie and sweatpants, I get comments that I look like I just rolled out of bed (which I did, duh). And when I have really nice makeup on and do my hair, I’m trying to impress someone. I think people just like to run their mouth and it’s nothing personal, so you shouldn’t care what they say anyway. 

Keep in touch with friends outside your university. It can really come in handy during times when you really have to vent about someone in your classes. They can also help you keep grounded and have a different perspective.

You don’t have to love the library. I’m the kind of girl who studies lying on her stomach on the bed with papers and books surrounding me and my cat stepping on them occasionally. I think the library is too quiet and public for me. And if you’re the same way and prefer the cafe or elsewhere, then that’s okay too. The goal here is that you get your studying done.

Stay healthy. Whenever it’s near finals, I would abandon every other responsibility except studying. I would stop eating healthy and quit exercising, all in the name of making time to study. But they should go hand-in-hand with studying and not one or the other. I find that the better I take care of myself, the better my grades are. You should also get enough sleep–this, I never fail to do.

if the secret history was a netflix show

i made this over a year ago and it’s just been sitting in my drafts so here you go