diligently

First original post! This is kind of nerve wracking, I’ve never posted before!

Would you prefer waking up at 7:50 than at 7? Or maybe you’re a Tired College Student™ like me who’s in their second semester just waiting for the sweet release of death? Either way, today I’m going to be v non-studyblr and show you how you too can be a lazy asshole and sleep in.

Lay out your clothes the night before. If you feel like trash sweater + leggins takes 2 mins to put on and feels like PJs

If you shower at night just sleep in your leggins tbh.

If you have bangs do them the night before and sleep on your back. If you can’t keep still, wear headphones bc they’ll keep you from turning. It’s better for your back anyway.

Brush your hair before bed and tie it up so that it’s faster to brush in the morning.

Tbh smoothing the ends and the top layer works just as well.

Get a Tangle Teezer. It’ll save you so much time.

If you plan on using dry shampoo, do It the night before. It’ll absorb way more oil and you just have to brush it and go in the morning.

If you wear makeup, have all your basics in one easy to reach place.

If you take the bus or sth just do your makeup there. 

If you need to wet your beauty blender, carry a mini spray bottle of water in your makeup bag.

Carry rollerballs of perfume in your backpack so that you don’t have to waste time putting it on.

Have your fucking backpack ready the night before.

Have a designated place near the door for the shit you need to carry (keys, glasses, USBs, idk). If you know what shoes you’re gonna wear, put them in front of the door and leave everything you need inside of them.

Putting on a coat is faster if it’s hung on a chair than if it’s hung on a hanger.

Breakfast is essential. Doesn’t mean you can’t just take it with you and eat it during break or on your way to school.

Make it the night before and put it in the fridge if it’’s temperature sensitive. Avocado toast can be turned into a mess free sandwich js. Also you can make overnight oats in a mason jar and take them with you.

Same with coffee. Honestly at this point just carry a bottle of it in your backpack. It lasts for like three days.

And that’s how to be a Slightly More Rested Mess. I realize this is not for everyone but hey, desperate times call for desperate meassures.

More posts

How To Stop Procrastinating

Skincare 101

How To Stop Skipping Class

Book Recommendations

Memorization Tips

real talk!!! 

when searching for a roommate, similar interests don’t necessarily mean you’re going to click. 75% of the people i know are not close friends with their roommates even if they have similar interests, and some of the people i know have major problems with their roommates despite similar hobbies/interests. look for similar living habits and ethics.

you probably will not be the smartest kid in the room anymore. if you were at the top of your class in high school and you’re attending your dream school, be prepared for this. if you’re the smartest one in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

if you don’t pay attention to what you’re eating, it’s likely that your eating habits will get messed up. whether this is eating more often or eating less, almost everyone i know is not eating three solid meals a day. this is in part due to money and food security, but if you can afford to, please pay attention to your meals so you are getting enough nutrition.

get used to pooping in public. if you live in a hall-style dorm, you’re not going to have a bathroom to yourself. even if your dorm is suite-style, you’re still sharing that bathroom with other people. and if you like to stay on campus to do homework, you’re going to have to go the bathroom in a public area. you just gotta do the deed.

speaking of bathrooms, find the good bathrooms on campus. i know where the good bathrooms are and i go there because there are some Nasty ones.

your schedule first semester is probably FINE. i personally do not recommend trying to take the most rigorous first semester schedule possible. first semester is a crucial time to make friends. college can be a shithole, but just having people there who are going through the same shit can be very helpful. also, you might need some time to get adjusted to college life. it can be nice to have time to explore the surrounding area, college organizations, college services, etc. important note: studying is not the only important thing about college!!!!

you’re going to see a lot of people crying. your roommate will probably cry at some point. your friends will probably cry. you might too. i definitely had a meltdown at some point. it’s okay to express your emotions! and it’s okay to feel bad! what kind of support other people need can be hard to figure out, so it’s more than okay to ask them what you can do rather than try to assume.

carry a water bottle. 

if your school has a big campus, your backpack will make your back hurt. i made a post on lightening up the backpack load here.

ratemyprofessor is key! an interesting class with a bad professor makes the class shit. avoid bad professors if you can.

you might be sad for the first semester or two. i think people often look forward to college as if it’ll solve their problems or as if it’ll be fun, especially if they had a rough time in high school. it’s definitely possible to have a wonderful, joyous first year. but a lot of people i know do not have that experience. that’s okay. you’re not alone.

you might change a lot. 

your relationships with your friends and family will most likely change. if you don’t try to keep in touch with your friends from high school, it might be a while before you talk to them again. in terms of your parents, it might be weird coming back during breaks and having to listen to them again. you guys are going to be straddling a weird transition period between dependent minor and independent adult.

the dining hall food will start to suck. but you still have to eat. eating is important.

you need to keep a budget. even if you don’t have many expenses, you should keep a budget to get into the practice of managing your money. 

there are a lot of opportunities on campus if you just look for them. things that might be available: studies that pay subjects money, subsidized concert tickets for students, electronic loans from the library, workshops on digital literacy for free, woodworking workshops for free, workshops for free in general, restaurants that give you a discount after a certain time of night, lectures, symposiums, research positions, free ice cream, free merch… there’s a lot going on. 

signing up for listserves can be a good way to find out about things.

the people who introduce themselves on the welcome page for your graduating class aren’t representative of the class. i was very sad before college because i thought that everybody at my large university was a blonde sorority girl who said “froomie.” while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, i am decidedly Not that person and i was afraid i wouldn’t be able to make connections with others. you will find your people if you look for them, and sometimes even if you don’t.

college might be lonely. it’s not uncommon to feel unable to get emotionally close to the people around you. while you may be hanging out with them a lot, sometimes that emotional bond takes a while to form. sometimes party culture can make non-partiers feel excluded from being social and making friendships. it can sometimes be hard to manage the transition to college. reach out for help. 

on a related note, i made a post about managing college from an emotional stand point.

don’t be that college kid who doesn’t tip. if you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to eat out. it’s really that simple.

discipline is really important. when you only meet two or three times a week, for some classes if you mess up once you’re behind for the rest of the unit until the midterm (particularly true for STEM courses or courses with cumulative material). discipline is a skill that you can hone over time.

your professors are probably nicer than you think. try not to be afraid to ask them for extensions or help. in fact, DO ask them for help! they are doing this job because they like to help undergrads.

See full response to anon’s ask here.  

For anon who asked;

hey can i ask your advice on feeling better after an awful exam? last week i had my hsc half yearlies and i had 5 exams all in one week and i have adhd so study is really hard for me and i did a lot of last minute stuff…and i’ll be lucky if i get 12% and i’m so worried about what my teacher’s going to say…and i’ll embarrass myself and i’ll go from top in the class to irredeemably bottom and it’s all over now but i feel so so awful, i can’t sleep at night bc of stress about it and i don’t know what to do 

“Effort will never betray you”

This quote gets circulated around a lot. With good reason. 

But you know what?

Sometimes effort will betray you.

So here’s some tips on what to do when that sonofabitch stabs you in the back.

(Aka learning to get up when you’ve been (metaphorically) kicked in the balls)

Immediately after the exam

Fight or Flight? 

Everyone responds differently to post-exam stress. Some people find it cathartic to discuss their asnwers immediately after the exam. Others don’t. If you fall within the latter group then don’t be afraid to hightail the fuck out of the exam room as soon as possible. There’s no need to exacerbate your stress levels. Take care of yourself.

What can you control? 

Be honest about what you can control after the exam. You can’t sit the exam again, you can’t rewind the clock two weeks and change your study habits. Whilst its natural to feel a sense of regret or dread over the questions you found challenging, realise that these feelings do not change what has happened. The decisive step is how you respond to these negative emotions. For example, try not to let your feelings about your performance in this exam affect your performance in your next exam. Whether it be ‘compartmentalisation’, ‘crying it out’ or ‘ignoring it’ - stick it in the “IOU” box of emotions to unpack later. All you can do now is to wait for your results.

Quick review 

While it’s still fresh in your mind, write down three positives of the exam, followed by three negatives. Did your study methods correlate to the areas examined? Were you nervous? Was time management an issue? How did you feel walking out of that exam? What song best describes the entire experience? This quickfire stream of consciousness review will serve as an honest reflection from which you can target and refine your exam preparation technique, both academically and emotionally. I also find writing things down a great way to ‘let go’ of those residual emotions from the exam.

Take a break

Chances are, you’ve been highly strung for the past few weeks (or heck, the all nighter you’ve pulled to study for the exam). Congratulate yourself - fuck yes you’ve completed an exam! Find an activity to break up the cycle of study-eat-rest-study. You’ll be back to that routine in a few hours. Let yourself breathe. Listen to that album, watch that movie, catch up with that friend you’ve been rescheduling for the past month, read that book. Mindlessly scroll tumblr, binge watch netflix - Reset and recuperate so that you’re ready for the next hurdle.

Comparing yourself to others

Its natural to judge your performance against everyone else in the exam, how much they wrote, what answers they got, how they solved a problem. Don’t give too much weight to what people say they’ve done. You don’t know what they wrote, and just because five people wrote the same response doesn’t mean that your response is incorrect. . In the end you can only control your own performance. Putting it bluntly, after the exam, it doesn’t matter what your peers wrote. Because it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t go back and change your answer. What’s done is done.

Upon receiving your results

Break it down

What were your strengths and weaknesses? What types of questions did you do well in? Is it a substantive or procedural problem?  (e.g. is it because you don’t understand the content, or is it because you can’t manage your study time/ write that quickly/ poor time management during the exam). Use this as a matrix to target your study method and review for your next exam

Ask for help

Don’t be afraid to ask your teacher or professor for advice. Even when you’ve done well - it doesn’t hurt to ask where those extra marks could have gone, or how you could further develop your response for future exams. Its always daunting to ask for advice when you’ve done poorly in an exam. But don’t forget, your teacher is paid to help you. Literally.

Special Consideration

If you feel as if your performance has been affected by a health issue, don’t be afraid to ask for a formal review of your marks or for special consideration (alteration of your marks) for your next exam. Check your high school/ university policies on this matter. Some will require formal documentation, and there may be a strict deadline you’ll need to adhere to. Asking for SC is nothing to be ashamed of. It doesn’t mean you are any less deserving of your results. Its simply a recognition that “hey, we need to level the playing field here.“ 

Some advice from people who are much more qualified than me:

A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

On being wrong

On getting up again

Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck) 

Overcoming hopelessness 

The Power of Vulnerability

What next?  

On the necessity of failure 

Dealing with failure

Some advice from Oprah, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Julie Andrews  

Why you will fail to have a great career

Come here friend,  and let me whisper in your ear: I failed. 

Studying and Exams

Motivation by @areistotle

How to reduce exam stress by @studydesu

How to mentally prepare yourself for a test by @eruditicn

What to do the night before an exam by @beautifullearning

Focusing on a long term goal by @studybuzz

Preparing for a day of study by @gracelearns 

Annotating Texts by @delthenerd

Using onenote by @strive-for-da-best 

Study Apps by @katsdesk

Dealing with anxiety and mental illness

Resources for studying with a mental illness by @studybowie

How to study with a mental illness by @haleystudies

Dealing with Test Anxiety by @studybuzz

ADHD As A Difference In Cognition, Not A Disorder by Stephen Tonti 

Depression, the Secret We Share by Andrew Solomon

Living and Studying with anxiety by @hayley-studies

5 tips for an exam if you have test anxiety by @collegerefs

Overcoming Test Anxiety  by @staedtlers-and-stabilos

Study and mental health  by @getstudyblr

This answer by @studyrose 

Self Care, Sleep and General Health.

101 self care ideas when it gets all too much by @hbstudy

Balancing a healthy lifestyle with studying by @joolshallie

Tips for getting better rest by @overstudies

Sleep by @studygene

Calculate your bedtime 

How to succeed? Get more sleep by Arianna Huffington

Pzizz  

Relax Melodies (iPhone) (android) 

This list by @thecaseyfeed

A few things to help you feel better

See this list

A Song A Day 

Find something on the Nostalgia Machine  

Spotify playlists by @studyrelief

Motivational texts from @academla

Looking beyond: University Entry

Success is not a predetermined route.

Whilst it may feel like your future hinges on this one exam, remember your future isn’t some pre-determined linear equation. Your definition of success will change as you change. Your ambitions will change. Your gaols will change. And as long as you keep your mind open and you harbour a willingness to adapt, then there will always be a pathway for you to achieve your success. 

And for those who have no frickin’ clue what their ‘passions, dreams, ambitions’ are? Its ok. You don’t need some ‘overarching mission to save the world’ every morning. In the wise words of Tim Minchin:

“Americans on talent shows always talk about their dreams. Fine, if you have something that you’ve always dreamed of, like, in your heart, go for it! After all, it’s something to do with your time… chasing a dream. And if it’s a big enough one, it’ll take you most of your life to achieve, so by the time you get to it and are staring into the abyss of the meaninglessness of your achievement, you’ll be almost dead so it won’t matter. I never really had one of these big dreams. And so I advocate passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. Be micro-ambitious. Put your head down and work with pride on whatever is in front of you… you never know where you might end up. Just be aware that the next worthy pursuit will probably appear in your periphery. Which is why you should be careful of long-term dreams. If you focus too far in front of you, you won’t see the shiny thing out the corner of your eye. Right? Good. Advice. Metaphor. Look at me go.”

A few pointers:

The following section is sponsored by my opinions

Effort might betray you.

You can work hard at something and still not get the result you want. It’s all about expectation management. You might work hard and fall within the top 1% of your cohort. You can work hard and still fail.  

This is not to say that you shouldn’t try at all.

It’s merely a recognition that things don’t always go your way, you cannot control everything. The best thing you can do in that circumstance is to prepare for any contingencies.

You can control how you respond to that failure.

Sometimes it’s a question of studying effectively. The adage ‘study smart, not hard’ etc. Target your study to the syllabus, the material covered in the exam, the specific style of questions in the exam. Sometimes it may simply be exam technique. 

Other times its things beyond your control. Stress, nerves, blanking out - we’re only human.

In the end, what you learn from the process is just as important as the result. Conversely, the result may not always justify the means. 

On confidence and self worth

Its only natural to assume that your self worth is tied to your academic achievements. Up till now, you’ve spent the majority of your waking hours at school, under the pressure of constant assessments and scrutiny.

Keep in mind that one exam is only a reflection of your performance at one precise time, on one specific date, in one specific place. How you perform on 10am on Monday in exam hall A does not reflect your capacity nor ability for the other 364 days of your life. 

Find something which you can do for yourself. Something which you can fail in, without feeling terrible.This other thing doesn’t have to be another ‘hobby’ you’re amazing at. It doesn’t have to be something you’re good at. “Being the best” is not a pre requisite to “enjoying something”. 

A final note:

Its ok to be stressed. Its difficult to distinguish our achievements from our self worth. Its not as simple as ‘just getting over it’. Because its something you’ve invested time, emotion, sleep - and a whole heck of a lot more- on. Its something you’ve based your foreseeable future on. The pressure of a promised future, a ‘better future’, a future ‘that justifies all this suffering I’m dragging myself through’ is sometimes the greatest pressure we put ourselves under.

Its easy to underestimate the weight of our own expectations.

Whilst you cannot control every outcome, you can control your reaction to it. Choose to learn from your past mistakes, choose to forgive yourself, choose to accept your flaws. Try not to get lost in the maze of it all. Once again, in the words of good ol’ Tim Minchin,

You will soon be dead. Life will sometimes seem long and tough and, god, it’s tiring. And you will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. And then you’ll be old. And then you’ll be dead.There is only one sensible thing to do with this empty existence, and that is: fill it. Not fillet. Fill. It.

And in my opinion (until I change it), life is best filled by learning as much as you can about as much as you can, taking pride in whatever you’re doing, having compassion, sharing ideas, running(!), being enthusiastic. And then there’s love, and travel, and wine, and sex, and art, and kids, and giving, and mountain climbing … but you know all that stuff already.

All the best,

fuckstudy

Masterposts can be found here. Feel free to request a topic here.

Talk to people when things go to shit.

I don’t just mean get it off your chest, although that’s good. I mean: Something’s wrong with your paycheck/you lost your job/you had unexpected emergency car repairs and now you’re broke so your credit card payment is late. Like, not just 15 days late. We’re talking, shit got crazy and now you’re 90 days late with compounded interest and late fees and the Minimum Payment Due is, like, $390, and you’ve got about $3.90 in your bank account. Call the credit card company. 

I know it’s scary. I know you feel like you’re going to get in trouble, like you’re gong to get yelled at or scolded for not having your life together. But the credit card company isn’t your parents; they’re just interested in getting money from you. And you can’t squeeze blood from a stone or money from someone who doesn’t have any. So what you do is you call them. You explain you’re experiencing temporary financial hardships, and you’re currently unable to bring your account up to date, but you don’t want to just let it get worse. Can you maybe talk to someone about a payment plan so you can work something out? Nine times out of ten you’ll be able to negotiate something so that at least it’s not just taking a constant, giant shit on your credit score.

- Can’t pay your power bill? Call the power company.

- Can’t pay your full rent? Talk to your landlord.

- Had to go to the hospital without insurance and have giant medical bills looming in your place? Call the hospital and ask if they have someone who helps people with financial hardships. Many do.

- Got super sick and missed half a semester of class because flu/pneumonia/auto-immune problems/depressive episode? Talk to your professor. If that doesn’t help, talk to your advisor.

You may not be able to fix everything, but you’ll likely be able to make improvements. At the very least, it’s possible that they have a list of people you can contact to help you with things. (Also, don’t be afraid to google things like, “I can’t pay my power bill [state you live in]” because you’d be surprised at what turns up on Google!) But the thing is, people in these positions gain nothing if you fail. There’s no emotional satisfaction for them if your attempts at having your life together completely bite the dust. In fact, they stand to benefit if things work out for you! And chances are, they’ll be completely happy to take $20 a month from you over getting $0 a month from you, your account will be considered current because you’ve talked to them and made an agreement, you won’t get reported to a collections agency, and your credit score won’t completely tank.

Here’s some helpful tips to keep in mind:

1. Be polite. Don’t demand things; request them. Let me tell you about how customer service people hold your life in their hands and how many extra miles they’ll go for someone who is nice to them.

2. Stick to the facts, and keep them minimal unless asked for them. Chances are they’re not really interested in the details. “We had several family emergencies in a row, and now I’m having trouble making the payments” is better than “Well, two months ago my husband wrecked his bike, and then he had a reaction to the muscle relaxer they gave him, and then our dog swallowed a shoestring and we had to take him to the emergency clinic, and just last week MY car broke down, and now my account’s in the negatives and I don’t know how I’m gonna get it back out.” The person you’re talking to is aware shit happens to everyone; they don’t need the details to prove you’re somehow “worthy” of being helped. They may ask you for details at a certain point if they have to fill out any kind of request form, but let them do that.

3. Ask questions. “Is there anything we can do about X?” “Would it be possible to move my payment date to Y day instead so it’s not coming out of the same paycheck as my rent?” The answer may be “no.” That’s not a failure on your part. But a good customer service person may have an alternate solution. 

I’m headed into my 3rd year of uni, so I thought I’d make a post sharing my tips on how to do well in school, not burn out, and keep your mental health relatively stable.

1. Snacks - seriously, don’t leave home without at least 2 substantial snacks in your bag. If you’re go-go-going all day and suddenly your sitting in a lecture about to crash cause you haven’t eaten anything all day, you’re gonna want snacks. Some suggestions: Cashews (they’re not super loud/crunchy, so they’re perfect for lecture snackin’), a granola bar, an apple, cherry tomatoes, trail mix.

2. Don’t buy the textbook before you go to your first class - I’ve worked at a university bookstore for 2 years, and every year, people end up buying 700$ worth of first year text books, and then they don’t even use them. Wait. and then wait some more. If there are required readings, then get the textbook, if your prof says there will be questions from the textbook on the exam, then get the textbook, but trust me, for 90% of first year classes (and a lot of other ones) you don’t need the textbook. SAVE YOUR WALLETS

3. Take notes efficiently - honestly the best way to take notes, is type up the lecture notes that are provided, BEFOREHAND, and then during lecture, fill in the blanks/add information/take down any important things your prof is saying as you go through the lecture on your laptop in a different color. This way you’re much less likely to miss any important information, you won’t be confused about what to take down, and you won’t fall into the trap of taking down notes that are already being provided to you. After class, or while making study notes, copy these notes out by hand to remember what you learned.

4. Keep it simple - pretty notes are GREAT if you have the time, but once you get to upper level uni, and you have 100 slides of notes to turn into study notes, you will not have the time to make your notes look aesthetically pleasing. Just get the info down so you can focus on learning it.

5. Have a designated study space - i did all of my highschool homework and studying in my bed, and 90% of the time, I ended up falling asleep. My bed wasn’t going to cut it for uni, so I got a cheap ikea desk, and it’s made me so much more organized and productive.

6. Take as much ‘you time’ as possible - take a bath. light candles. binge watch a tv show. veg out with a book for 4 hours if you have the time. do your makeup super special one day. get yourself that venti pumpkin spice latte with extra whip whenever you feel like it. Uni is a shitty time I’m not gonna lie. It’s stressful as f*ck, and whenever you can spare a couple hours or a couple dollars to TREAT YO SELF, do it.

7.  If you have anxiety, CUT THE COFFEE. caffeine is a huge trigger for anxiety. Caffeine takes away from your sleep, messes with your adrenalin systems, and can make you super paranoid and anxious all the time. 

8. If you think your in the wrong major, change it - I started in geology, and I HATED IT. Now I’m in psych and I love it. It is never too late for a change of program. If you think you’re doing something you don’t wanna do, or your not enjoying it, don’t do it.

9. For mornings you have to be ready and out the door, or if you’re a person who always runs late, have a getting-ready routine and get it down pat. Have a mental list of things you need to do, and things you need to remember, and find out how much time it takes you. Get up at 8am, shower, wash face/brush teeth, get dressed, do makeup, pack bag, remember keys, wallet, laptop, notebook, pen and train pass, have breakfast, put on shoes, leave by 9am.

10. Utilize your time in transit. - finish a reading, go over flashcards, read study notes, listen to an album you’ve been meaning to listen to, read a book, read some fanfic, idk but don’t just sit there unless just sitting there is what you need.

watch netflix in your target language - cartoons and disney films are always a good starting point

start a podcast about your favourite topic (tv shows, films, games etc.) 

start a video blog/diary - record yourself on how your day went (don’t worry - you don’t have to post it online!)

start a journal in your target language

set your favourite video game to your target language (e.g. animal crossing)

write tv and film reviews 

listen to free audiobooks on youtube in the background

fall asleep to whispered ASMR videos in your target language (search on youtube ASMR + the language you’re learning)

use apps like duolingo, memrise and quizlet (you could even create your own vocab course)

your grades don’t define you

mental health is a priority

not doing some homework assignments isn’t the end of the world

turn things in on time even if they aren’t completely done

you don’t need a perfect GPA to go to college

apply for scholarships

drama is exhausting; try to avoid it

ask for help when you need it

you aren’t stupid for not knowing everything

not every friend is a real one

teachers aren’t always right

everyone makes mistakes

when going out/attending events, make sure you don’t sit at the corner of the table. It might seem tempting as you can leave easily from that position, but if you aren’t the type of person who’s making themselves the center of the conversation, you’re likely to get left out there

if you aren’t comfortable with your flat-/roommate(s), it’s fine to keep the interaction at a minimum. Honestly, getting along well with your flatmates is nice, but it’s the cherry on top - as long as you do your share of the housework, 99% of people probably won’t mind if you don’t want to interact with them a lot

you will find the right people, don’t stress yourself out

there’s absolutely no shame in going somewhere alone - this isn’t highschool, you don’t have to be surrounded by frinds all the time, so if you want to check out that new cafe, just do it on your own if you feel like it

in seminars and other types of classes where participation is important: try to contribute, but don’t stress yourself out over it. Quantity<quality, it’s better to say one constructive thing every two weeks than to raise your hand five times in every class without actually having something to say

you don’t have to attend any uni events if it makes you uncomfortable, but it’s worth keeping in mind that there aren’t just parties, but also movie nights, poetry slams, reading clubs… my university even has a knitting club (Hello Knitty lol) where you can learn the basics, share designs, drink coffee and knit together, so honestly: there’s probably something for you, too, so keep an eye open for that!

it’s always fine to ask for help, chances are the other person has been in your situation before and can give you good advice!

in general: enjoy your time at uni as much as you can, it will be over before you know it

How to Fix your Sleep Schedule

We’ve all been there. You’ve been pushing back your bedtime for an entire week and now you feel exhausted and you don’t think you can function as well as you normally could. You just want to get enough sleep again, but how?

Make small changes

It’s a lot easier to push back your bedtime than to push it forward—but it’s not impossible. You just have to take it step by step. Go to sleep 15-30 minutes earlier every night until you reach your desired bedtime. You could try going to sleep much earlier than your regular time, but according that doesn’t usually work out. If you’re waking up later than you want to, you might also want to try waking up 15 minutes earlier each morning until you get up at the desired time.

I remember there was a week this semester when I went to sleep at 1am for several days in a row (I usually sleep at 11). I was sleep deprived and exhausted and I tried to sleep at 8 to catch up on lost sleep, but I couldn’t. I just laid in my bed for an hour until I gave up trying to sleep and decided to work on some homework until I felt sleepy again. What I should’ve done was go to bed 15 minutes earlier each night until I could go to sleep at 11 again.

Adjust exposure to sunlight

Exposure to adequate amounts of sunlight is key to helping our bodies maintain their circadian rhythm, which is the process that regulates our energy levels during the day and tells us when to be awake and when to go to sleep. Sunlight helps our body produce optimal levels of melatonin, a hormone that makes us feel sleepy at night. Studies have shown that people get better quality sleep in the summer because there is a greater exposure to light.

That being said, you should expose yourself to more light during the day to get better sleep at night. This might mean waking up earlier so you don’t miss hours of sunlight in the morning.

At night, you should reduce your exposure to any sort of light - both natural and artificial - so that your body knows it’s time to not be awake. I personally turn down the lights (and only have my fairy lights on) after 10:30 pm. When you’re trying to get back into your desired sleep schedule, you could aim to turn down the lights 30 minutes before your desired bedtime for that day.

Don’t eat too close to bedtime

You should wait 2 - 3 hours between dinner/your last meal and bedtime. I would talk about how studies show that eating too close to bedtime can possibly damage your health, e.g. causing reflux when you’re lying down, but that’s all been said before. The only thing I’d like to reiterate is that you sleep better when you wait after you eat. But as for my own logic on why you shouldn’t go to sleep when you’re full…

When you wait a few hours after you’ve had your last meal, before you go to bed, you won’t go to bed full, meaning that in the morning, you’re likely to be hungry. I don’t know about you, but I can’t go back to sleep when I’m, like, starving, so being hungry when I wake up causes me to resist sleeping in.

Don’t sleep in

You would think that sleeping in is, in fact, good for catching up on sleep. In reality, it doesn’t make you stop sleeping late, since you’d probably still spend the same amount of time awake. Instead, once you wake up, you should stay up, and don’t go back to sleep. You’re likely to get sleepy at an earlier time, and this will help you push forward your bedtime.

Resist napping

Resisting naps also has a similar logic to not sleeping in. If you take a nap, you’ll feel more energetic and night, and you might not be able to fall asleep as soon as you wanted to. If you resist taking a nap, however, you’ll be more tired at night, and you’ll fall asleep more easily.

Be strict with yourself

Finally, the key to having a good, consistent sleep schedule is to be strict with yourself. Don’t let yourself stay up for just 5 more minutes because you still have a ‘small’ task to take care of. When it’s time to end the day, end the day.

Maybe it’s hard for you to be strict with yourself since you can’t justify going to sleep over completing whatever task or responsibility you have left. Well, here’s my logic:

You could stay up 5 more minutes and risk extending that to a few hours or so in attempt to finish something. There’s no guarantee that you’ll finish it, and you might just lose all those precious hours of sleep for nothing, since you’ll wake up in the morning tired and unable to effectively do the task you wanted to do; or

You could stop everything you’re doing and sleep on it. You wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and clear-headed and ready to tackle on your tasks for the day. You find a new way to think about the task you were stuck on, and you finally solve it in less than half an hour.

I do realize that this only applies if the task isn’t super urgent. Let’s say you have a project due 11:59 PM and you’re rushing to finish that. In this case, the core problem is probably something else: an inability to manage your time, or procrastination. If that’s the case, you might want to check out my posts on how to beat procrastination and how to create an efficient (revision) schedule. The latter post is tailored for exam preparation, but the main ideas are the same for general scheduling (there’s a recap at the bottom if you just want to know the main ideas).

Additionally, you might wanna check out my post on my night routine.

for example, one of the things you can try is setting a really loud and annoying alarm and putting your alarm clock/phone somewhere far from your bed. one time i used a recording of myself singing as my alarm so ofc when i hear my own voice in the morning im all like nope gotta shut that off rn before anyone else hears.

you could also sleep with the curtains and window/s open so the light and sound in the morning will wake you up - this might not work as well if you’re a deep sleeper, though.

I’m supposed to be studying some Italian, but instead, I was googling in my computer how to learn a new language (no, googling how to learn will not teach you shit, you have to sit down and learn your target language not how to do it, I know but I’m lazy.) and I came across LingoHut, and I have to share it.

I don’t know if someone ever talked about this page, but if they did is worth mentioning again.

So basically you go to the website and in the Home Page you have to choose what is your first language and what language are you trying to learn.

Once you choose it’ll take you to another page in which you have tons of lessons, for ex. In Italian, there are 109 lessons.

I haven’t checked every lesson yet but for example, the first one is greetings and such. You click that lesson and you have 16 flashcards that will show you the word in your target language and the translation, at the same time that someone pronounces the words.

Below the flashcards, you have this  ⬇️

And basically is a bunch of game, an easy matching words kind of game, some kind of tic tac toe with words, a memory game do you know the one that kids play in which they have to find the matching pictures? Same but with words and lastly a listening and matching game.

Below the bar of the games, we have the vocabulary list of the words we are taught in that lesson, and you can click the word and listen the pronunciation.

In the end, you have a bunch of the next lessons.

The lessons vary from the content it can be greetings, numbers, health stuff, office words, computer terminology, etc.

The website doesn’t have every language in the world, but it has a lot of them. choose your target language, in my case Italian, and enjoy, is fun and simple if you want to practice or do something related to your target language but you don’t have the willingness that day to study something more consistent like structure.

20.08.19 ☕

A reset day at home. I’ve spent all day in my new pyjamas and slippers getting some rest after a stressful few days. So far I … 

Made an really heathy breakfast (a green smoothie and egg, avocado, feta and tomato toast with spinach) 

Did some journaling 

Listened to my favourite podcast 

Drank herbal tea 

Tried out these Kiehl’s face masks 

Made some little health shots (with ginger, lemon, orange, cayenne pepper, turmeric, black pepper and cinnamon)

I’m also about to bake some banana bread for the first time!