Ben the Study Buddy

French literature:  Does love have meaning?

Russian literature:  Does suffering have meaning?

You’ve always wanted to join the studyblr community, but you’re still a bit unsure? 

You already made a blog but would like a little bit more guidance? 

You love the studyblr community and would like to give something back to newcomers? 

You want to make new friends and help others along the way?

Then I’m very happy to introduce the Studyblr Summer Mentorship Program. We connect experienced studyblrs with those only starting out, or who are just curious still. This way you can be part of a vast network with a variety of studyblrs - different backgrounds, different stories, different experiences. Too often newbies are discouraged because they can’t seem to truly connect with the community in the beginning, or have a lot of unanswered questions. Others don’t even create a blog because everything seems so intimidating - why is everything so aesthetically pleasing?? 

Mentors: - you mentor one or several baby studyblrs - you give back to the community, make it a better place and help others - you connect with other studyblr, new and more experienced - apply here!

Mentees: - you get guidance and support from an experienced member - how do I find a theme? what are some studyblr essentials? how do I make friends? how do I actually use studyblr productively and not fall into the trap of procrastination by looking at pretty notes?? (still haven’t figured that one out myself) how do I gain followers? etc. - you get access to a network of studyblrs - you’re introduced to the community and all its wonderful perks - apply here!

Mentors and Mentees: - gain friends!! - take part in challenges/group chats/ask games/anything fun (optional) - meet others in the community 

Summary:

An Emporer or so they say has sent a message to you.

Kwik Analysis:

To me it was about doing what others say is the impossible

Deeper Analysis:

Its about someone with a lofty goal they achieve. The messenger thinks if he didnt have people in his way he could soar. He imagines himself as a bird. He is in essence a carrier pigeon in his own mind. Birds tend to carry yhe symbol of freedom. The never ending corridors and courtyard along his journey are the steps to this goal. The stories ultimate message in delivering you the reader the message is nothing is impossible.Theres alot of bird symbolism comes to mind.

hello guys 🌻 so, i just finished my A-levels *cheers* and basically i have not the slightest idea what to do with my free time but i’m determined to stay productive, hence this is the reason for this masterpost. hope you all enjoy it too!! 

(updated: June 2017)

stuff to do after exams

GET THAT SLEEP YOU MISSED OUT ON FOR AGES, your body and mind will thank you

treat yourself!!!

get into a bath and chill

play your fave songs

get back to watching that series you stopped watching before exams or start a new one asap

meet up with your friends and do something fun [and try to avoid talking about exams as much as you can]

get back to doing that hobby you loved doing

plan a trip [even if it’s just in your own country, have fun and act like a tourist!]

organise a sleepover with your friends + play some board games

check out local events, there is bound to be something you like

GO TO THE BEACH AYYY

download some new apps yay!!!

do new things! [read new books (+ some more), watch new tv shows, find a new hobby, do anything really, the time is all yours!]

spend time with your family and friends

exercise maybe idk??? find a new workout you like + try to stick to it

meditate

try finding a job [check my job tag for tips + resources]

try out new restaurants, coffeeshops and whatever tickles your fancy

volunteer at some place you find interesting!

help out around the house

visit relatives you didn’t have the chance to visit during exams/the scholastic year

cute june quote!!

academics + learning

start a bullet journal?

buy some books and read them!

plan, plan, plan!!

learn a new language

learn how to cook + make fun snacks [experiment with food, it’s so much fun to discover new, delicious things]

learn photography [or a new hobby in general tbh]

find an online course on something you don’t have to study for school

watch some documentaries

check your school syllabuses for books you should read before starting the next school year

prepare for uni

take some summer classes

review some of your notes from time to time if they’re useful for the next school year

where to get motivation

motivation masterpost

motivation tag

my study instagram

study inspiration

how to study in summer

staying on track during the summer

+ my masterposts

notes, studying, and self-study resources

self-study resources

supplies

igcse resources

literature masterpost

organisation

aesthetically pleasing notes

annotating

studying a foreign language

really great apps

math

college + uni

motivation

biology

space!!!!

chemistry

physics

summary writing

the discursive/argumentative essay

the narrative essay + the descriptive essay

the ultimate english masterpost!!

stress relief

what i’ve learnt throughout my years of being a student

how to stay productive during holidays

bullet journals

melodic studying

philosophy

stay sated whilst you’re motivated

shakespeare

+ more

hope this helped you guys, enjoy your summer!!

- helena xx

My tumblr is now open to submissions on Finance, Cryptocurrency, and Technology. Just submit a post if I like it it goes up. I promote it like my other stuff. I put across all my social media. My tumblr is on a march to 100 by the end of the year. My twitter is on the rise. My instagram totals in over 1200 followers and I plan to reach 3000 followers soon. The post is also what you make it. Promote it too and spread the word that quality posts come here.

Stop studying the night before. I have noticed that if i keep forcing myself to learn until last minute (which it’s not gonna happen, you know what you have been processing for a while not just right before they hand the paper sheets) i start doubting myself more

Go with an “i don’t care anymore” attitude. This one is my fave. With this i mean letting go of every single worry you may have of failing. If you don’t care about failing there’s no tension or stress during the exam, therefore you will be able to think more clearly than under pressure.

Figure out your minimum hours of sleep. I learned that i need at least 5 hours to function properly. Find yours and use it in your favor.

Relationships with classmates. You probably will only see your friends in some classes or just one, dont let this unmotivate you and not attend to lectures!! Everyone is asleep and no one will think you’re awkward for sitting alone. Don’t force friendships or try acting like someone you’re not, people can see it and repells them.

Relationships with teachers. Can’t stress this enough, if you’re gonna put effort in creating a bond with someone in college, it has to be your teachers. Try getting there early and pick a seat in the front, make questions via email or in person, if you’re shy like me wait until the end of the lecture and talk to the teacher instead of asking out loud.

Learn from failure. Don’t waste precious time giving yourself a hard time, it won’t make you any smarter. Pay attention to details and correct them for the next time, that’s how champs do it AND YOU’RE ONE OF THEM!

Relaxing. I know how guilty you feel when it’s been days and you haven’t looked at your notes, but hey we all go through that. It’s important to disconnect a little sometimes and come back with a %100 battery instead of a %35, am i right? Just don’t let the relaxation become 2 weeks or a whole month.

FAMOUS AUTHORS

Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.

The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.

Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.

Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.

Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.

Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.

Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.

Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.

The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.

Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.

Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.

Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.

Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.

Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.

TEXTBOOKS

Textbook Revolution: Find biology, business, engineering, mathematics and world history textbooks here.

Wikibooks: From cookbooks to the computing department, find instructional and educational materials here.

KnowThis Free Online Textbooks: Get directed to stats textbooks and more.

Online Medical Textbooks: Find books about plastic surgery, anatomy and more here.

Online Science and Math Textbooks: Access biochemistry, chemistry, aeronautics, medical manuals and other textbooks here.

MIT Open Courseware Supplemental Resources: Find free videos, textbooks and more on the subjects of mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry and more.

Flat World Knowledge: This innovative site has created an open college textbooks platform that will launch in January 2009.

Free Business Textbooks: Find free books to go along with accounting, economics and other business classes.

Light and Matter: Here you can access open source physics textbooks.

eMedicine: This project from WebMD is continuously updated and has articles and references on surgery, pediatrics and more.

MATH AND SCIENCE

FullBooks.com: This site has “thousands of full-text free books,” including a large amount of scientific essays and books.

Free online textbooks, lecture notes, tutorials and videos on mathematics: NYU links to several free resources for math students.

Online Mathematics Texts: Here you can find online textbooks likeElementary Linear Algebra and Complex Variables.

Science and Engineering Books for free download: These books range in topics from nanotechnology to compressible flow.

FreeScience.info: Find over 1800 math, engineering and science books here.

Free Tech Books: Computer programmers and computer science enthusiasts can find helpful books here.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

byGosh: Find free illustrated children’s books and stories here.

Munseys: Munseys has nearly 2,000 children’s titles, plus books about religion, biographies and more.

International Children’s Digital Library: Find award-winning books and search by categories like age group, make believe books, true books or picture books.

Lookybook: Access children’s picture books here.

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

Bored.com: Bored.com has music ebooks, cooking ebooks, and over 150 philosophy titles and over 1,000 religion titles.

Ideology.us: Here you’ll find works by Rene Descartes, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, David Hume and others.

Free Books on Yoga, Religion and Philosophy: Recent uploads to this site include Practical Lessons in Yoga and Philosophy of Dreams.

The Sociology of Religion: Read this book by Max Weber, here.

Religion eBooks: Read books about the Bible, Christian books, and more.

PLAYS

ReadBookOnline.net: Here you can read plays by Chekhov, Thomas Hardy, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and others.

Plays: Read Pygmalion, Uncle Vanya or The Playboy of the Western World here.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: MIT has made available all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories.

Plays Online: This site catalogs “all the plays [they] know about that are available in full text versions online for free.”

ProPlay: This site has children’s plays, comedies, dramas and musicals.

MODERN FICTION, FANTASY AND ROMANCE

Public Bookshelf: Find romance novels, mysteries and more.

The Internet Book Database of Fiction: This forum features fantasy and graphic novels, anime, J.K. Rowling and more.

Free Online Novels: Here you can find Christian novels, fantasy and graphic novels, adventure books, horror books and more.

Foxglove: This British site has free novels, satire and short stories.

Baen Free Library: Find books by Scott Gier, Keith Laumer and others.

The Road to Romance: This website has books by Patricia Cornwell and other romance novelists.

Get Free Ebooks: This site’s largest collection includes fiction books.

John T. Cullen: Read short stories from John T. Cullen here.

SF and Fantasy Books Online: Books here include Arabian Nights,Aesop’s Fables and more.

Free Novels Online and Free Online Cyber-Books: This list contains mostly fantasy books.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Project Laurens Jz Coster: Find Dutch literature here.

ATHENA Textes Francais: Search by author’s name, French books, or books written by other authors but translated into French.

Liber Liber: Download Italian books here. Browse by author, title, or subject.

Biblioteca romaneasca: Find Romanian books on this site.

Bibliolteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Look up authors to find a catalog of their available works on this Spanish site.

KEIMENA: This page is entirely in Greek, but if you’re looking for modern Greek literature, this is the place to access books online.

Proyecto Cervantes: Texas A&M’s Proyecto Cervantes has cataloged Cervantes’ work online.

Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: Access many Latin texts here.

Project Runeberg: Find Scandinavian literature online here.

Italian Women Writers: This site provides information about Italian women authors and features full-text titles too.

Biblioteca Valenciana: Register to use this database of Catalan and Valencian books.

Ketab Farsi: Access literature and publications in Farsi from this site.

Afghanistan Digital Library: Powered by NYU, the Afghanistan Digital Library has works published between 1870 and 1930.

CELT: CELT stands for “the Corpus of Electronic Texts” features important historical literature and documents.

Projekt Gutenberg-DE: This easy-to-use database of German language texts lets you search by genres and author.

HISTORY AND CULTURE

LibriVox: LibriVox has a good selection of historical fiction.

The Perseus Project: Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library features titles from Ancient Rome and Greece, published in English and original languages.

Access Genealogy: Find literature about Native American history, the Scotch-Irish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and more.

Free History Books: This collection features U.S. history books, including works by Paul Jennings, Sarah Morgan Dawson, Josiah Quincy and others.

Most Popular History Books: Free titles include Seven Days and Seven Nights by Alexander Szegedy and Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha G. Browne.

RARE BOOKS

Questia: Questia has 5,000 books available for free, including rare books and classics.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Books-On-Line: This large collection includes movie scripts, newer works, cookbooks and more.

Chest of Books: This site has a wide range of free books, including gardening and cooking books, home improvement books, craft and hobby books, art books and more.

Free e-Books: Find titles related to beauty and fashion, games, health, drama and more.

2020ok: Categories here include art, graphic design, performing arts, ethnic and national, careers, business and a lot more.

Free Art Books: Find artist books and art books in PDF format here.

Free Web design books: OnlineComputerBooks.com directs you to free web design books.

Free Music Books: Find sheet music, lyrics and books about music here.

Free Fashion Books: Costume and fashion books are linked to the Google Books page.

MYSTERY

MysteryNet: Read free short mystery stories on this site.

TopMystery.com: Read books by Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton and other mystery writers here.

Mystery Books: Read books by Sue Grafton and others.

POETRY

The Literature Network: This site features forums, a copy of The King James Bible, and over 3,000 short stories and poems.

Poetry: This list includes “The Raven,” “O Captain! My Captain!” and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.”

Poem Hunter: Find free poems, lyrics and quotations on this site.

Famous Poetry Online: Read limericks, love poetry, and poems by Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Lord Byron and others.

Google Poetry: Google Books has a large selection of poetry, fromThe Canterbury Tales to Beowulf to Walt Whitman.

QuotesandPoem.com: Read poems by Maya Angelou, William Blake, Sylvia Plath and more.

CompleteClassics.com: Rudyard Kipling, Allen Ginsberg and Alfred Lord Tennyson are all featured here.

PinkPoem.com: On this site, you can download free poetry ebooks.

MISC

Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to their full text online.

World eBook Library: This monstrous collection includes classics, encyclopedias, children’s books and a lot more.

DailyLit: DailyLit has everything from Moby Dick to the recent phenomenon, Skinny Bitch.

A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania’s page for women writers includes Newbery winners.

Free Online Novels: These novels are fully online and range from romance to religious fiction to historical fiction.

ManyBooks.net: Download mysteries and other books for your iPhone or eBook reader here.

Authorama: Books here are pulled from Google Books and more. You’ll find history books, novels and more.

There I was again tonight forcing laughter faking smiles so I made up this long ass post for y'all!

So you a potato. Me a potato. World conquered by we potatoes. But potato need survival tips. So your bro potato help you out. Yay potato. Go go potato.

Study related stuff :

1. Get good grades

Catch concepts, not chapters. Your portion is most likely gonna be super vast, so it’s helpful to know a little something from every chapter rather than knowing just 50% of your syllabus.

Figure out which concepts are important and master them.

Keep all assignments completed at least 1 day before submission date. This isn’t always possible but trust me if you do this you’re guaranteeing marks for proper submission. Job done early? Proof check and add touches to enhance that essay!

Let the teachers know that you’re working hard. I actually passed math because my math teacher knew I was working super hard on my math skills. Participate in the class, gather a bunch of doubts and then dump them on your teacher when the chapter ends.

Try not to miss lectures because chances are you’ll remember that silly mnemonic your friend made up in class and get the answer correct.

Analysis of your exam type is super important. Want me to make a long ass post about it?

2. Be more productive

Having a stuydjo/bujo by your side helps hella lot.

Plan plan plan. Lists, organise lists and colour code them. Basically become Monica Geller Bing and you’re set for life.

Motivational quotes from pinterest almost make me guilty for not being productive and force me to do something.

Before starting your study session, dance around to upbeat music for like 5 minutes. You’ll see the difference I promise.

Seek out inspiration from your smart friends /tumblr friends /people you look up to by constantly reminding yourself about them. I always think of hermione granger because even randomly picturing her with books in my mind ignites that badass boss feeling complying me to study tf up.

3. Manage your time

Studyjo/bujo saves your life.

Wear a watch all the damn time, it will remind you of how much time you’re spending doing nothing. You’ll end up saving several extra minutes!

List out what you’re gonna do every hour of the day on a sticky note and refer to it when you feel lazy.

Get a super nice friend /parent /sibling who will constantly remind you to utilise your time.

Think of time as currency and pretend that it’s all a game where you need to save up as much money as you can to become a billionaire. Save up your time and become rich af.

4. Avoid procrastinating

Stduyjo/bujo again. You know the drill now.

A little bit of exercise before starting work generally works you up and sets the correct mood.

Knowing how ahead your friends are from you often makes you wanna catch up so try getting that motivation.

Set goals + rewards that actually matter to you. Maybe a face care spa day isn’t your thing but munching on a snickers bar is. Treat yo self.

Tell someone a detailed plan of what you are going to accomplish the next day. Now whenever you see that person you’ll want to prove to them that you’re doing what you promised. Or the guilt may drive you too.

Appearance related stuff :

1. Look more put together

Try the lipstick trick. There are days when you do not have the time /want to put on makeup, so just put on a lipstick that matches your outfit and you’ll automatically create an illusion of being more put together, boss af and fabulous.

Try out cheap (potato can’t afford sorry) but elegant accessories. If it’s a necklace try tucking it under the collar of your shirt and see the magic. Stick to one staple accessory that’s gonna be your trademark.

Tame that mane potato. Your hair isn’t gonna detangle itself. You gotta do it. I mean, don’t you love your hair?

Minimalistic colours rock. Some outfits never go old like flannels or white shirts or black dresses.

2. Feel beautiful

The lipstick does the trick for me.

Putting my hair in a sky high ponytail makes me feel like I’m a queen or something.

Save little compliments for yourself as reminders and when you get them you’ll feel 10x more beautiful than before.

Mind related stuff :

1. Deal with burnout/slump

Try to accomplish super tiny stuff. Break down every task into micromolecular basics.

Give yourself a ted talk. It works.

Sometimes the best way of dealing with burnout is by detoxing from the thing that caused burnout. Stay away form books and after some time you’ll actually want to study.

2. Study with slumps/mental illness

Step one is to finish homework /assignments. If you can concentrate on them, you’re good to go.

Do not take up a lot of load, just skimming through textbooks, reviewing notes, going over flashcards should do the trick.

If you desperately need to get shit done, just ignore the fact that you do not want to do it. It’s harsh on your mind but desperate times require desperate measures.

Avoid forcing yourself to study because you’ll not retain info like that.

Take it easy. But consistently. Maybe just one topic a day. But do not miss a day. A steady everyday practice goes long way in the future.

3. Strengthen self control

There are several apps that can help you with this, like forest. My top pick is the Tide app which has a gorgeous interface and super aesthetic timers with new pictures everyday. I shit you not every time I quit my pomodoro I feel the guilt of having killed 1000 puppies its worse and I avoid doing that at all costs.

If you study in your room, keep your phone in the kitchen for some time. Your lazy ass is less likely to get up and use the phone.

Switching the phone off before starting a study session works because I care for my phone like a baby and it feels horrible to switch it on and off and on and off.

Practice 30 minutes of digital detox everyday. You don’t have to study at that time, just stay away from everything that is technology. Read and book, eat a fruit, make a sandwich, paint, sing, dance, exercise. Study if you want. Just no gadgets.

4. Deal with stress

Yoga works. Potato body ain’t that flexible so just breathing exercises for a start is also enough.

Highly recommended : brain dump every night before sleeping can ensure that you’ll not stay up too late pondering over the meaning of your existence and world politics.

Having a hearty talk with someone you trust will also lift weight off your chest.

Pin point the cause of your stress and annihilate the problem. Slay it.

Life related stuff :

1. Drink more water

Carry a cool ass bottle of water with you every frigging where.

Make it a rule to have a drink everytime you go to the loo or you take a bath /shower.

Replace one of your daily caffeines /sugars with water. You don’t have to get rid of coffee because that’s just non potato ish, but maybe that third cup could be replaced with water.

Try a game thingy. Maybe everytime the word ‘procrastination’ pops in your mind take a drink. Wow, I’m so creative *sighs for eternities*.

2. Be more healthy

5 minute stretches right after getting up works you up.

Try one of those YouTube videos of 15 minute workouts. You can have 3 such workouts through the day and call yourself a fit potato.

Replacing one packet of junk food with nuts/fruits also works.

Everytime you hear someone say something related to money, have a banana. Random much? Nope, bananas are known to increase hormones that make you happy in your body, meaning you’ll feel full and happy. Maybe offer the person a banana too.

3. Be more happy

Eat bananas!

Take pictures of things you love, not things your followers love.

Puppies are a source of eternal joy.

Reading goofy/cheesy/romance books make you giggle and feel good in general.

Watching cheesy films or good ass romcoms works just well.

Friends was created for a reason.

Writing down what you accomplished today gives a sense of pride and satisfaction. Take that shit.

Tumblr has shitposts made basically to make you happy.

4. Find your true calling /figuring tf out what you wanna do with your life

Lists lists lists. Subjects you love, you hate, you’re good at, you suck at.

Consulting your teachers, family etc and find out what they think you’re good at. Sometimes other people can see traits of yours better than you.

Career tests rock.

You’ll figure it out in the end somehow.

And that’s about it for now folks, hope this helps. See y'all laterz~

I debated whether to make this post or not but received positive feedback, so here we go! 

I am probably in a minority with this, but I like taking tests and exams. By that I don’t mean that I’d voluntarily do them if I didn’t have to, but they don’t cause me much distress or make me nervous - in fact, I’m even quite excited for some of them. In this post, I want to explain how I got that attitude and how it helps me. I realise that people are different and this post won’t magically make text anxiety or stress go away, and some people just prefer essays or other forms of test-taking, but I hope it offers a different perspective on things.

Here are some things that I think are advantages of exams:

1. They’re over faster

One of the best things about exams is that you have a specific time and date for them. Essays can spread out over weeks and months, they follow you around wherever you go. You also have to do much more work yourself - outlines, thesis statement, research, maybe even whole experiments. For an exam, you study in your own way, take the test - no citing, no formatting, no looking for a topic - and you’re done and can celebrate your holidays without being haunted by deadlines. Even if you’re super nervous - in two hours, it’ll be over.

2. They force you to learn everything

If you want to or not, you’ll have to study everything that could be on the exam - and even if it seems like it sucks (which it won’t if you already start preparing early in the semester), it usually means you retain more information and almost guarantees you’ll gain an understanding of most concepts taught, which can prove very valuable in advanced classes or even your later job. It also means you can study more systematically (flashcards! mind-maps! summaries! what’s not to love). Try channelling your inner Hermione for this one - the more you learn, the better.

3. They put you under pressure

How’s that a positive point? For me, it’s the most positive thing about exams - I have to deliver knowledge on the spot, which of course puts me under stress. Instead of despairing and giving up, I learnt to make that stress work in my favour - it enhances my performance. When I write essays, I just laze about in my bed or on my balcony, browsing through JSTOR and waiting for inspiration, taking breaks whenever I want. Exams have me extremely focused for a specific period of time which usually leads to much better results.

4. They’re kinda fun

I personally get kind of a thrill out of figuring out the best answers to problems. My favourite way is “What does the professor want to hear” or “What did they have in mind when they designed this?”. Getting into your teacher’s mindset can get you pretty far in exams, especially in open answer questions, because you’ve listened to them talk about those topics for several months and can usually give a good guess about what they want to hear.

Okay ya’ll lets talk. For me, not only is school stressful, but at my college I also have to keep up my athletics and military skills. WHICH IS SO EFFING STRESSFUL. I always did really well in high school (thanks to awesome studyblrs like @emmastudies @studyign @highlightcrs @studymotivationuniversity and so on), but in college I literally feel like I never have ANY TIME TO DO ANYTHING! But instead of going insane and hating myself (which trust me, I did for a few months) I came up with a list of self care techniques that I think can be really helpful! And none of these take an entire “Self Care Day” which face it, none of us have time for So BUCKLE UP, FOLKS HERE IS @rubynerdy’s GUIDE TO QUICK AND EFFECTIVE SELF CARE:

1. GET AWAY.

College can sometimes feel consuming. You live in a small dorm room, go to the same lecture halls every day, and see the same people. I am a huge believer in getting the hell away from the campus. Even if its just going to see a movie or going to a cute coffee shop, getting away for even an hour can really clear your head.

2. SPA 10 MINUTES.

Face masks cost $0.99 sometimes and can make you feel AAAmmMAAaazZZIIiinNNGG. Simply doing a face mask, drinking some tea, and putting some fancy smelling lotion on can make you feel entirely more put together and can take all of ten minutes. Maybe even listen to some music or a meditation while you’re at it.

3. DO A FULL DENTAL ROUTINE

I am not one to floss every day, no matter how hard I try. But I find when I have 30 minutes to do a teeth whitening system, floss, brush, and mouthwash it feels so good! Clean mouth = clean life (?).

4. BULLET JOURNAL. WATER COLOR. DRAW.

All of the above I do when I’m feeling particularly down, I probably don’t have to tell you beautiful people that bullet journaling can make you feel put together. But taking the extra 15 minutes to add stickers and water color and drawings can make your week that much easier.

if you realize you’ve been studying for hours: grab a snack to refuel your body and watch a sitcom to refuel your brain. then back to the books.

if you’re feeling stressed out: take some deep breaths, text your friends, maybe stare at a wall for a few minutes. gather yourself.

if you can’t seem to focus: get moving and get outside. take out the garbage, check your mail box, maybe walk your dog. just get moving and get fresh air. it’ll help bring you back.

if there’s something else going on in your life and you can’t get it off your mind: write down what’s going through your head, sort of like a diary entry. it’ll help you work things out.

if you’re just mentally and physically exhausted: set a timer for 25-30 minutes and take a nap. any longer and you’ll hit REM and you’ll wake up feeling just as tired. once you wake up, get some caffeine in you.

if the material is boring as hell: find another way to study. see if there’s a crash course video online about it or draw out what you’re trying to learn in diagrams and pictures to make it fun.

if people around you won’t shut up: listen to some music. soundtrack and classical music is always good because they won’t absorb you as much as music with lyrics. white noise (like ocean waves, rain sounds, etc.) also works.