Dream big, little one.

First of all, take a short break. In it you can:

eat apples (that works, I swear!! it’s scientifically proven)

drink black tea

get up and move around for a bit (stretch!!! or do jumping jacks or push ups or whatever)

open your window! fresh air! (beforehand make sure none of your papers will fly away due to wind!! optional: go for a walk!)

wash your face and forearms with cold water! (if you have time, you could also take a cold or cold-ish shower. you don’t need to freeze but water too warm makes you sleepy.)

drinking something really cold works for me too but I read somewhere that it’s unhealthy so idk but i personally love iced tea . (i just take normal tea and let it cool and put ice cubes in it cuz i’m a cheap person and it’s healthier.)

if you’re too tired, go to sleep or at least take a nap. seriously, if nothing you do can keep you awake, chances are, your work won’t yield great results

remember to start doing things earlier the next time!!! (haha most of us struggle with this, i know)

Don’t compare yourself to other students. Just don’t do it. Because of your mental health, there will always be things that are more difficult for you than other students. Waking up early, keeping track of assignments, staying focused and motivated, socializing outside of class, joining clubs. All of these are things that can be harder for students with mental illness. It’s important to just pay attention to yourself and make sure you’re meeting the goals you set for yourself.

Walk as much as you can. Go for short walks around campus, walk to class instead of taking the bus or driving, walk around the library in between studying. Just get up and walk. It’s important to get in exercise where you can and walking is a great way to boost endorphins.

Know the attendance policy for each of your classes. Within the first week of class try to figure out how each professor takes attendance. Is it at the beginning of class, end of class? Is there a seating chart (seriously) or is it just writing in your name? Is there a daily quiz? Perfect attendance isn’t always attainable so it’s important to know not only how many days you can miss or be late, but how you can get around that. If you’re just having a bad mental health day it’s good to know when you can get a friend to sign you in so you don’t lose attendance points.

Have a “backup buddy” in each of your classes. On the first day of class or at least before the first test, make sure you get the phone number and email of two classmates. Not only is it good to meet new people, these are the people who will be your lifeline. Did you miss class or just completely zone out and need the notes? Do you need someone to sign you in? Did you abandon your bullet journal and forget all of the due dates? It’s crucial that you have TWO people you can reach (in case one or the other can’t help you) when you have a question you can’t ask your professor.

Know your professors!!! Introduce yourself first day of class (so it can be short and sweet) or go during office hours (so there aren’t a lot of people). Professors are a lot more willing to help you out if you’ve at least tried to establish a relationship with them. You’ll be closer with some more than others but if you ever have to send out a panicked email it’s important your professor can put a face to the name. If you ever have an emergency and need an extension it’s a lot more likely to get one this way. Bonus: also get to know your TA or GA if they’re the ones grading your assignments.

Take your medicine, see your therapist/psychiatrist. College is too stressful to go without the medical treatment that you need. If you can’t afford treatment, most universities have counseling clinics where you can get free or cheap treatment from grad students. Many university health centers also have psychiatrists you can see cheaply. At my university I see a grad student LPC for free and get to see a psychiatrist for $10 an appointment. Your therapist can also write letters in case your professor or school needs proof of treatment or anything like that.

Register with your school’s disability services. I’ve met a lot of students with depression or anxiety who had no idea that disability could apply to them. Mental illness is a disability! Registering with Disability is invaluable. You can get access to tutoring, support groups, peer mentors, and most importantly: accommodations. If you get really bad test anxiety you can arrange to take your test privately either proctored by someone in disability services or in your professor’s office. Extensions can sometimes be made for assignments in case you have an emergency like a panic attack or other life disrupting episode. 

Whether you need accommodation or not, I strongly urge you to register with disability in case something happens. If you need to drop your classes or were unable to and end up failing because of your health, being registered with disability can mean your bad semester can be “forgiven,” essentially meaning you can go on medical leave.

Have a family member or friend for a support system. Outside of your therapist or DS, have someone who you can vent to. Have someone to buy you ice cream and tell you everything is going to be okay. Have someone who can tell you you’re beautiful and perfect the way you are, whether that’s your mom or even someone on tumblr. There are people all around who care about you.

5 Practical Tips To Help You Stop Procrastinating

Does your brain sometimes feel like this when you’ve procrastinated for another hour? Then check out these 5 tips to combat procrastination and increase your study productivity!  READ HERE

I’m not saying you’re lazy but you’re human and you wear out quickly.

1. Take good notes the first time around. I see some people say rewriting them is a good way to memorize but let’s be honest, you’re not going to do that. Instead bite the bullet and do what you can the first time so you can read them later. It’s also just more time efficient. And don’t ask other people for notes, they’re not you and notes need to be personal to be effective. So don’t skip class too much.

2. You don’t need 100 different highlighters to be successful (but you can if you want). The key is keeping it succinct. Write down what your teacher says and find it later in the book. Read those passages a couple of times in your head and out loud to yourself to commit the info to memory. Honestly just highlight the key words so that when you see it on the test, the info connected to it floods back.

3. Use your phone to organize your shit. You always have it with you. God knows you ain’t gonna buy multi colored sticky notes and a $30 planner. And you might forget your textbooks and planner but not your phone.

4. Make a reasonable to do list you KNOW deep in your soul you can commit to. It’s a better motivator to see stuff get done than to see stuff not get done.

5. Try to get stuff done before noon. That’s my best advice. Early rise and early done makes you feel accomplished even if all you’ve done is read a few pages. This is probably the best time management advice I ever received in my life.

6. Don’t cram but if you have to get up and walk around to keep yourself energized.

I, like most people, had those years where you just don’t know what happened that caused you to suddenly lose your motivation to study and do work at all. You know, that moment where you wonder what happened to the student who always brought home straight A’s and the one teachers always liked and talked about, but then you realize that sometime in late elementary/middle school/puberty etc. something major happened that caused some serious procrastination. Here are some of my tips to prevent this and get back on your feet just in time for higher schooling platforms (if you’re still a youngin and/or college time)!

before it happens 

go over your current daily routines. what happened to me was glacial- some people will notice themselves slowly slipping, but others will see a subtle change until it’s too late. if you notice that you’re somehow sinking, going over your current daily routines will show you just how much order you have in your life 

go to your “mind palace” and map out a timeline. this is optional but “retracing your steps” can help with knowing what not to do and how to fix certain things

the “what if?” method. i’m going to call this the what if? method: getting ahead of yourself and thinking of what your life would be like in an x number of years (ex.: i was a freshman in high school and weirdly started stressing about college applications, dorms, scholarships, etc. even though i didn’t have to stress about those until junior year). you know when you think of conversations with people in your head and already think of snarky responses to what they would say if *this* happened? do that with studying. it’s better to be prepared and kind of the know the outcome than to be unprepared and throw you off

how to get your mojo back!

decide on what you want to do to achieve your goal. in my experience and personal kind of biased opinion, this is the only real motivation you have because you are the only one who decides what you want to do with your life. this in no way means to decide on your major in college or what job you want!!! consult the “what if?” method and think of those concept text post memes on tumblr and how you’d get there

find inspiration! personally, i got back on my feet (still trying) by looking at some studyblrs and starting my own. find something (or someone) that inspires you to get back on your feet and stand your ground when it comes to studying

start a routine you are comfortable with and stick to it. start thinking of your daily patterns and organize it. i started my routine by having a trial week with my new schedule just so i could edit it as i went along and then sticking to it

get a planner and/or a calendar. write down all your assignments and their due dates as you could forget and this helps with time management (consult your daily routine and decide on time blocks for your assignments) the planner doesn’t have to be fancy as it’s more for convenience than luxury and you could get some at WalMart for $10 or less. calendars would come in handy when you have events or long term projects etc. as calendars are (mostly) large and catch the eye easily

start all your work the day it is given to you. if the assignment isn’t due the next day, you don’t even have to finish it but it’s easier to finish a chunk of it just in case something comes up the following days and you can’t finish it without pulling out a red bull and an all nighter

turn! in! all! your! late! work! ASAP! if you had any late work, turn them in immediately. partial points is better than none, but if you’re okay with not turning them in because your grade is at a point you’re happy with or they don’t count as much as the teacher says, then that’s fine. although it’s better to have some more grades in the gradebook in case you flop a quiz or something, but even then, at least do the homework for practice

get the amount of sleep you know you are able to function properly with.  you don’t have to have 8+ hours of sleep daily but it’s preferable. if you know you can function properly and stay awake with just 5 hours of sleep, then that’s fine. figure out your sleeping pattern and catch up on sleep on the weekends if you need to. don’t always pull all nighters because you’d just be drained of all your energy

organize your study space. decluttering my room and adding some hella nice smelling candles definitely helped me center my energy and get me going so organize and tidy up your study space so you don’t have to spend 15 minutes looking for certain things and getting sidetracked

prepare yourself and your materials. know what you need to study beforehand and take out the materials you need before you start diving into your studying, even get some snacks and eat dinner beforehand so you don’t have to interrupt your study time. and before you head to bed, pack up your backpack, make your lunch, fill up your water bottle, plan your outfit, write in your planner, etc. so you’d be ready to go the next morning and not stress over having to rush to get to school

start to cut down on the social media. this was my biggest problem and it’s still a hard habit to try to stop, but start to be independent without your phone. keeping it on silent or shutting it off when you’re doing your work can help with your concentration and if deleting some apps helps you then go ahead. you don’t have to stop social media if you don’t want to because i know we all keep up with our friends and classmates through apps but lessen your time scrolling through instagram 

additional tips/reminders

your grades do not define you! know that you tried your hardest and that D you got on that one quiz will not affect your future as hard as you’d think

study smarter, not harder. spending 2 hours reading history notes that you don’t understand will not help you retain the information so find a way that helps you remember things and spend less time reading the same thing over and over again

if you want it, go get it. motivate yourself! your future is just as important as the next person’s and be confident in what ever you have to do to get to your goal (except if it’s illegal. keep it legal and sane)

life is hard and it doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to. sometimes our hardest is not enough but even then, it’s okay. as long as you are happy and enjoying your life, even though you didn’t get that degree you wanted, it’s alright and you did good. 

1. Admit that multitasking makes you less effective – and don’t do it if the work is important.

2. Know when you work best – and schedule studying, assignments and projects for that part of the day.

3. Do the most important tasks first. For example, if a project is worth a large proportion of your grade, then make sure you spend lots of time on that (whether you like the subject or not.)

4. Check email, facebook, messages, texts etc at set times – such as on the hour. Don’t look at them at other times.

5. Know what works as a reward for you, and reward yourself when you complete a task. But don’t reward yourself until the task is done!

6. Have an organised to-do list, and work through it methodically.

7. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by friends, or unexpected opportunities.

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