rinah.

This masterpost is requested by @piiess

As we continue to commemorate World Mental Health Day, let us continue to remember that “It’s okay not to be okay.”

Dealing with mental health while studying

Saving your grades from a mental health crisis by @smartstudy

Chronic illness + studying by @studysenior

Coping with mental health by @overstudies

A few bad feelings and how to beat them

Tips for surviving college (with a mental illness) by @annafreuds

Healthy body, healthy mind staying fit while exercising the brain by @scolae

Stop glorifying unhealthy study habits by @thestudyingnightowl

Studying with mental illness by @linamstudies

Studying with mental illness by @harlostudies

Studying with a mental illness by @student-succulent

Helping your mentally ill friends through exam periods: masterpost by @celeztialstudies

Managing mental illness as a student by @medkip

Mental health and university how to deal with a bad week a masterpost

How to (realistically) study when your mental illness doesn’t want you to by @midiluc

Autism

How to cope with loud fireworks if you’re autistic

Burnout

How to deal with study burnout by @eintsein

How to avoid education burnout by @neuroticmedblr

Tips for avoiding burnout and staying motivated by @coffeesforstudiers

Burnout 101 by @polcry

Overcoming burnout while continuing to study by @rewritign

Avoiding burnout by @acdemic

Eating disorder

Recovery record

Dyslexia

Dyslexia masterpost by @izzystudies

ADHD

Apps for disorganised +/or ADHD students by @studiix

ADHD resources by @psychlu

Depression

Study tips whilst dealing with depression by @sdklfhdsdkfjhg

Studying with depression by @rannedomblr

Studying with depression by @notquitenightingale

Struggling with depression while in school by @inactivegardenum

Depression/executive dysfunction cleaning tips by @dormouse11

Depression tips by @lesbiananabray

Advice for severe depression and anxiety and executive dysfunction by @urie

Advice for dealing with long term depression and anxiety by @13chancess

Things I never knew about depression until I finally had a doctor explain the disease to me

Tips for someone who also battles with depression by @bloggerforstudentprogress-blog

Bullet journaling with depression by @littleninjastudies

Anxiety

Coping with anxiety by @hufflepuffwannabe

Coping with anxiety by @sheisrecovering

Coping statements for anxiety by @onlinecounsellingcollege

Anxiety attacks aren’t always hyperventilating and rocking back and forth by @ugly-bread

Anxiety distraction games by @peachou

Anxiety masterpost by @dotgrids

Why doing something relaxing does not help with your anxiety by @merrybitchmas91

Living and studying with anxiety by @hayley-studies

Dealing with test anxiety

Study sounds by @studyquill

Mood disorder

What is a “mood disorder” anyway? by @battle-with-bipolar

Meditation

Meditation and focus

Selfcare

A very brief guide to self-care by @ejlandsman

Some self-care/mental health tips for the upcoming school year by @badvogues

Ways to practice selfcare by @librarystudies

Resources

Apps for your mental health by @highlightcrs

Mental illness apps by @recoverywarriorx

Some reminders

Mental health is just as important as physical health by @cwote

Don’t let your mind bully your body

There’s a difference between: pushing yourself and pushing yourself pass your limit by @chibird

Your life can look so different, so much better, in just a few months. keep going by @studyblr

Reminder: you can’t change the past and worrying makes you suffer twice. we all forget that once in a while.

Remember that time you thought you wouldn’t survive? Well you did and you can do it again

You aren’t a problem that needs to be solved

You are not unloveable

Mental health first, everything will follow

I may not be there yet but i’m closer than i was yesterday

Everything you feel is real

Allow yourself to recover

You matter

It’s a disorder, not a decision

Its okay if the only thing you did today was survive

Focus on the good

Stop beating yourself up. You didn’t do anything wrong

Hey, it’s not your fault

You don’t have to justify your emotions to anyone

Never apologise for how you feel

Other masterposts by me 

Selfcare

Apps for students

Literature

Ace your essays

Chinese

FIX YOUR SLEEPING SCHEDULE (1-2 months)

Try to wake up earlier every day. Like 5 - 10 min earlier than the day before. Until you wake up any time before 8am or so…

If you struggle with waking up & snooze button is you bff:

Put your alarm clock as far away from the bed as possible.

Drink a glass of water right after you wake up.

Pour another glass of water on yourself right after you wake up.

Prepare some coffee the night before, leave it by your bedside, drink it after you wake up.

Have your blinds/curtains open, so that it’s bright after you wake up.

Try to go to bed 5-10 min earlier than the night before.

Track how many hours of sleep you’re getting. Aim to get at least 7h per day or 49h per week. 

Increase your sleeping hours incrementally. Aim to get at least 1h of sleep more than the previous week. For example, if this week you slept for 41hrs, aim to get an extra hour of sleep next week, so it’s 42h.Once you get enough hours of sleep and wake up early-ish.

Try to keep your sleeping schedule consistent. It is really important to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.  Even if it’s weekend. Or even if that means, you getting less than 7hrs of sleep that day. I’d say waking up at the same time everyday is the most important step, which will help you the most with fixing your sleeping schedule.

START EATING HEALTHY (1-2 months)

This step really depends from person to person, but firstly I suggest you take some blood tests to see if you have any deficiencies, etc. Especially, if you struggle with cravings.  

Try intermittent fasting, if you struggle with binge eating or overeating. As it will help you to learn to listen to your body better: when it’s hungry, when it’s full, etc. It’s really simple, there are many methods of Intermittent fasting, but I’d suggest 16/8 for the beginners. (Google it for more info)

DRINK ALL THE WATER. Again, if you’re not drinking enough water, try to level up your water game incrementally. Download some water tracking app on your phone to help you. Drinking water will make you more energetic, increase your metabolism, and decrease you appetite (among many more benefits).

Track what you eating. I would really suggest tracking your meals for around a month. Because, most of the time people have no idea that what they’re eating is unhealthy. Again, download an app to your phone for that.

Make your own meals once in a while. Not only this will save you money, but it’ll help you to see what’s really going into your body.

Eat less meat and more veggies/fruits. Go to your local market and buy some veggies/fruits, you have never tried before. I’m sure you’ll find your new favs. Eat/buy less meat. Not only it’s good for the environment, but it is good for you, too. Get a veggie burger instead of the beef one, etc.

Cut dairy. Find your new favourite milk substitute. Advice: Oat milk is really good with the tea and oatmeal/porridge; hazelnut milk is amazing on it’s own; cashew milk goes well with cereals.

Learn more about nutrition in general. It will help you to make better food choices and it will make eating healthy much easier in general, because once you understand all the chemistry behind the food and what it does to your body, you kinda don’t want to make yourself feel worse. Here are some free resources: - Human nutrition course from Alison.com - Crash course Metabolism&Nutrition: Part 1 and Part 2 - The Health Nerd’s YouTube Playlist about nutrition - What I’ve Learnt YouTube Playlist - Human nutrition course from Alison.com - Crash course Metabolism&Nutrition: Part 1 and Part 2 - The Health Nerd’s YouTube Playlist about nutrition - What I’ve Learnt YouTube Playlist

GET PHYSICALLY FIT (2-6 months)

Define your goals. Do you want to lose weight, do you want to get stronger, gain weight, be able to climb stairs without losing breath, run 5k?

Remember - you’re half-way through. Being physically fit has a lot to do with what you put into your body. So, if you fulfilled the previous step of eating healthy - you are half way through!

Make a plan. A Reasonable plan. Be honest with yourself.

Start small. Like, 5 min exercise in the morning. Or doing 10 sit ups per day. Don’t do anything overwhelming, like running 5k everyday if you haven’t run for the past 5 years.

Make sure that you kinda like what you’re doing. If you absolutely hate running - don’t do it. Hate doing sit ups in the morning? Try some yoga instead.

Explore until you find what you like. You don’t have to go to gym to get fit, especially if you hate it. Find a type of exercise, which you actually like. Maybe it’s dancing or hiking, taking your dog for a walk. Sign up for several trial lessons of various sport clubs. Ditch ‘em if you have them until you find something that you love. Stick with that.

Do the small changes in your everyday life. Stairs>Escalator, Walk>Drive, Do some squats while brushing your teeth, switch from regular desk to standing desk, etc…  Find ways to incorporate being active into your everyday life

Track your effort instead of your progress. You cannot really control your progress that much (especially if your goal was to lose weight). However, you can always control your effort. So track it instead. This will leave you more motivated. As you will be able to see that you can do more and more everyday. Whereas, if you tracked your progress, you may not always get the result you hoped for, which might demotivate you and make you upset, wanting to quit.

BEAT DEPRESSION

Do the previous 3 steps and you’re half way through.

See a therapist/doctor. Depression is an illness, requiring medical treatment. So, get it. Remember: there is absolutely no fucking shame in having a mental illness.

Get some extra support. Talk to your friends or family. Or maybe someone on the internet.

Write it out. If you don’t want to talk - write down your thoughts. It can be just as helpful. It’ll help you to understand yourself better, see problems in your thinking, etc.

Distract yourself from yourself. Get someone/something to take care of, so that you can, for a moment, stop thinking about yourself and focus on something else. E.g, get a plant, or a dog, or a fish.

Self-care day. Dedicate at least one day per week for self-care. Take yourself out, either to a museum or some fancy cafe, do some stuff you like, whatever your hobbies are, do some physical self care: bath, face mask, manicure, etc., listen to some nice music, watch a film…..

STOP PROCRASTINATION

Celebrate your victories instead of mourning over your loses.So the only thing you’ve done today was write one sentence for your 20 page essay? Amazing! Buy yourself a candy for that!! I mean, you could’ve done nothing, but you didn’t - you wrote that one sentence and that’s worth celebrating.

Do it for only 2 minutes. If there’s an important thing you’ve been putting off for a while, tell yourself that you will only spend 2 minutes on doing it. If after 2 minutes you don’t want to do it anymore, great, stop it. However, after 2min. you actually might want to do more. No pressure either way.

Track your productivity. Track how much time you’ve been productive that day. Try to increase that time by a little bit every day.

Always forgive yourself. So, it’s been a week and you’ve done nothing? Don’t sweat it. Let it go. Blaming yourself will bring you absolutely nothing. Nothing good will come out of your negativity on yourself. So stop it. Forgive yourself and start again. And again, if you need to. Never stop trying. Always pick yourself after you fall. Beating procrastination and increasing your discipline is a skill. And all skills can be build on. There is nothing in you stopping you from changing. Remember that.

LEARN HOW TO DO TAXES (1h - 1 day)

Go to google.com.

Type in: “How to do taxes *the name of the country you’re living in*”

Read the results.

GET MENTALLY STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE PHONE CALLS

Remember that just as with beating procrastination, making phone calls is a skill. And, again, skills can be learnt.

Get a new SIM card.

Top it up.

Dial some random numbers and pretend to be a salesman, selling whatever you like.. E.g., trying to sell broadband, cable tv, trying to get people to donate for some charity… Or whatever really… Me and some friends used to pretend we’re selling kittens or wood logs. Alternatively, you can pretend that you dialed a wrong person and talk about whatever, e.g. “Hey, Jess!! You wont believe what I saw today!! *start telling a made-up story*…”

If you get uncomfortable - just drop the call. No consequences whatsoever.

Repeat until you build up your game and your phone-call anxiety starts to diminish.

1. start studying a week before every quiz/test. seriously.

2. watch youtube videos/ted talks on the topics you are learning about.

3. get lots of sleep! sleep helps you process the day’s events, including what you learned.

4. write out your notes. it’s proven that handwritten notes help you learn better than typed out notes.

5. don’t just read what your professor gives you. find academic journals, books, etc. that correspond with your subjects.

6. read the news! especially in the social sciences/humanities, connecting concepts with current events helps you understand and process more easily.

7. exercise! this doesn’t have to be going on runs or lifting weights, it could even just be going for a 20 minute walk. just get your blood pumping, it’ll help you focus.

8. study at your desk. it may be tempting to study in bed, but your brain connects your bed with sleep, so you’ll get tired more quickly.

9. reviewing notes doesn’t have to be something you sit down and do for an hour. skim through them and test your memory while eating breakfast!

10. expand your study time throughout the day to avoid burnout. for example, rather than studying for 5 hours straight, study for an hour here and there in between your activities.

11. make your notes organized and easy to read, but not distracting. bright colors and flashy notes may seem better, but can sometimes distract from the purpose of the notes.

12. use apps such as quizlet. this way, you can go through definitions while waiting in lines or walking to class.

13. it’s more important to know concepts rather than facts. for example, you should be able to take what you know and apply it to different situations, not just the situation the textbook gives you.

14. just because the professor doesn’t require you to read textbook, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. it helps explain concepts in a different way than your professor, and a lot of times hearing two different explanations for the same concept helps you understand it.

15. read in advance. read the textbook before your professor begins going over the chapter, so when he/she does, you can easily follow what they are saying.

16. do any extra credit work that comes your way. even if you don’t need the extra boost now, you might later.

17. go to class!! if you always skip class and show up at office hours completely lost on the concepts, they’ll laugh in your face. they’ll take you 100x more seriously if you show up.

18. however, if you are sick, take a day off. it’s more beneficial to you in the long run. 

19. learn how to say “no”. if you have an 8 am the next day, don’t stay out until midnight with your friends. 

Hey guys, so I’m nearing the end of my senior year, and it’s been great so far! I accomplished my academic tasks efficiently and didn’t burn myself out, and I think the main contributor to my success as a student is my organization system. This system has been refined throughout my high school years, but I think now I’ve finally found the most effective methods.

Please remember that this isn’t the only organization system you can adopt; this is just the one that works the best for me, and I hope that by sharing it with you, you’ll gain a new perspective on how to stay organized as a high school student.

The first thing I wanna talk about is my notebook system, which I briefly mentioned in my Guide to Note-Taking.

My notebook system comprises three types of notebooks: the Everything Notebook, the subject notebook, and the revision notebook.

The Everything Notebook

The first stage is in-class notes. I only bring one notebook to school every day. I call it my Everything Notebook, and this is where I write down all of the notes I take in class. This way, I don’t have to lug around six notebooks where I’m only going to use a few pages in each of them that day.

Subject Notebooks

At the end of the day, I would revise my notes and compare them to the syllabus so I know where we are in the learning process. I would then transfer my class notes from my Everything Notebook to my different subject notebooks. This is stage two. I also start to jazz up my notes because I use the notes in my subject notebooks to study for tests.

In addition to my class notes, I include material from my teachers’ notes that they might not have elaborated on, as well as points in the syllabus (I’m currently taking A2) that were only glazed over briefly, or not at all, in some cases. (Note: this does not mean they completely skip a chapter or topic; it’s more like they missed a few bullet points that should be in my notes but aren’t. An example would be if we’re learning about phenol reactions and the teacher forgot to mention the use of FeCl3 as a test for phenol.)

Revision Notebooks

Stage three comes a little later, when exam week is just around the corner. Essentially, I rewrite and improve my notes from my five different subject notebooks into a single revision notebook or binder. (Recently, I’ve opted for a revision notebook because they’re lighter and easier to carry around.)

Because my teachers don’t always teach in the order of the syllabus, the first thing I do is organize my notes according to the syllabus. I would then fill in any other missing gaps in the material that hadn’t been filled in stage two.

When compiling material for my revision notebook, I use as many sources as possible: my own notes, my teachers’ notes, youtube videos, online sites, and my favorite, the mark scheme! I add in some answers from past papers (explanations only, so no calculations) mainly to secure marks. It’s safer to memorize definitions straight from the mark scheme than from the textbook or from handouts. I also do this to ease my memorization, especially for topics that require lengthy explanations. It’s a lot easier to remember the 6 points I need to explain the principles of NMRI than to remember everything in the four-page handout my teacher gave me.

Folders and binders are essential to organizing your papers. Some people keep a single accordion folder for all their papers, but for me it’s just too heavy to carry around all the time. The same goes for subject folders that are brought to school every day.

Instead, my binder/folder system comprises my Everything Folder and my subject binders.

The Everything Folder

The folder I carry with me to school every day is this A4 folder I got from Tokyu Hands. It has 5 pockets, one for each day of the week, so all the papers I receive on Monday will go behind the first divider, and so on.

Some people also keep blank papers in their folders; I don’t because my school has its own lined paper and graphing pads that I keep under my desk that I use if a teacher asks us to do an assignment on those papers. If I do work at home, I prefer to just use a plain A4 paper or a legal pad.

Subject Binders

At the end of the week, I’ll sort my papers into my subject binders. Sometimes I’ll keep some papers in the folder if I think I’ll be needing it the next week. This usually only applies to worksheets because all my teachers’ notes are available on Google Classroom, so I can access them even if I don’t physically have them.

Each of these binders have sections inside them:

Physics: 1 for handouts, notes, and tests, 1 for Paper 4 (Theory), 1 for Paper 5 (Practical Planning). I included extra tabs to mark the different topics in the handouts section.

Chemistry: same as Physics.

Economics: 1 for Paper 3 (MCQ), 1 for Paper 4 (Case Study and Essay). A lot of my Economics material is online, though.

English: 1 for Paper 3 (Text and Discourse analysis), and 2 for Paper 4 (Language Topics, which includes 1 for Child Language Acquisition, 1 for World Englishes). Past papers, handouts, and notes all go under their respective topics.

Mathematics: I just keep everything together because I never revise math and just constantly do past papers.

This makes it easier for me to revise each subject because I can just take one binder with me instead of a messy folder with everything just shoved in there.

I keep a magazine file for each of my A-Level subjects (English and Mathematics are combined). All my textbooks, revision guides, and subject notebooks are kept here, so if I need to revise one subject, that’s the magazine file I’ll take out.

These magazine files prevent any small things (like my book of flashcards) from being shoved to the back of my bookshelf, or materials from different subjects from getting mixed up.

In my senior year, I mostly plan using this app called Edo Agenda. It syncs across all my devices for free and has all the features I need: a to do list to organize tasks, monthly and weekly calendars to organize events, a journal to organize notes and memos.

I used to bullet journal regularly, but it takes too much time during weekdays, so now I just bullet journal for the therapeutic effects it gives me, and I use an app for organizing tasks and events. Sometimes at the end of each week, I’ll transfer my tasks to my bullet journal and then decorate the page, but again, this is just for its therapy.

Organizing your school supplies is just as important as organizing your papers and notes. With a more organized backpack and pencil case, you won’t waste time looking for your things at the bottom of an abyss.

Pencil Case

I don’t find it necessary to bring so much stationery to school unless I plan on making notes at school (usually during revision week).

Backpack

Because we’re already in the revision term, I don’t really carry a lot of things in my everyday backpack, just the following:

Pencil case

Everything Notebook

Everything Folder

Revision notebook

Kindle

Phone

Wallet

Earphones

Calculator

Speaker

Drinking bottle

A pouch with things like a hairbrush, pads, and lip balm

wake up early

drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up

meditate or concentrate on your breathing for at least 2 mins

visualize your goals for the day and for the future

make your bed 

do calf raises or squats while brushing your teeth

floss

dry brush

take a cold shower (or end a hot shower with cold water right after for about 3 mins)

put on lotion while your skin is still damp

cleanse, tone, and moisturize your face

apply sunscreen

drink a glass of water before and after every meal

listen to a podcast/ted talk instead of music while walking or driving

park far away from where you’re going

stand up straight

look at people in the eye when talking to them

look straight ahead when walking, not at the ground

smile at strangers

stop complaining (it’s bad for your health)

bring cash instead of credit card

track your expenses

turn off notifications on your phone when doing work

resist the urge to go on your phone and observe your surroundings more

set a timer for 5 mins when scrolling through social media and stop when the time is up

learn at least 5 new vocab words from your target language every day

exercise while watching shows/videos

read at least 10 pages every day

do tasks that can be done in 2 mins right away

drink tea

prepare workout gear the night before

jot down tasks for the next day before sleeping

write down quotes/lyrics that strike a chord

spend 30 mins on a hobby

journal and write down things you are grateful for

180613 //

‘til death, we do art.

so! i’m heading into my first summer of recovery, and i’m trying to make the most of it while staying healthy and focused on my future. these are a few of my plans to optimize my summer while keeping it worthwhile, fun, and safe

find some habits you want to build. they don’t have to be big things, but it is nice if they’re things that make you happy. personally, i want to start cooking again, be consistent with my journaling, be creative at least once a day, and maybe start exercising

what are some things you’ve been meaning to get done? whatever you didn’t have time for during the school year, especially if it would make your life easier in the future. i’m going to be doing a thorough cleaning and organization of my bedroom, remaking my spotify, going through the photos on my computer and deleting the unimportant ones, and retaking my codeacademy courses on html and css

if you’re anything like me, summer is the loneliest time of the year, because you don’t have school bringing you and your friends together every day. instead of isolating yourself and waiting until september to see everybody again, try to plan some time doing activities with other people! volunteer, find an internship, hang out at the cafe on your corner every morning until you start talking to the other regulars. make plans to meet up with old and current friends, relatives, and other people you love

don’t stress yourself out. sleep in an extra hour, stop scheduling your time down to the minute, take time to relax and be bored and do nothing. don’t spend all of your time being productive. summer isn’t the time to get burned out

at the same time, don’t spend too much time doing things that don’t contribute to your short-term joy or your long-term happiness. i try to differentiate between time spent on games, media, and other things that make me happy in the moment, and time spent doing things simply because i’m bored (scrolling through buzzfeed or social media, watching bad tv shows, and playing candy crush). i’m not saying that you should avoid these things entirely, but don’t let them take up too much of your time. you don’t want to spend your last few days of summer wondering what happened to your weeks of free time

try to find yourself again. work on your mental health. go to therapy, or find cbt and dbt worksheets online. build up strength for when you need it most. make an emergency box for mental health crises, find something to fidget with when you’re anxious, learn what works for you and what doesn’t

1. don’t buy a bunch of binders and notebooks before lectures begin. In my first year of university 90% of all my assignments, readings, and even quizzes and tests were online. By the end of the term my binders only had the syllabus in them. Wait until the first few classes to get a feel for how your professor is going to run the class and if it looks like there’s going to be a bunch of handouts go get materials then!! But rushing before lectures begin may just leave you wasting money on supplies you don’t need.

2. Write down your deadlines as soon as you get your syllabus. Classes can be tough to juggle, and most of the time your profs won’t remind you about due dates. Remembering you have an essay due at 11:59pm when it’s 9:30pm is the worst. I keep a big whiteboard calendar in my room with all my due dates color coated so I never lose track of deadlines!

3. Easy marks are easily lost. If 10% of your grade is attendance, get your butt to class every week. If you have weekly quizzes that add up to 15%, do them every week. All these marks, though they seem small but they start to add up! You’ll be thanking yourself at the end of the term when these easy marks boost you to another letter grade!

4. Always always always go to class. I don’t care if your hungover, sick, or just plain tired, go to class!!! Sure your always allowed to take the day off if you need it, but if you get one thing out of the 15 topics your prof covers, it’s worth it to go! You’re prof may lecture on topics not included in your readings!! Go to class as much as you can.