work hard, play hard

to keep sane and occupied! here are some ideas:

keep active:

take a walk

do yoga or pilates along to a youtube video

stretch

yard work if you have a yard

if you have potatoes in your house, you can easily plant new potato plants by cutting their eyes out.

deep clean your home

dance furiously around your house

relax:

start that show you were looking forward to! two shows i like that are available on amazon prime are good omens and fleabag.

google a list of the 500 most iconic movies and make a watch list of the ones that interest you

start reviewing the movies and shows you watch

make a reading list

read old books you liked as a kid

read in general!

see if your library is connected to overdrive (it probably is). overdrive allows you to check out ebooks and audiobooks from your library.

try a readathon—read as much as you can in 24 hours

play a new game on steam or nintendo online. you can start a farming co op on stardew valley with your friends!

watch a livestream of the monterey aquarium!

play online multiplayer games like trickster hearts and skribbl

watch game streams on twitch

explore new music

check out my self care tag for more ideas

make something:

make a scrapbook with stuff around your house

cook a comfort food or dessert

cook something complicated or create a new recipe

make a stop motion video with stuff around your house

draw

paint with coffee

play an instrument

write a short story

write a poem

make an escape plan for the zombie apocalypse (for fun. this is not a real thing)

keep a journal

bullet journal

make random top ten lists (top ten songs by your favorite artist, top ten street foods, top ten movies influential in your life, etc)

make an impossible list

find ask games on tumblr and write down your answers to the questions in a journal or word document to read years from now

write a letter to your future self

learn something:

learn to read music

learn morse code

learn braille

practice duolingo

and much more! there’s an online class for everything

do something for others:

call your family and friends

register to volunteer at crisis textline. volunteers work remotely, so you can do everything at home. if you are selected you will complete a course to learn how to be a crisis counselor and then work as a crisis counselor

see if there is any way you can volunteer remotely

make nice cards to send your family and friends

research the best charities to donate to

general stuff to try:

establish a routine (exercise, mealtimes, work time)

keep in contact with friends and family through video calls

set goals

create events for yourself (for example, playing an online DND session with your friends every friday at 3pm)

i also made a list of things to do during break

check out my break tag for stuff to do when bored

please stay home!!!! while it might be difficult to do so and you may go a little stir crazy, there are things you can do to pass the time.

Hello this is Nina, your local depressed college girl that’s decided to work on turning her life around and starting the new year with a more positive and happy attitude.

I know there a hundreds of similar lists and tips out there but I just thought I’d get all my favourites in one place and that way maybe motivate myself to actually follow them for once. I know my wording isn’t the best but I tried. 

Here’s the few tips I’ve picked up so far and I hope they might help some of you if you are struggling a bit also:

Physical:

Space - your personal/work/study space plays a big role in making you feel productive and motivated. Doesn’t matter if its your dorm room, bedroom, office…you should make it your own as much as you can. Put a plant on your desk, get a nice picture for the wall, hang some fairy lights, get a fluffy blanket for your bed, repaint your walls in your favourite color if you can, just make it cozy and comfy and nice to look at and I guarantee you’ll start to feel better. Try to keep it clean and neat, I know it’s hard sometimes, but working in a clean space makes you ten times more productive.

Self care - start with physical things, drink those 8 glasses of water and keep a tab on it until you get used to it, use handcream everytime you wash your hands, put on moisturizer every morning and sunscreen when you go out, go for a walk around the park at least every other day, and for fucks sake go to sleep at a reasonable hour, you’ll be so grateful in the morning if you do. Show your body some appreciation. 

Mental:

Take some ‘me’ time - we might we don’t have time for this, but it’s so important we make some time. First thing in the morning, during the day or before bed, just take a few minutes and relax. Put on your favourite song, burn a scented candle, drink a hot cup of tea, sit down and just breathe. 

Be proud of yourself regardless - take that ‘me’ time and reflect on your day, pat yourself on the back for everything you did even if it was just getting out of bed. Life is a bitch sometimes and you should be just as proud of yourself for the little things. It’s okay to sometimes be lazy, to procrastinate, to not do anything. You aren’t a machine, you’ll burn out if all you do is work.

Appreciate the little things - on those lazy days it’s sometimes hard to not feel miserable about it. That’s when you should appreciate the little things in life. Get yourself that coffee you love so much and enjoy it, go to a roof, watch the sunset and appreciate the colors, take a photo of anything you find pretty and look back at them when you feel down…make yourself believe those moments made your whole day and suddenly it’ll feel like your life’s meaning isn’t just getting up and working/studying all the time, but enjoying everything you get to do and see in between too.

Other:

Find your interests - and stick to them!! We all like to give up on things if we aren’t immediately good at them. But no one was born an expert. And as cliché as it sounds practise does make perfect. Join a drawing class, a dance club, a writing class, get a course book on your target language, download editing softwear and play around with it, watch documentaries about your favourite subject. If you fall out of your hobby in the end it’s no big deal, but you’ll know you gave it a try and didn’t miss an opportunity to learn something new. 

Journaling - this might not be for everybody, but I found it helps me clear my mind a lot to put my thoughts on paper and have everything organized in written form. I just love having all my things in one place where I can just look and see where I’m at, whether it’s plans for the day, my thoughts, my playlists, pretty pictures, anything really. It’s also a great way to be creative. 

I’m going to start a ‘journal’ for my bachelor thesis process to see how I’m going to do over a longer period of time. Another post about it is going to be uploaded soon. Let me just say that I finally feel ready for doing this. My student exchange has given me tools to work on such a long paper and completely in English, plus some research papers have been published this year which turn out to be very useful. Cheers to graduating before the end of this year!

6 Ways To Cope with High Functioning Depression | Psych2Go (New Video)

A compilation of chrome extensions and iOS + Android apps (some are paid and some are free)  °☆.。.:*・°☆

| For your computer |

fliqlo

momentum

lanes

clarity

embark

minimal clock

infinity

currently

polar clock

caffeine

f.lux

be limitless

leoh

dream afar

| For your note taking |

evernote

onenote

simplenote

somnote

iNotes

notability

notes plus

google keep

quip

inkflow visual notebook

jot

good notes

noteshelf

| For your to-do lists | 

wunderlist 

moo.do

todoist

habitica

trello

any.do 

priority matrix

do

glass planner

swipes

timetune

| For your planners + calendars |

myStudyLife

myHomework

sunrise calendar

google calendar

plan

sol calendar

| For your timing + focus | 

tide

forest

pomotodo

flat tomato

pomello

pomodrone

clearfocus 

tomato timer 

30/30

focusnow

tasks and measures

self control

stayfocusd

timewarp

cold turkey

atimelogger

writer’s block

| For your presentations |

prezi

powerpoint

emaze

raw shorts

powtoon

| For your storage | 

google drive

dropbox

| For your mindmaps + diagrams | 

mindmeister

lucidchart

goconqr

gliffy

google drawings

| For your tests + flashcards | 

goconqr

quizlet

flashcards+

anki

| For your writings | 

zotero

grammarly

hemingway

| For your health |

fabulous

plant nanny

safetrek

sleep bot

sleep better

to bed

nike + running

waterlogged

period tracker

weight loss coach

health mapper

medisafe

| For your inner peace  | 

stop, breathe & think

headspace

pacifica

noisli

sleepio

infinite storm

relax melodies

calm

sam

thunderspace

mindshift

taomix

i am

pillow

1. sleep at least 7-9 hours. when you wake up, smile and prepare a healthy breakfast so you can actually have the energy to do the stuff you want.

2. write down your goals. whether you write them in a planner, a bullet journal, your notes app, your calendar etc. you will most likely remember them. you can also set reminders to help you remember your goals.

3. planning it for tomorrow? don’t.

4. read step 3. tomorrow will never come. believe me on this one.

5. encourage yourself. go to a mirror and tell yourself stuff like “you’re going to do it” “you’re going to accomplish X”. if you say it, it will happen. it’s the law of attraction.

use actual note cards for vocab. yes, apps like quizlet are dandy when you’re on the go, but actually physically writing out each note card helps put the information into memory faster than typing them.

visual learner? make charts and diagrams. they don’t have to be pretty. the lines don’t have to be perfectly straight. it doesn’t have to be photogenic. but if it helps you learn, do it.

after you take notes (in class or at home/from your text book), write down possible quiz questions about the material on the next page while it’s still fresh in your mind. later on when you’re studying for the test, use these questions to gauge what specifics out of that chapter you need to work on the most.

start sooner rather than later. i know, you’ve heard this a million times from every teacher ever. but it’s legit. especially as you get into harder level classes and college courses because there is literally so much material that the tests cover that you simply can not accurately learn all of it over night. instead, start about 10 days in advance (but of coarse, the sooner the better).

studying doesn’t have to be a big giant study session that takes hours. if you start far enough in advance, study sessions can be around an hour, hell even 45 minutes is a good. if you go too long in one study session your brain will be fried and studying will be pointless because your brain won’t be processing any of it. that’s why it’s important to take breaks and not just cram for 5 hours the night before an exam.

actually study. hold yourself accountable and make your education a priority. if you have homework and studying to do, make it a priority over going partying or watching tv. there will be another party. you can dvr your show. you can’t take your test on a later day because you don’t feel ready. so be ready.

be careful with study groups. if you have a study group with all of your best friends, lets face it, you’re going to end up spending more time talking about harry styles and supernatural than actually studying. it’s better to have a study group with people who are your friends, but not best friends. and it’s better to keep it between 5-7 people so that everyone can be involved.

if the material is just super confusing and you can’t seem to understand it no matter how hard you study, it’s not you. it’s the way you were taught it. each teacher teaches a bit differently, and maybe their style of teaching just isn’t for you. if this happens, find a way that explains it the best for you. for example, if chemistry is just super confusing for you, try watching the Crash Course chemistry videos on youtube or have a friend explain it to you. this will give you a completely different perspective on the material and will help you understand it better.