#qs playlist

for the girlies who want more than just superficial relationships

1. be the kind of energy that people want to stay around

be light, not draining. bring warmth, humor, and softness where you can. I always try to smile at people when I talk to them or see them, and people notice how I'm happy to hang out with them. just bringing a positive energy immediately draws people towards you.

try not to complain. everybody has struggles, and while venting can feel natural, it can also quietly drain the energy from conversations and people listening. personally, I struggle with this too. but, when we constantly focus on what's wrong, we unknowingly push people away. no one wants to feel like every conversation is a weight to carry.

instead, try adding something lighter or more meaningful. instead of saying, "I'm so stressed," try "this week is super busy, but I'm making time for a break soon." it's not about pretending that life's perfect, but being mindful of the energy you bring to a space.

show up with consistency. make plans for lunch and actually show up. remember small things that they say in conversations. it's always the greatest feeling when someone remembers that I had an important performance or difficult test and then ask me about it afterwards.

2. connect through conversation

make eye contact. it's uncomfortable, I get it. but, when you look someone in the eye while they're talking to you, it makes you look 1) more engaged about what they're saying, and 2) more genuinely appreciative of their presence. practice doing it little by little every day, and soon, it will become like second-nature.

share stories, not just facts. I think that conversations come alive with small stories with details that make moments memorable. for example, instead of just saying “I had a phone as a kid because I was on the soccer team” (fact), i added layers: “I got a phone because I went to soccer matches as a kid! I was terrible at soccer, but I helped the team by tricking opponents into thinking I’d get the ball. basically, I was a glorified decoy” (story). true story, by the way.

3. acknowledge them, even if you are not actively hanging out.

greet them by name. when you see them while walking, make an effort to remember their name and say hi. I feel that greetings come off as much more genuine when I address them personally.

if you don't know their name, still make an effort to smile and wave. I would still appreciate it if someone takes the time to acknowledge me, even for a little moment, because it shows that they care.

4. embrace compliments and connection

take compliments. I'll be the first to admit, I struggle with this too. but, isn't it a bit awkward when you give someone a compliment and they instantly deflect it with "oh but I look so ugly today like my hair is whack and my eyeliner is uneven" (calling myself out...)? instead, I think it's best to thank them genuinely for noticing you, even if you don't fully agree with their compliment. receive it with gratitude, not self-criticism. it's not about actually being perfect, but appreciating the kindness behind their words.

compliment them back, and be observant about it. you could just say, "you look amazing too" (though that's still nice). but, the next step could be noticing something specific, like their earrings or the way they carry themselves. or, share what you actually admire about them, like their kindness or determination. it's about making your compliment feel personal and thoughtful.

if you admire someone, tell them. it only sounds fake if you make it fake.

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remember, real connections are built on authenticity and kindness. it's not about being perfect. it's about being genuine, showing up, and appreciating the people around you. now, you just have a few more tools on how to make these connections and be the friend that you would appreciate in your own life.

thank you for reading all the way through as always. wishing everybody all the good things in the world and a blessed rest of your day <3

non-basic tips from a girl who struggles too

I've been waking up early pretty consistently for the past two years now, so I thought it might be helpful for me to share some tips that I used to keep that consistency.

1. the night before, (if you struggle to wake up)

start a task. I found that if I had something that I wanted to do the next morning, I would just start the first part of it the day before (e.g. reading a few pages of my assignment, finishing half of the outline I was typing up). then, when I wake up in the morning, I'll feel more inclined to get up so I can get the task done.

set an alarm 30 minutes prior to your actual wake up time, and then one on your wake up time. then, when the first alarm goes off, you can think "oh, but I'll let myself sleep in 30 minutes." I don't know how many times this will work (since it only worked a couple of times for me). but your brain tricks you all the time, so just return the favor this time.

make your wake up time 30 mins earlier every other day. cultivating an early morning routine is difficult in itself. so, I found the best way to go about it is by easing myself into it. just take your current wake up time (for example, 12 pm), and then set an alarm 30 mins before that (11:30 am). you've woken up earlier! two days later, you can set it at 11 am. then, very soon, you'll be reaching that 6 or 7 am wake up times you've been wanting.

2. the night before, (if you struggle to fall asleep early)

intensive movement. I found that, if I just do something very mentally or physically draining (like holding a plank, or starting a boring assignment), I fall asleep much quicker. I guess my body would rather fall asleep than have to read my physics textbook...

finish a task. any kind of task could work for this, like sending a text, posting a story, reading that next webtoon update that you've been putting off reading. if you're an easily worried/anxious person like me, finishing something can give you the closure you need to sleep peacefully. (kind of the opposite of "starting a task" tip that I gave earlier)

finish a task, then start a new task. if you struggle to both wake up and go to sleep, then just do a combination of the two. finish any task to feel accomplished with yourself, but start a new task to give yourself a justification for waking up early.

3. the dreaded morning

drink one glass of cold water. I don't know why this helps, but it does. there's really nothing more refreshing than one glass of cold water first thing in the morning. getting up to get it is also a bonus, because then you're getting out of bed and walking to go get it.

jam out to some song. it doesn't really matter what song it is, but just put on your earphones, blast it, and dance as vigorously as you want to the song. I found that doing this really helps wake me up.

finish that task that you started the night before. now, not only have you woken up, but you've also completed something!

4. but I physically can't get up!

sit up suddenly. I don't know why this works for me, but it does. like, if you have a deadline or a test to study for that you still feel iffy about (unprepared), use it as a justification for why you're sitting up suddenly, and just lurch forward. it will scare your senses into waking up, and (most of the time) lose your urge to crawl back in bed. again with the mind games against your own mind haha ;)

then, get out of bed immediately. it doesn't really matter if you're going to scroll on your phone, watch a YouTube video, or whatever you want to do, just do it outside of your bed. it helps prevent you from wanting to go back in.

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building an early morning routine takes time, so be gentle with yourself if you slip up! now, though, you’ve just got some extra tools to make mornings a little brighter and a lot easier. you’ve got this!

specifically computer shortcuts. i'm putting this here in case it helps anybody else <3

1. Paste into a new tab to clear formatting 

Don’t you hate it when you’re copying and pasting something and the formatting just copies directly from the page that you copied it from? And then, when you hit the “clear formatting” option, it just reverts the whole thing back to Arial point 11 font? Well, here’s an easy solution: 

Select the text that you want to copy. Cntl + c to copy. 

Then, before you go into your document, control v into a new tab’s search bar. 

Then, hit cntrl + A to select everything in the search bar. 

Cntrl + X to cut the selected text. 

Now, when you paste the copied text into your google document using cntrl + v, it will copy the formatting of your document. Now, you don’t have to go and change the font size, then the font color, and then the font itself. 

Hooray! 

2. For organizing tabs: 

Cntrl/Cmd + Shift + D - groups all your open tabs in the window into one bookmarked folder 

Cntrl/Cmd + W - closes the tab that you are on 

The best way to use cntrl + W is to group tabs, especially if they’re all in one big cluster that you want to delete: 

Click the top of the first tab, hit shift, and then hit the top of the last tab you want to select. Do it just like how you select text on a website: from the beginning of the sentence/paragraph, to the end. 

What you just did was select every tab from the first tab to the last tab. Kind of like selecting text on a website, again. 

Then, just press cntrl + W and every one of the selected tabs will be deleted. 

Clean google chrome browsers await you! 

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These are all the tricks I’ve compiled from my years of chronically being on my laptop. I hope you found these tips helpful in some way and will use it to make your life easier in this digital age.

because, with every success, there are 100 failures that came before it

allow yourself to process. it's useless to rush to "fix it." it's also of no use to beat yourself down for what happened. just let yourself sit with the disappointment or the many emotions for a moment. journal about it or something to help you process. it's completely normal to feel disappointed and upset.

detach your worth from the outcome. I often find myself going into that toxic loophole time after time again after I fail: blaming myself for everything, thinking that it's the end of the world, already planning on how to scrap my entire current identity, change my name, and move to Chad. but, failure is something that happens, not who you are. just because you failed at this thing does not mean that you are not smart, capable, or talented.

growth. mindset. I know it's cliché, but there's a good reason why it is repeated so much.

rebuild confidence with small wins. after failure, it's easy to doubt yourself. just like how, after success, it is easy to want to try again or pursue something more difficult. start with something small to regain your confidence in yourself. set mini goals that you can actually achieve. in my case, for example, i could write a tumblr post about failure (now you know what prompted this post...). once you achieve it, in my case sending out the post, you feel much better about yourself because you succeeded at one task!

now, you can finally problem solve. what could you have changed that was in your control? you can't control other's opinions on your performance (like judges' comments, placings, or outcomes), the weather, or anything else that has to do with other people or nature.

what you can control is how prepared you are for each circumstance (including performance-wise and for things like the weather), your own time management, etc. maybe there needed to be a change in approach. either way, focus on what you can do, not how you think things should have gone, or anything that you have zero control over. (calling myself out...)

keep moving. progress isn't linear. setbacks happen. even if it feels like the end of the world right now, it's really not. you are not behind, you are not defined by one moment. keep going, and soon the failure will seem small and insignificant.

failure doesn't mean that your dream is over. it just means that the path is different. you've got this. keep going!

an all-inclusive guide for the chaotically digital girlies with a million screenshots and even more tabs open because "i will use this at some point"

1. quick clean (desktop)

start with a clean slate. drag everything on there into a folder called "sort later." we all know that you're going to spend hours looking through them and not actually cleaning, so starting off with a mostly blank desktop is the way to go. we can organize meticulously later.

delete those random duplicate files. you said you would get to them later. you didn't.

empty the recycle bin. i think that's self-explanatory.

2. a bit more thorough clean (finder/file explorer and browsing tabs)

screenshot purge. if you don't remember why you screenshotted it, delete it.

labeled folders are your friend. move important screenshots into labeled folders. move those downloads into labeled folders. put your cat photos in an imaginatively labeled folder: “cat."

close those random tabs. if you haven't looked at the opened tab in 2+ weeks, it's a good sign that you won't need it later either.

control-shift-D. if you're really that afraid to lose "potentially good stuff," just cntrl/cmd-shift-D. this creates a bookmark folder made of all your wonderful once-opened tabs. now, you can have peace of mind when closing the browser for good.

3. very thorough clean (notes app, downloads)

delete those untitled/randomly-made notes. a homework assignment you scanned a month ago? goodbye. grocery lists? gone.

delete those apps. if you haven't opened it in a while, it's probably just using up your phone/laptop storage.

clear the cookies (the website ones.)

go through the sort later folder. now's the best time, y'know?

restart your phone/laptop. since when was the last time you did that?

they say the spaces around you represent your state of mind, so how are our digital spaces any different?

I hope you can spend some time this week cleaning up your phone or laptop. I'm sure future you will thank you for it.

for my girlies who are struggling

usually, science and math-based subjects have only one way to guarantee success in test taking: doing practice problems.

this all-inclusive guide provides some of my tips on how to study for these kinds of tests, starting with most amount of time before a test (1-2 weeks) to the least amount of time (the day/night before the test):

1. I have so much time (1-4 weeks before test)

practice problems. good teachers usually provide practice problems not covered during class, or materials to find such practice problems. I also like the kuta software for math problem worksheets by unit with solutions

flashcard method. now you have the problems, you want to solve some of these problems on a separate sheet of paper one by one. keep the solutions near you (but don't look at them!). if you got the problem right, mark it with a ✔︎. if wrong, mark it with an X. review the correct solution and method. repeat with the next question.

redo the problems you got wrong. go back to any questions you've marked with an X and redo them. if you get them correct, you can now replace the X with a checkmark! if you get them wrong, they stay as an X and you move on to the next X'ed problem.

try to turn all the X's into ✔︎'s!

rest. I believe the best way to know if you are familiar with these concepts is to do practice in intervals

new practice sheet, and repeat. make sure you do some problems from each concept/unit that you are being tested on.

before the test, do a few problems from classwork/lecture as warm up

2. less time (3-4 days before test)

lecture examples. write down all the classwork/lecture note problems you got wrong on one sheet of paper

flashcard method! make sure you write down why you got the problem wrong (incorrect method? formula issue?)

before the test, review the problems you got wrong the most frequently and their correct solutions

3. girl I have no time left (day before test)

classwork problems you got wrong. go through your notes and only redo the problems you got wrong during the class. it would be best to do them on a separate sheet of paper without looking at the solutions

mark the correct solution with a different pen if you get the problem wrong. make sure to add why you got that problem wrong and how to avoid making the same mistake (e.g. read the problem more carefully, use a different formula when talking about XY case vs. Z scenario). you can write it next to/underneath your incorrect work

review the correct solutions. before your test, review everything you marked in a different color.

STEM courses are super challenging, but they're also very fair. once you've set up a good problem-solving instinct, it's difficult to go wrong! I hope you now have a few more tips under your belt to conquer all of your STEM subjects. I believe in you :D

for the busy girlies like me who are stretched thin but have no time

facemask while you focus. put on a calming facemask while you review notes or tidy up your space. double productivity whammy !

take a tiny walk. even just 10 minutes. no music. just ambient sounds. look for small things, like animals in the clouds or clovers in the sidewalk cracks. let your mind wander freely

20 minute nap. set a timer, curl up in a blanket, and give yourself permission to stop. guilt free naps only!

romanticize hydration. fill your prettiest mug or glass with warm water. bonus points if you have a straw

get a tiny plant friend. succulents are great. I also have a giant plant friend named Bob (snake plant), who helps filter the air I breathe.

reset a corner, not the whole room. don't deep clean everything. just make your bed. tidy one desk drawer.

stretch for 5 mins. reach up. fold down. roll your neck. open and close your eyes dramatically for a few seconds (reading/staring at screens reduces how much you blink, and your eyes need hydration too!). roll your neck. get up and touch your toes if you want

draw a small picture. put it on a sticky note and stick it onto your computer, wall, book, anywhere.

you deserve rest, care, love, and all the most beautiful things in this world. thank you again for reading all the way through, and I hope you have a blessed rest of your week <3

for those who need it

Your notes do not need to be stunningly pretty or aesthetic. 

You do not need to rewrite your notes in order to study effectively, or highlight them extensively 

Annotations on books do not need to look straight out of an instagram post

It’s okay to write everywhere when reading a text 

Writing more in an essay is not equivalent to having meaningful points, or even better-communicated ideas 

Sometimes, drawing diagrams multiple times or doing practice problems on a piece of scratch paper is more effective than reviewing notes or rereading the textbook  

Even five minutes of studying counts 

Nothing has to be figured out yet 

You have the ability to overcome 

You are worthy, you are intelligent, you are loved 

You’ve got this <33