As the month of May is slowly consuming me with the dissertation, essays, and master applications, I hold on to dear life trying to stay sane, trying not to spiral into a hopeless state and not slip back into toxic coping habits. I found that running has been the only thing that keeps me stable and stops me from spiralling. Unfortunately, I can’t run every day because I tend to go on long runs, and sometimes need a day or two to rest. Otherwise, I start aching and get into a constant state of tiredness which is very unhelpful during this period. The days I don’t run I go on walks, but I don’t find them satisfying anymore. During my runs, I can shut off the rumination and not think for a moment, whereas as I walk all I tend to do is think.
This is such a weird time. On one hand, everything is moving in slow motion and I cannot wait till I’m finished. On the other hand, everything is moving too fast and I can’t find enough time for anything. How is everyone else coping?
This week’s bujo spread is brought to you by: pink!Featuring some of my favorite pink beauty products. I applied to a few part time jobs today, and worked on Italian and Greek. I also got Americanah from the library, so I can finally finish it!
Studyblr 2020 Quarantine Challenge, Week 15
Tues: What takes up too much of your time?
Daydreaming- It was my main coping mechanism for so long that I often find myself pacing and daydreaming for hours without even realizing I started >.< Hopefully I can get down to a healthier amount- after all, it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.
So! I am currently in my first-year at University but I’ve been studying for a couple of months now and feel as though I have enough information and experience to make this post!
MANAGE YOUR TIME
Whether it’s a timetable, to-do list, writing in your planner - you need some sort of method to manage your time and note what tasks you need to do and when. Set a specific time for each class and plan your own class schedule. Even better, study for your classes at the same time they should be held. This will create a sense of routine and make things so much easier. Find what works for you! Your perfect system won’t work great for your friends! There’s no shame in not being able to keep up with the schedule you’ve made. If you’ve tried or if it hurts you mentally or physically, then that schedule is just not the one for you. Finding a system that works for you takes time, patience, and courage. but it will be absolutely worth it. Find yourself a routine that works best for you! I know that my method doesn’t work well for my peers: I make a to-do list for the week and note down the tasks I want to do for each day and do a little bit everyday but I know some people would rather do everything in two days and have the rest of the week free! Below I’ve showed how I organise my week:
BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED
In your lectures and seminars, engage!!! Ask questions, answer questions, take part in the discussions!! It’ll help you retain the content much easier and you’ll enjoy learning so much more compared to just sitting there mindlessly listening. Take notes, even if you can record your lessons and/or access the lessons later. This will force you into focusing and minimise the chance of you getting distracted and zoning out. If you have any face-to-face lecture/seminars then it’s a good idea to sit in the first few rows, towards the front - again, this minimises the chance of you zoning out and increases the chance of you engaging.
ACCOMMODATE YOURSELF
Accommodate yourself, not just with comfort, but also with actual necessities that you cannot usually get in your usual classroom/library due to whatever reason. Whether it be stress balls, stim toys, motivational cards, calming music/candles. comfort items. chewing gum. As long as it helps you focus better, keep it with you. Other necessities may be water, a snack, sticky notes etc. Make sure to declutter your study space. put your phone out of reach & turn off notifications. If you have problems with this, I recommend using an app called Forest or putting your phone in another room.
FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
I know that I will start a lecture around 9/10am. But all mine is asynchronous (narrated powerpoint or videos) and so I will sit for literally two hours just listening to the lecture trying to take notes but very quickly losing focus. I’ve now realised that I can make notes from the powerpoint slides, and then use the narrations/videos for when I want more detail or don’t understand something. This saved me a lot of time, cutting down my time spent on one lecture from around 70 minutes, to 35. This gives me more time to start other content, work on my assignments, and give myself the breaks I need to work efficiently.
WORK TOWARDS YOUR CAREER
Since more and more people go to universities each year, the job market is becoming increasingly competitive for academics. It is important that you obtain skills outside of your studies – for example through societies or volunteer work. Just find something that’s fun and doesn’t feel like another burden. You might also want to become a student representative or part of a student parliament if your university has one. Your university’s career service provides you with tips and resources for a good start into your work life. Things are competitive - find something to make you stand out. Examples of things I’ve done (not just at university) include: Senior Prefect, write and directed my own play for younger students to perform, TEFL course, taught at an Arabic school, volunteered as a youth worker, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Course Representative etc.
MAKE FRIENDS
Being at university can be lonely. You might have moved to a different place, you’re faced with new challenges, and you might find that adult life is not at all like you imagined. Having someone to talk to is important. Good thing that it’s never easier to make friends than at university. You are surrounded by people your age (and it’s actually a lot easier to not see people you don’t like than it is in school.)
Fresher’s week is full of opportunities to meet new people! Check out the societies at the fresher’s fair. In the UK, there are usually societies for every niche interest you can think of. You might end up not actually going, but sometimes you still keep a friend. Another idea is to make a group chat with people in your classes - introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you. Ask them if they would like to go to lunch together, check out the library etc.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
University is not all about working 24/7 and pushing yourself. Listen to your mind and body. It’s normal and okay to feel lost or overwhelmed. Please take care of your mental and physical well-being during this very, very weird time. Keep yourself active. Re-ignite old interests/ hobbies. Give yourself some love. A tip I always give to people is to have some sort of creative/kinaesthetic hobby - whether it’s writing, art, embroidery, making collages, journalling etc. Having some sort of fun creative outlet is just what I need when I don’t want to do work but still want to be a little productive. Make sure you’re eating enough, and make sure you’re getting at least 8 hours of sleep. Take care of your body.
MISC TIPS
Make cheatsheets to revise from
See if your university offers free/discounted versions of resources like MS Word etc
Talk to your tutors. Get to know them so they know who you are.
Don’t be afraid to ask you tutors for help - that is what they are there for. They LOVE students that are self-advocates for their own learning.
Give yourself breaks.
Learn your methods. Learn how to use whatever resources / software your university uses. Learn what study styles work best for you.
When studying, most people try to find motivation thinking that this will get them through their study session, or they will see their failure as a result of a lack of motivation. But motivation isn’t always what we need - what do you do on the days you have no motivation? This is why we need self-discipline.
MOTIVATION VS SELF DISCIPLINE
Motivation - a willingness to do something. It is the set of psychological forces that compel you to take action. A goal or reward that you look forward to that will encourage you to study - while this is useful, what happens on a day when you just don’t feel like studying?
Self-Discipline - making yourself do things you know you should do when you don’t want to. Being trained to routinely study regardless of how unmotivated you are - this is what will get you out of bed on a day you don’t feel like studying.
So if motivation is ‘why we should do something’ - self-discipline is more ‘what to do next’.
HOW TO BE SELF-DISCIPLINED
Make a commitment with yourself that you will make studying as your habit. This is super important. Commit yourself to make this as your new habit. Don’t half-ass any of these suggestions or any other suggestions that other people give. Don’t give yourself silly, illegitimate excuses in the process. For this, you can do it by remind yourself on what your long-term goals in life are. Or if they don’t sound rewarding enough, remind yourself what failure feels like/ could feel like.
Set yourself a routine and stick to it
Never have a zero day - 10 minutes is better than nothing!! Do flashcards from your bed or watch youtube ted talks if you can’t physically study. This will help help develop a routine and make it easier for you to cope. Also, by studying everyday your brain will know that the content you are learning should be stored as long-term information so this will benefit you in the long run! However I do want to stress not to force yourself if you don’t have the capacity / energy for it. Take care of yourself too.
Avoid long breaks. Unless you know that taking an hour long break means only an hour, then you can ignore this. But fo the majority of us, once we’ve taken a while out of studying it can be hard to get back into it again. One minute you’re taking a 20 minute break for a snack and some phone time and the next thing you know you’re on Youtube and four hours have passed! To avoid this, try stick to shorter breaks - five or ten minutes for a snack break, toilet break and to check any phone messages. A good method to try for this is the Pomodoro Method!
Build on your productivity, not your failures.
If you come from a past of procrastinating and now feel motivated to change and discipline yourself, do NOT try to do everything at once. Start things slow and in steps.
Set yourself smaller deadlines for your goals like monthly and weekly deadlines - e.g. if you are doing a project, due 27th June, set personal deadlines, like have the introduction written by the 8th, have your literature review written by the 15th, have project complete by the 25th.
Break down the things that you must do into smaller, concrete activities and put those smaller activities in that to-do list; allocate specific time periods to do each smaller activities and put it the to-do list as well; set an alarm reminder for each smaller activities. Say you have to study for English on Tuesday, because for whatever reasons you just decided to dedicate your time this Tuesday to study English. However, I’d suggest that you break down that specific activity (or “daily goal”) before putting it in your to-do list. So, instead of just putting “study for Physics”, try putting “read and highlight Chapter 9″, because putting very general/broad activity like “study English” can actually make you too confused on where and how to start doing it, and make you very prone to distractions in the process.
Know your limits. Self-discipline isn’t doing as much as you can until you break - it’s about having control, knowing what you can realistically manage and getting that done.
Give yourself rewards! I love to have something to look forward to as I get work done! This means mixing motivation and self-discipline. I tell myself after this lecture I can have an animal crossing break or check some messages etc.
Track your progress – don’t forget to put a checklist on your to-do list after accomplishing a task. It would relieve your stress a bit and motivate you to continue doing the remaining activities on your to-do list.
Remove distractions from your study space! Personally, if my phone is out and I notice a notification…I’m gonna check it. It’s human nature! So to combat this, I use apps like Forest that force me to stay within the app while I study. If I know I might get hungry during a study session I’ll keep a little snack by my desk so I don’t have to get up and somehow find something else to distract me.
Just do it isn’t that easy. I find to get myself in a ‘work boss’ mood I need to feel good about myself so I put on a nice outfit and maybe some eyeliner and hype myself up so I know I can do my tasks and get stuff done! It feels so much better than lazing in my pyjamas trying to study.
Be patient. It’s going to be a rough journey, it’s going to be hard but you’ve got this! Take it one step at a time. Start off by completing one task a day, then move to two, then three, and the next thing you know, you’ll have a regular routine where you will constantly be ticking off your to-do list everyday! But remember to be kind to yourself, know when your body is not in the right state of health to study and don’t force it. Only force yourself to a limit, you’ll know when to stop and that’s okay. Just try again when you feel better! Your health is much more important!
09.02.2020 | it’s already February, and i’m full on studying for my last exams. Already had the first one, finances is comin up in two days, then it’s the last one about leadership and organisation on Valentine’s day. Time’s flying by so fast and i’m actually living on coffee, carbs and sugar at the moment. I’ve already gained some weight again, and the semester hasn’t come to a complete end yet, because after that, it will be time to write three research papers (between 10 and 15 pages each) in a month. How do you cope with stressfull times?
I always keep thinking about whether or not i should revive this tumblr. It feels like my followers are kind of inactive. Also, i actually finished my Masters degree last week. However, as you all know, the situation in arts and culture and music is kind of bad, so i do have a really bad chance of getting a job. I‘m still hunting for a job, so i’ve got a lot of time to kill at the moment. I kind of want to study something, but then again, i just want tonread and relax, because the past years have been so so stressful. Maybe i’m going to slowly change into a litblr, as i do have quite some books to photograph and read.
Stayed up way past my bedtime to finish a term paper for my class on Japanese political economy. Somewhat satisfied with what I had to say, hopefully my professor feels the same way.
it is better to do good things poorly than to not do them at all. a 15-20 minute walk is better than not going, slow yoga or stretching is better than not moving at all. reading a few pages is better than not reading anything. baby steps are okay.
I have never been into dark academia but after 6 months of non-stop lockdown and 13 months of zoom university I have started to romanticize a new type of university aesthetic which I call
Just Normal Academia:
The taste of cheap vending machine coffee. The dusty smell of your library seat. Clothes that are not remarkable in any way, but hey, you are wearing actual pants. Trying to read books that are relavant for your essay but getting distracted by your friend who wants to chat. The feeling of being cramped into public transport with hundreds of other tired students in the morning.
I never thought I’d be the type of person to have an academia aesthetic but I’d do almost anything to live the Just Normal Academia life right now
honestly i think about sitting in one of those disgusting old chairs in the ratty old library about two to three times a day, at least, and i could cry bc i just want all that so bad
15/jan/22// It’s a Saturday and my new part-time job is starting today. However, I got the late shift so I was still able to attend half of the day of a seminar that’s taking place on weekends (yay). We started with giving feedback on presentation videos some of us had prepared beforehand, using feedback methods based on non-violent communication.
