Please please excuse my absence. Yes I've done it again! I've allowed myself to get carried away with uni work, friends and whatever else I have in my sad little life that I've neglected my blog.
Anyway, I've come back home for the Christmas break and I am super excited to finally be able to take a few days to chill out and relax a bit from the stress and lectures. However, I mustn't get carried away because of course as it's probably the case for most of you at uni, when I go back in January I will have assessments and all that malarkey going on which means one thing ... I need to revise during the break! Oh joy! -__-
Now, let me say that I HATE revising, no seriously, I hate it so much that I will put it off until the very last minute, then I will panic and cram and go into my exams and come out with the same feeling every year "FML why didn't I start revising earlier"?
Tell me I'm not the only one to do this?
Anyway I'm in my final year this year so back in September I told myself that I wouldn't allow myself to do what I always do and that I would stay on top of things. Did this happen?! Nope, well actually, I was slightly better than usual but I could have been a LOT better.
So here I am already knowing that although I'm allowing myself the next couple of days to relax, at the back of my mind I will not actually be relaxing because I'll be feeling guilty about not doing work etc.
Recognise this feeling?
Nevertheless, there have been a few things this year that have helped me to be that tad bit better, in particular with the way that I've dealt with stress and everything else. So I thought it would be a good idea to share these things with you (even if the majority are common sense) because maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to help one of you guys reading this.
First things first, make a separate timetable from your lectures.
This timetable will be based around your "free" time which you will dedicate to studying as well as personal breaks for you to do what you love.
What worked well with me this year was having a planner and for once actually using it! What I did was I took a note of all the work that I needed to do by the end of the week and every day I'd schedule myself 3/4 of those tasks to do, be it reading, research for dissertation, essay writing and whatever else. I then would tick off the exercises I'd completed as I went along.
Now let me say that the feeling I'd get when I finally ticked something off the list was great. For someone like me who struggled in the past years to stay on top of things. Ticking things off is an achievement in itself.
Do be aware that the only down side about this is that if you do not manage to complete the tasks you set yourself that "guilt" feeling can easily kick in. You need to stay head strong and fight it off. Realise that it's completely normal to have less productive days, or even, that some tasks naturally take longer than you expected hence leaving you no time to finish off whatever else you had planned. The beauty in this is that if you try to keep on top of things, it doesn't matter too much if you can't finish something off one day because you'll have time at some point in the week to catch up and still be on top ;).
Secondly it's important to stay active.
During first and second year of uni, I allowed myself to eat and eat and eat without ever thinking about what I was actually doing to my body. Every time I'd feel guilty about not doing work or felt stressed out by the work load, I'd eat. My solution to everything was to go out and have a McDonald's or order a Chinese with my flat mates. It took very little time before I started to pile on the weight and by the end of my second year I'd gained a whopping stone! I'm 5ft so a whole stone made a HUGE difference to my appearance and I soon started to feel even more demotivated and wanted to eat even more. This had a knock on effect on my studies because that de motivation and horrible feeling inside me started to show through my work as I became less and less interested in actually doing the work.
Then came results day and I got a hit in the face and realised that I needed to change this because it was not what I had come to uni for.
So mid way through second year I started to make baby steps by signing up to the gym and working out a bit. However I'd been unhealthy for so long that my stamina and endurance level was so low that I really struggled with any form of exercise which was longer than 10 mins. Nevertheless,I kept at it and I was lucky enough to then move to Paris during my third year and this is where I was able to change things around. During my placement I made effort to eat healthy and cut down the take outs and boy did I start seeing results! This slowly started to gain confidence back in myself and I started to work out everyday and managed to get into a routine with my flat mate and by the end of the year I had lost the stone that I'd gained in the previous years at uni.
This for me was a little milestone because it helped me bring that positivity back in my life.
So of course, this year, I've kept at it. The first thing I did when I got to uni was sign up to the gym. I make effort to go 6 times a week for about 40-60 mins each time. This for me is a time where I let ALL the stress out. When I'm stressed out I go there and I just think of all the crap that's bothering me and let it out whilst I'm working out. Yes it's painful and I hate it there and then. Whilst I'm doing it I'm usually thinking "Why did I come"?
But let me tell you, not once have I ever come out of the gym and continued to think that. I know how important it is for me and how good it is for my body that when I come out I'm always so GLAD that I went.
In turn makes me feel positive and helps me to stay motivated.
Thirdly, make time for yourself.
Whether it be going out, partying, hanging out with friends, shopping, practicing make up tutorials etc. It's important that you do it!
One of the things that always used to bother me, particularly during first and second year was that I felt that I didn't have time for myself. At the back of my mind I'd always be thinking about all the bits of work that I had which needed doing. This meant that when I did chill out, I didn't really relax and at times, I'd feel more stressed than I did before.
So this year, as well as setting myself tasks and times to do work. I've also noted times where I allow myself to free my mind and relax. What I like to do is usually work until around 8pm and then stop. 8-10 it's ME time. I do whatever I want, I watch series, hang out with my flatmates, read, watch YouTube videos just ANYTHING that I want.
This really helps me to get through the day! I also feel like I'm not neglecting myself which is extremely important. I also allow myself 1 day a week (usually my gym rest day) to completely chill out and only really do about 2-3 hours of work max if I feel like it. This works well for me as it helps me to stay sane and be acknowledge that I do have a life and that not all of it evolves around uni work.
Finally, something I've only started to do since the beginning of this year is to stay positive and be in touch with my spiritual inner self.
Now let's not over analyse the word "spiritual" here. What I mean is my inner thoughts and the energies that I allow myself to take in.
I think that the main thing which has helped me to do better this year is that I've managed to stay positive. I've cut out all the negative thoughts like "I can't do this" , "why did I come to uni"? , "I'm never going to get this". Whenever I even catch myself thinking anything negative like that, I stop myself and think of the reason why I initially went to uni (to have a good future) and primarily to prove to myself that I CAN do things and that I'm capable of achieving great things. This my lovelies is the most important thing you need to do.
In my opinion clearing my mind from all negativity and only allowing myself to hold on to positive things has helped me the most so far this term. I've still a long way to go and so much to learn. Sometimes I stop and think about the beauty of the world and everything that there is to discover and to see that I start to see that my silly little worries about uni work or stressing are minuscule things that I really should not be wasting my energies on.
The truth is that you CAN do it. Just remember that the majority of the times it's all just in your head!
So there you have it :) (sorry for such a rambly post) but here you have my little tips on what has helped me to have a better attitude this year and most of all to TAME that stress and paranoia from getting the best of me.
I hope you enjoyed and that I was able to help some of you!
Please share your personal experiences and also what you like to do to relieve stress :)
❤️
Love, ML x
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