your busy brain, my messy mind

bianca | college | aspiring nurse looking for motivation

[turtlesandfrogs]

Listen to me: You get good at things by being bad at them. You learn by failing. You gain competency and a sense of mastery by failing at something many times and in many interesting ways.

The sooner you are able to laugh at your own failures, to enjoy the process of messing up, the easier life will be. Because you'll no longer be afraid of learning.

And once you're no longer afraid of failing, you can learn anything.

[moonwaterandrain]

i wish it were as easy as it sounds

[turtlesandfrogs]

And that's the thing of it, isn't it? Failing and accepting a failure is itself a skill.

And it can be very hard to learn, especially if you come from a family where a failure is a sign that you are a failure instead of a sign that you are learning.

You're going to fail at failing well. There are going to be times when it hurts, times when your brain is telling you that you should just give up and you'll never get it. Times when a failure is going to frustrate you to no end.

And you can still learn to fail well. You can learn to see it as a sign that you're learning, you can learn to give a little chuckle and say to yourself, well, everyone screws up sometimes, I'm just learning.

It is not easy, but it is important.

[thoradvice]

i cannot emphasise enough how much you need to create something. anything. it doesn't matter if you suck. you don't need to monetise it, or make it your career. you can restart an old hobby; you can start from scratch. it doesn't matter. you just need to hold something and be able to say "i did that". baking, drawing, painting, writing, coding, crafts, whatever. make something ! you cannot have all your hobbies be a form of consumption. it's fun, it's great in its own right. but the single best action to make yourself feel better, to calm your mind, to gain self esteem, is to Create

[greenstudies]

Random pieces of advice

The world is less scary and chaotic if you lie down on the floor

Noticing different kinds of light (stars, candles, sunshine or city lights) can bring back the feeling of wonder and hope

If you can’t shower, washing your hands and face will help you feel better and cleaner

If you can’t clean anything else, changing and/or washing your bedsheets can do wonders

Fresh air and being outside in general can help with depersonalisation

Spending time around animals can help you recognise what’s important and calm anxious thought cycles

Techniques for emotional regulation in children can really help adults too

Putting random asortment of food on a plate without creating an actual dish still counts as a meal

Drink something warm

Delete that app

Treat yourself as if you were a kid. Buy yourself a toy, play around, learn about cool new things

Fast paced life isn’t morally better and it’s not good for everyone

There is no good reason to keep yourself hungry

Singing to your full lung capacity can be a great way to let out built up emotion

Tension in the face can cause headaches. Try to massage your face regularly

Nothing is as important as your health

You are a whole person on your own, you don’t need someone else to be there to deserve love and attention. Your life can be full as long as you are present

You should cry things out whenever you feel like it

Slow walks are still movement and they do count

It’s never as bad as you imagine it

Try changing your toothpaste flavor if you hate brushing your teeth

Anything can be a stim toy - one of my favourites is a heavy dragon necklace that has a complicated surfice. It’s fun to touch and hold and it’s not even “actual” stim toy

Procrastinating and feeling bad about it is true waste of time. Learn to truly rest. It takes the same amount of time but it is useful

Sometimes you have to force yourself to do the things that make you feel better

Don’t trust the thoughts you have after not sleeping for a while

Friendships don’t have to be forever to mean something

[lyjerria]

I love being around people that are more knowledgeable than me. teach me something

[fishgummy]

2024

DO IT SCARED

FUCK IT WE BALL

REMEMBER THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT YOU

MAKE THE CHOICE TO END HARMFUL PATTERNS

LOVE WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART

[heartpeacenquiet]

It's okay if it takes a little longer than you thought.

[selfcare-journey]

Slow down, it's ok. Very few things in life are absolute

Deadlines can be flexible, career paths are flexible, relationships become close and far and close again, it's all going to be ok

[lacaffeina]

" beating yourself up for your flaws and mistakes won't make you perfect, and you don't have to be. learn, forgive yourself, and remember: we all struggle; it's just part of being human. " ( lori deschene; aka the quote that came up on my momentum page today, as if it knew what i needed to hear )

[skwpr]

A simple representation of images does not offer enough for proper memorization.

Study Faster And Retain More With This Quick Tip

I don’t know a single student who doesn’t want to study faster and retain more at the same time. I usually get a little nervous when trying to use quick fixes to make this happen, but today I have an actual quick tip to help you do just this!

Being a problem solver by nature, I dug into the situation and tried a few new approaches. Some worked, and some did not.

One of my best strategies was to sort the information into two categories:

facts to be memorized

concepts to be understood

You can use this strategy for any course. No matter the subject, there are things you have to memorize (terminology, dates, names, equations, etc) and concepts you need to master. Identifying this creates a clear, drama-free path, meaning you actually study faster and retain more because you are working on the right information in the right way.

How To Memorize Facts

I used to hate memorization work. It seemed tedious and hard and I sucked at it. Or so I thought!

Turns out I just didn’t have good skills. now I have some strategies in my toolbox and I love fact work. It’s easy and you can master it quickly. The key to mastering memorization is to:

Keep a list of what you need to memorize.

Schedule time every day to work on it. You must have the daily repetition if you want new facts to stick in your short-term memory. Start with just 10-min each day and you will see results.

Vary your memorization strategies. If you use only one strategy it becomes less effective.

How To Master Concepts

How you approach concept mastery is going to vary a lot based on the subject you are studying. There are two strategies to help with every subject:

1. Hands-On Practice

You will never fully master a concept through reading about it. You learn the concept through reading, but there is a big difference between learning something and mastering it.

The basics of hands-on practice for any subject are to come up with an applicable problem and solve it. Then come up with another problem and solve it too. Here are a few ideas, by subject, of how you might practice:

literature – Read a book or short story and write an analysis of whatever focus you are working on.

computer science – Come up with a problem and solve it with real code.

graphic design – Imagine a client asked you to design something, and create 3 different solutions for them.

math – Pick an equation, make up some starting numbers, and solve it.

science – Define a hypothesis, create a simple experiment, get in the lab and execute it!

2. Explain Or Teach It To Someone Else

Want to be certain you have mastered and fully understand a concept? Teach it to someone else.

As a teacher myself, I can tell you there have been plenty of concepts I thought I knew really well until I tried explaining them to someone else. You need a thorough understanding yourself before you can help someone else understand it.

Enlist the help of a friend or family member and try to explain a major concept in a few minutes. If you struggle, make note of the sticky spots. They are exactly what you need to work on next.

If you have no problem explaining it and your friend understood everything, mark it off your list and move on to the next concept.

I hope this quick strategy helps you dig out of confusion and take the right action in order to study faster and retain more.

Try It Yourself: 20-Minute Challenge

Grab your notes, a fresh piece of paper, and a timer.

Set the timer for 15 minutes.

Go through your notes and sort every piece of information into one of the two categories: concept or fact Challenge yourself to do this before the timer goes off. Go with your first instinct if you aren’t sure.

Spend the next 5 minutes and map out your next steps.

How and when will you work on the memorization each day?

How will you approach the first concept?

[skwpr]

10 Rules to Stay Focused on Studying

Here are my very own tips and tricks to keep you focused on studying:

1 . Hydrate to stay focused on studying

This is a tip that my friend gave me a long time ago.

When your mind begins to wander while studying, take a sip of water.

It works because it turns your focus to drinking and feeling the sensation of water hitting your system.

2 . Remove all distractions

You can’t focus on studying because your phone is right next to you.

There are so many distractions in the world today.

I was writing on my laptop while the TV was playing in the background, but my phone was playing YouTube at the same time!

If you want to focus on studying, you need to remove all distractions.

Turn off your wifi on your phone.

3 . Start a stopwatch

This is my very own tip to stay focused on studying.

All you have to do is start up your stopwatch on your phone.

Remember that it’s a stopwatch, not a timer! All it does is track how much time you can focus on studying before you get distracted.

It really helps me. It might sound weird but try it out.

4 . Make studying fun

Studying is boring and a lot of people hate studying. Those are the facts.

If you want to focus more on studying, switch things up.

5 . Fix your mindset

Stop studying just to get good grades on your next exam.

Change your mindset.

Become a person who studies every day just because.

It’s not about the exams anymore. Live and breathe studying.

That is when you can focus on studying better.

Think of it as a journey, not a means to an end.

6 . Resign yourself to your fate

What do I mean by this?

I mean that you need to understand that studying is an inevitable part of your life.

You are going to have to focus on studying. So, stop being stubborn and study right now.

Be practical and stop studying at 1am when your exam is at 10am – you drink coffee to stay up but all it does is mess up your system!

7 . Take breaks to stay focused on studying

Breaks are very important to focus on studying.

A break can be as simple as standing up once every 10 minutes and stretching.

Stop slouching and hunching over your books for 1 hour and then complaining when you can’t stay focused on studying!

Take more breaks.

8 . Guided meditation to focus on studying

If you can’t focus on studying because your thoughts get in the way, it might be time for you to try out guided meditation.

What is guided meditation?

Go on youtube and type it into the search.

It is a video where someone tells you what to think about. It reduces distraction in your head.

9 . Get enough sleep

I have done experiments on sleep. If you sleep late, trust me you won’t be able to focus on studying.

Forget 8 hours of sleep! If you are a young student, you need 10 hours of sleep. 8 is the minimum.

10 . Eat right to focus on studying

If you don’t eat the right amount of calories for your body, you can have trouble focusing on studying.

If you keep eating things that your body hates, you won’t be able to stay focused on studying.

My body hates milk and coffee. Trust me when I say I won’t have any of that!

I need to take care of my body to keep it at its best.

[skwpr]

10 Reasons Why Studying is Hard

1 . You don’t know WHY

You don’t know why you have to study. You don’t know your true purpose.

Let me inform you: You have to study because this is the stage in life where you create a foundation of all the basic knowledge you need and learn all sorts of things.

In the next stage, you get to choose what career path you want to take. That is why you should think about your “WHY”.

I am studying because I want to study every day and be prepared for my exams.

2 . You don’t know HOW to study

If you are like my brother, then you don’t know how to study.

Somehow, when we join high school, nobody really teaches us how to study.

Studying involves using different tactics to understand and remember things for the future, or for exams.

You need to learn to memorize.

This is how I memorize things for my exams:

I condense my notes into a few tiny words (summarizing)

I memorize these little words by:

Writing them over and over again

Closing my eyes and remembering them

Testing myself by writing the words again

3 . You are not studying at the right time

Are you a morning person or a night person?

Do you feel energized at 10 am or 10 pm?

These are questions you need to ask yourself to learn why studying is hard for you.

You need the answers to these questions in order to actually study.

4 . You don’t study every day

Alright, you don’t have to study every day.

But that doesn’t mean you only study at 1 am the night before the exam!

That is not smart at all. How are you supposed to teach yourself 3 months-worth of work in a few caffeine-spurred hours?

Stop making studying hard! Just study a little every day.

5 . You don’t have motivation to study

You can’t study at all because you don’t motivate yourself to study.

That is sometimes an excuse because here is the secret: Action comes before motivation, not the other way round.

Stop waiting for the right moment to come down from the sky like clouds parting and the sun shining down on you.

Just open your book right now and read it.

6 . You have some bad habits

If you can’t study at all, maybe you need to study your own habits.

Get a notebook and begin to track every single thing you do in a day. I would advise tracking habits after every hour.

Then you will begin to notice that you are doing some bad habits that make studying hard for you.

7 . You can’t focus on studying

Studying is hard for you and you can’t study at all because you can’t focus on studying.

My advice for you is to sit down and ask yourself why you can’t focus on studying and find a solution to that.

8 . You don’t have fun while studying

Studying to you is probably boring work!

You need to make studying appealing and inviting so you will feel motivated to study.

9 . You don’t know any study hacks

Everyone has their own study hacks.

You probably don’t. That is why studying is hard for you.

You need come up with a personal game plan for how you plan to get good grades on your next test.

10 . You are just plain lazy

Maybe you are just lazy. Everyone gets lazy once in a while. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get off your butt right now and start studying.

Do the least you can possibly do. Open your book and plan to learn just one thing today.

Remember only you can go deep inside and find out why you can’t study or why you never feel like studying. Ask yourself these questions.

That is how you will begin to create a good mindset that will help you to study.

[thelailasblog-deactivated202501]

[amethystsoda]

just wanna say for people who have chronic illness/adhd/any form of low energy or spoons—using premade items, canned goods, boxed meals, microwave meals, and everything in between isn’t a shame or embarrassing!!!!

If you have limited energy, helping yourself find a manageable way to eat meals is so important!!

[veryluckyclovers]

[stimmingstarboy]

Hi :) I just learned about PDA and it sounds so much like me, but all the info I’ve found is kinda of vague, do you know anything about it?

PDA means Pathological Demand Avoidance. is autism that shows up differently compared to other autistics

it's when you try your absolute hardest to avoid doing what other people ask or expect you to do on a daily basis. the reason for not doing what people ask of you is because of extreme anxiety.

Sometimes this extreme anxiety comes out as outright refusing to do a certain thing or sometimes finding reasons not to do what you're being told to do. this becomes an issue because kids do need to bathe, eat, go with their adults' grocery shopping, go to school and things like that and later on do what they're told while working.

the reason why PDA is seen as something different from autism is that autistic without PDA will avoid uncomfortable situations by shutting down while those with PDA will avoid uncomfortable situations more directly by refusing to do what they're told, creating excuses, or lashing out verbally or physically.

For example, children with PDA will say things like “I cant do that” “the toys told me not to do that” “I'm stuck on the floor” or they will pretend to not know how to speak. they may pretend to be an animal they like or pretend to be a favorite tv show character as a way to avoid certain interactions or express themselves

children with PDA tend to switch from content and calm to angry and aggressive very quickly due to struggling with understanding their emotions and impulsivity.

teenagers with PDA find that they're able to socialize but feel like they don't have much of a social identity (meaning you struggle to see where you belong socially). they also struggle with understanding boundaries which leads them to doing things that would be seen as odd to others. A lot of people with PDA learned how to be social through mimicking others

here are some characteristics of those with PDA

resists and avoids the ordinary demands of life

uses social strategies as part of avoidance, for example, distracting, giving excuses

appears to be sociable

will use roleplaying and pretend play

experiences excessive mood swings and impulsivity

displays obsessive behavior that is often focused on other people

has the desire to have control over things and others

individuals with PDA do understand right from wrong but struggle with expressing themselves so they might lash out, apologize, but then lash out again

both rewards and punishment doesn't affect people with PDA as much as those without PDA (I couldn't find the reason why)

unlike autism those with PDA are less likely to:

show stereotypical motor mannerisms (hand flapping, finger flicking other body stimming)

show echolalia or pronoun reversal

show speech abnormalities in terms of pragmatics

show tiptoe walking

show compulsive adherence to routines

those with PDA are more likely to:

resist demands obsessively (100%)

be “socially manipulative” (100% by age of 5)

show normal eye contact

show excessive lability of mood and impulsivity

show social mimicry (including gesture)

show role play (more extended and complete than mimicry)

show other types of symbolic play

here's an infographic that might help out some more

if you have more questions feel free to ask. PDA seems to be a really complicated thing so I tried to explain it as best as I could. i hope this helps at least a bit!

[sunscreenstudies]

Handling Exam Stress

It’s that time of the year again when the pressure is high and exams are looming. Exam stress can sometimes feel overwhelming, but fear not! I’ve got your back with some tried-and-true strategies to help you tackle those exams like a champ (and a super cheesy camp tone to add a dash of scarcasm while we do so!)

1️⃣ Plan Your Battle: Start by creating a well-structured study schedule that breaks down your workload into manageable chunks. Prioritize topics based on their weightage and allocate dedicated time slots for revision. A clear plan will give you direction and a sense of control, helping to alleviate stress.

2️⃣ The Power of Mindful Breaks: Remember, studying non-stop isn’t sustainable or effective. Incorporate regular breaks into your study routine to give your brain some rest. Engage in activities that relax and rejuvenate you, like taking a walk, meditating, or indulging in a hobby. These breaks will help improve focus and prevent burnout.

3️⃣ Effective Study Techniques: Experiment with various study techniques to find what works best for you. Active learning methods like summarizing concepts, creating flashcards, and teaching the material to someone else can enhance retention and understanding. Mix things up to keep your study sessions engaging and productive.

4️⃣ Form a Support System: Reach out to fellow studyblr buddies or friends who are also preparing for exams. Sharing your concerns, discussing challenging topics, and exchanging study tips can create a supportive community that motivates and encourages you. Remember, you’re not alone in this journey!

5️⃣ Self-Care is Key: Amidst the chaos, don’t forget to prioritize self-care. Get enough sleep, eat nourishing meals, and engage in physical activities to keep your mind and body in top shape. Self-care boosts your overall well-being and equips you to handle stress more effectively.

6️⃣ Positive Mindset Matters: Cultivate a positive mindset by reframing your thoughts. Instead of dwelling on fear or self-doubt, focus on your strengths and past accomplishments. Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and believe in your ability to overcome obstacles. Remember, you’ve got this!

7️⃣ Celebrate Small Victories: Don’t forget to acknowledge and reward yourself for each milestone you achieve along the way. Treat yourself to small breaks, indulge in your favorite snack, or enjoy a leisure activity after completing a challenging task. Celebrating your progress will boost your motivation and keep you going strong.

8️⃣ Reach Out for Support: If exam stress becomes overwhelming, don’t hesitate to seek support from your teachers, family, or counselors. They can provide guidance, reassurance, and practical advice to help you navigate through challenging times.

Remember, dear studyblr fam, exam stress is temporary, but your knowledge and growth are lifelong. Embrace the journey, stay focused, and trust in your abilities. You’ve put in the hard work, and success is within your reach. You’ve got this! ✨📚💪

[a-cloak-deactivated20241120]