#it’s really odd to think that realistically in 7/10 years I could be converting one of my bedrooms into a nursery 🥺😬

[study-early]

January 1st 2017 feels like a long time ago, but it still feels odd that a whole year has passed. This year has been a hectic year to say the least. I've not been particularly active on here, but a lot of things have happened, good and bad which I have learnt from, both in my academic and personal life. 

 1- Keep Looking Forward 

This sort of falls into two areas. 

 When starting my second year of University, I lost focus on why I was actually there. I had applied to university in the interest of learning as much as I could, but had forgotten this over my first year. Others aspirations, career advice and department information, all the events and new things at university had distracted me. It left me de-motivated and in a cycle of feeling like a failure and too much of a failure to do anything about it. I was aiming for everything, not what I wanted. 

 If you're very busy, sometimes you end up living day to day. There's nothing wrong with this, you need to get through now to get to tomorrow. Any student who has had several deadlines on the same day or experienced final exams knows sometimes you just need to pull through. However you shouldn't forget why you are doing what you are doing now. It's the same for the future. It shouldn’t be like that all the time. 

 Look ahead, whether that's a month, a year or years away. I had also lost focus on what I actually wanted to do, focusing on what I thought was the right thing to aim for. Aim for what you really want, whether that is related to your studies or not. Keep reminding yourself why you are where you are now and where you want to go. 

Write down your goals and what you want

SMART Goals are particularly good- these are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (Have a deadline) 

Review these from time to time, regularly if you can

Look back at what your previous goals were, if you've had it long enough, go back and look at your studyblr a few years ago 

Listen to others, but don't compare yourself to them, you do things your own way 

 2- Your Studies Aren't everything 

 If there is anything I learnt this year that Studyblrs seem to need to remember is that your studies aren't everything. Celebrate your academic accomplishments, celebrate graduating and celebrate your careers, but don't focus on it too heavily. 

 A career doesn't need to be all encompassing, you have a life outside of it. You can get gratification outside of it. Remembering this helped me a lot. I'm interested in science and technology, and whilst I know almost nothing about coding, I’ve read a lot about Artificial Intelligence. A lot of talk about AI is about the loss of jobs. When you put all your aspirations on a career, hearing this is pretty discomforting. It was nerve wracking for me, someone with my entire career ahead of me. 

 Make sure to give yourself time out. There's so much out there now on self-care, but actually give yourself time out. Have things outside of your studies you put effort into and get joy out of. Only you know what this is, it can be totally embarrassing or be 'useless' to your CV but if it improves your life you should pursue it in your spare time. 

 On this point, friendships and relationships are perfectly good things to work on. In theory, I could work more and get firsts instead of seeing friends or travelling home at weekends. I use the phrase in theory, because in reality I would definitely have a breakdown. Your social life isn't in direct opposition to your grades. Even if it is, it's totally valid to choose your social life. It's about balancing the two, not eradicating one.

If you plan your time, make sure to plan in time for things other than studying  

Alternatively, give yourself realistic goals of what you want to achieve in a day, then leave the rest of it free for your interests 

Take up a new hobby or something you've always wanted to try 

Got a friend you've thought about seeing but haven't? Or someone you want to get to know better? Go for it, message them or meet up with them 

 3- Get the right amount of rest 

 Similarly, resting is about balance. You want to keep your stress down but not keep yourself in a state of idleness. 

 Being busy doesn't necessarily mean you are at your most productive. Resting is not doing nothing. For one, your brain needs sleep to process information, form links and consolidate your memories. Second, taking breaks, even when you're awake provokes a similar process. (x) (x) (There’s plenty of research out there if you’re interested in it)

 This year I learnt the importance of rests after I went over a month without going home and ended up in hospital. It's a hard lesson to learn, even then sometimes I would push myself too far. Often, as soon as I gave myself a break, the façade I had been keeping up by being busy would crumble down. 

 Do a little bit of rest and other things a lot to keep your stress down, but make sure not to be too idle. This summer, I let depression leave me in a state of doing nothing. As soon as I got a job, just working in a café, doing that little bit of work helped me get going. Taking a small step helped me to study for my Autumn exams, as it got me moving. 

Keep in mind if it's worth staying up to study more, or if it would be better to sleep 

Find a sleep schedule that works for you, aim for 5-7 hours, and closer to 10 if you're a teenager 

Naps are good in moderation 

Sometimes doing a little bit makes you feel a lot better 

Try telling yourself to do 20 minutes of studying, and if you want to keep going, keep going, if not, stop 

 4- Exercise 

 I was as sceptical as anyone of the suggestion that exercise was good for managing your stress and especially sceptical when suggesting it to manage depression. However I'm a convert to the idea. 

Exercise, and other basic routines, are a base for you to improve your mental health. Anti-depressants, eating regularly, exercising, sleeping enough, all the small pieces of advice you get can seem trivial. They seem especially trivial, when you have relapsed and feel as if they have failed you before, that people tell you these things will make you better when they don't. 

 I say they're a base, because that's what they are for me at the moment. Recovering from a mental health problem is not inspirational leaps forward, it is constant work, constant discipline and constant failures. It's like taking on an extra job, except that it's all the time and you never get holidays. The aforementioned list has been a base for me to recover, some days I can do these and work through the big things, but other days they are just there to keep me going. If I go to the gym, or if I make dinner, I feel like I've achieved something. Looking after yourself in a little way makes things a bit better, to give strength to improve.

 Exercise as beneficial is definitely something I have learnt this year. In the past it has been a negative experience for me, being lonely in school lessons and punishing myself for insecurities in my body. This year I've changed my attitude to exercise, as a tool to improve my mood, to release energy, to refresh my mind, wake me up or tire me out for bed. 

It was difficult, to part with my money, to have the courage to go the gym and use the equipment (I’m terrified of falling off the treadmill and the men looking at me in the weight room), but all this made me happier for overcoming my fears. Little struggles and little achievements helped me with the bigger struggles.

Take walks if you haven't got the opportunity to do much, a 30 minute walk isn't actually as time consuming as it sounds 

Talking walks in nature, or parks if you're in a city, are really relaxing, at least in my opinion they are Walks are also a good time to meditate or practice calming techniques, especially if you walk to quiet spots 

If you're interested in a team sport find out if there's a team you could join, most are pretty open to all levels 

The internet is full of things you can do in your house, or with no equipment, more than I could list 

 5- Sometimes you need to 'Fail' 

Perfectionism sucks. Let's be real here. I'm not the only one who takes anything less than what is the best as a failure. Over this year I've learnt to try and ditch this idea.

 As you might’ve guessed, it's been a bit of a rough year for me. Expecting myself to be perfect and outstanding at everything is a large part of this. One thing I've learnt, especially in the months after I left hospital, is that sometimes it is better to do something half-assed or badly on time than to do nothing at all. You’ll get a higher mark on an assignment if you hand something okay in than if you don’t hand it in at all. 

 Similarly, things won’t always go perfectly straight away. You need to practice things and sometimes things don’t work at all unless it’s been a long time. For me this year, I missed out on the societies at university because I expected to make friends straight away and got nervous if I didn’t. Expecting everything to be perfect means you could miss out on good things. If you’re starting University this year, remember this, you may have chosen the wrong place or course, but you also may not be settling in straight away.

This is about mindset. Most of it is learning, something you figure out on your own 

Stop putting yourself down, look at what you are good at. Write down what you like about yourself, accept your achievements, think about what others would think of your thoughts 

Reframe your view on mistakes. Try to foster a Growth Mindset, look at your mistakes as opportunities to improve 

Be realistic about your goals and give yourself goals you can actually achieve 

Remember no one is perfect and they all make mistakes, repeat this to yourself.     

6- I've given up on hand writing notes 

 There's not really a lot to say here. It's also something that lots of people have said already on here, Writing out pretty or 'aesthetic notes' isn't everything. 

It can help you to study, but don't let the time doing this outweigh the benefits. I largely stopped because it was easier for me to take messy notes in class or on a laptop, then not write the up until before an exam. Also because for several of my subjects, it wasn't mostly memorisation anymore but understanding of concepts. Writing nice notes weren’t helping me understand more, and they weren't useful for my group projects or writing essays. 

 This isn't to say I don't think it has it uses. I still take notes the way I did during my A Levels for Spanish, but that's more memorisation. Essentially, take notes in the best way for you and what you’re learning, not what people have said is best or what looks best for your blog. 

Do whatever form of note taking works for you 

Try out different methods of studying and notetaking, to see if you find something that works better for you 

There's plenty of software for recording classes, mine was paid for by a government grant, but there are plenty of alternatives 

Actually listening in class, instead of taking notes, has always been useful for me in understanding content, or at least taking very brief or messy notes, with shorthand phrases 

 7- Taking other notes 

 Whilst I don't carry folders of notes around anymore, I do take a notebook with me everywhere I go now. 

 It cost me 95p from the University shop, it's not particularly pretty inside or out and I've used it as a coaster quite a few times so it's covered in ring marks. I take it almost everywhere with me. If I'm going somewhere with decent lighting and a chance of sitting around it's coming. 

Notebooks are great for keeping all your ideas together in one place. A rough book can be a first point to remember things, before you put them elsewhere. And if you want you could keep some sort of journal or diary. 

For me, it's been useful just to work through things at times I usually wouldn't, like on the tube or on a walk. Often your best ideas are at times you're not at your desk working. I've got notes about assignments, blog posts, public lectures I've attended, meetings I've been to and just a general mess of ideas. If writing helps you think, it can be an aid in thinking and planning. Writing out my thoughts and having these all in one book helped me to process and plan this year. 

8- Alcohol 

When I turned 18 and could legally drink, alcohol went from being something that would make me throw up to something fun and sociable. Too many bad things, embarrassing things, traumatising things, that have happened to me this year have been related to alcohol. Alcohol became a crutch, making social situations unbearable without it, and to me drinking more and more in these situations. 

 At university, the view of what constitutes a normal amount of drinking is distorted. At least in the UK, people drink a lot. Like a lot. And from what I've seen, people at my university in London don't even drink as much as elsewhere in the country, but it’s still a lot. 

The normalisation of binge drinking is dangerous, as it causes so many problems for people but these are not seen as being as problematic as if they were illegal drugs or other forms of self harm. And that's what binge drinking is, a form of self harm. The increased risk of cancer from alcohol use is massively underestimated by the public and I’ve seen first hand the immediate damage to people’s emotional, mental and physical health I’m being fairly dramatic, but it feels like 99% of the time alcohol abuse is treated so casually, it’s disturbing. 

One of my biggest study tips for other university students out there would be to drink less. Obviously, not everybody drinks, but at the same time at university it feels like everybody drinks. If you drink, you probably know going out and getting wasted doesn't just take up the time you are doing it, you can lose a whole day of work from being hungover. Do this every week and it adds up. From my experience, going out once a week was below average for freshers. 

I'm not going to be judgemental about this. I'm hardly in a position to be, considering I'm not completely sober. But it's something I've sadly not seen on study tips posts before, even though many people first take drugs or drink at university or college. Sorting out any problems you have with drugs, including alcohol, helps a lot in general, not just with your studies. 

9- Remember the Good Things

One of the nicest moments I had recently was when I reviewed goals I had set over a year ago on my blog. After having a quite frankly terrible year I expected to have met very few of them. However I had actually met quite a lot of them. 

Suddenly I remembered all the effort I had put in during the last year, and actually recognised it. Take a little time to think about what you’ve achieved. When you get praise actually listen. Appreciate yourself and your efforts. 

Look back at 2017 honestly but recognise all you have done this year. 

 Happy New Years!