#like surveys about ur mental health and shit and i had to talk to a shrinky dink about how much i looveeed cutting myself and wanted to die

[yippie-madness]

this song reminds me of this study i was in where this is literally what they did. idk the goal but they would flash associated words on the screen (shit like "death" and "funeral" and then like "life" and "thrive", it was a study about suicide so lots of themes of life/death and depression) and then you would have to match a word (eg. death) with a choice of two others, one was "correct" (eg. "thrive" and "funeral"). or you would match it to the not associated word. it was stupid. but hey i got like 250 dollars out of it!

there was not enough consideration to cultural variation on beliefs about death tho, death being associated with past tense language was a very common theme. stuff like that.

[ignitesthestxrs]

hannah I trust you so much and I was wondering if you have any advice for someone moving out of their parents house and going off to uni this fall?

do your homework and go to class. tumblr/the internet is not more important than school, even if it is really really tempting. i promise you, the stuff that you’re going to learn really is interesting, and worth showing up for.

join a club! they’re a great opportunity to meet people through your interests in a low pressure sort of way, and i wish i had done more of it when i was at school

try not to fall into a routine. one of my biggest regrets is that i spent three and a half years moving between home/work/school and doing nothing else while i was at uni. there’s so much more i could have done with my time.

get acquainted with your school’s mental health/guidance system, and make use of it without hesitation when you need to. there is absolutely 100% nothing wrong with needing help and asking for it, and that is what those people are there for. don’t try to struggle through on your own. it’s okay if you need a helping hand.

it’s okay if you fail.

no, seriously, it’s okay. 

papers, classes, whatever. don’t ever accept that failure is inevitable as a way t protect your ego when you’re scared, but understand that not doing well is just as much a part of the learning process as ace-ing something.

if you do fail, do something about it. make use  of the resources at school. get tutoring, ask your professor for clarification on things you don’t understand, GO TO YOUR PROFESSOR’S OFFICE HOURS. they are there to help you, and from being friends with a p. great teacher, you are way way way more likely to get the help you need if you make use of the time they have available to give it.

if you need an exception for something, ask in advance.

if you fuck up something, talk to your professor/course co-ordinator about it. don’t make excuses - be honest. with them, and yourself.  again, this comes back to being okay with failing sometimes. i encourage you to do what you can to make up extra course credit or otherwise explain a difficult situation (i literally told a professor one time that i fucked up a testing situation because i was so nervous about the test, and another one that i just straight up forgot to take his quiz and was able to make accommodations), but don’t go in with demands for special treatment

(seriously, go to class. ain’t no one gonna do anything for you if they only know your name because you haven’t been answering the roll call)

eat your veggies. drink enough water. SERIOUSLY, fuel for your body is fuel for your mind. here is my single person’s relatively healthy guide to cooking. if you’re living in a dorm situation not everything is probably going to apply to you, but there are still some good tips in there! 

seriously, the shit you’re going to learn is interesting! start researching your projects in advance. too many times i would start an essay the night before it was due and not only hate myself because of stress, but because i really really liked what i was writing about and didn’t have enough time to absorb it. there’s so much stuff that i learnt and have forgotten about, or just straight up never learnt to begin with because i never spent enough time actually being a student.

ask questions! that is pretty much the whole point of tertiary education tbh. nothing’s more awkward than the desperate look in a tutor’s eyes as they survey a class of people who have suddenly forgotten how to talk. they’re appreciate it, and so will you - engaging in your lessons is one of the most interesting ways of learning.

IT MIGHT SOUND OVERWHELMING but this is like. years of accumulated knowledge, and what worked for me (or would have worked if i’d actually done it) is not necessarily for you. you don’t have to do everything all at once! these are just general tips for you to refer back to. the most important thing is to be kind to yourself, but don’t baby yourself. remember that you’re there to work, but not overwork yourself.

ur gonna be fine anon, and my inbox is always open