“Oh, I’m Just Too Busy”

“Hey, are you free to catch up with me on the weekend?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m just too busy.”

We’ve all had that conversation, or something extremely similar. The frank reality is that it’s generally very far from the truth. Yes, maybe you have a lot on but most of us spend more time telling people we’re ‘too busy’ than actually, you know, doing the things we’re ‘busy doing’. Whilst it’s definitely vital to not overwork yourself, you shouldn’t work up a mindset that you’re always ‘too busy to do anything’ because you’ll miss out on opportunities that you’ll very likely regret missing later. We all have the same amount of hours in the day, it’s how we choose to use them that actually matters. I’m a firm believer in having wind down time, so definitely let yourself have an hour of Netflix each day, however, don’t tell somebody you’re ‘too busy’ and then proceed to watch Netflix for five hours. I myself am definitely an over-committer, I reached this conclusion when I realised I’d double booked myself for the about the tenth time, I’m not suggesting my approach, it suits me as I like being busy, however probably isn’t the healthiest approach to time management. What I am suggesting is saying yes to a few things every once in a while, go on that jog with a friend, sign up for that school club or say yes to the volunteer opportunity you’ve been wondering about. This is an approach I’ve adopted within the last year and it’s meant I’ve had some amazing opportunities to do some things I wouldn’t have generally experienced. You’re very unlikely to regret giving things a go but you will regret not taking the opportunity, and on that corny note, have a great week!

 

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De-stressing

After a long week, you know the kind I mean; three tests, an essay and two extra sports trainings, collapsing on the couch and basically lying there for the whole weekend is often what we tend to do, however, there are certainly better ways to de-stress.

Take care of yourself: Wash your hair, moisturise, put on a face mask. Doing these things will make you feel clean which will help you feel less stressed. I personally have one night a week where I do my full on shower, I wash my hair, shave my legs, have a Disney singalong using my hairbrush as a microphone (we’ve all done it!) It’s good to take care of yourself and your hygiene plus you’ll feel amazing afterwards!

Treat yourself!: Have a little ‘you time’ binge-watch Brooklyn nine-nine and all the Harry Potter movies, or any other movie or show you like they’re just my personal favourites! Read a book. Eat your favourite food, even if it is a little unhealthy. After a week of self-restraint from Netflix and chocolate, we surely deserve to be a little indulgent!

Do something creative: Forget all those math equations for a couple of hours, don’t forget them altogether or else that math test you have next week might not go all that well! Instead, put your brain power towards something creative you enjoy doing; bullet journal, do some calligraphy, write a song (if you’re musically gifted, unlike me) or even scrapbook! Doing something artsy will get your mind off everything going on for a little while.

Exercise: Look, I’m a pretty honest person so I’m not going to pretend I do this as much as I should but exercise is proven to have positive benefits on your mood and is definitely a good way to get out the stress. Head out for a jog, swim a few laps, invite your friends over for a game of volleyball or kick a football with your brother or sister. Exercising will help you feel less stressed.

“When in doubt go to the library,”-Hermione Granger

 

 

February Bullet Journal

It’s that time again when I whip out my bullet journal and draw up my monthly spreads. For anyone who doesn’t know, bullet journalling is a system of planning in which you draw up the calendars yourself, you can also add other pages such as checklists or habit trackers. Bullet journalling also uses a key drawn by using dots to outline tasks, events and other signifiers, I’ll link an article by bulletjournal.com which explains this in more detail in case anyone is interested. Click here for more information . Anyway, I’ll be sharing with you my February bullet journal setup.

My cover page for the month of February is simple, it’s just the word February with an overview calendar and some purple and grey hearts hanging down. My February colour theme is purple and grey.

The next page is my February calendar where I write down important events happening that month, I use this same calendar spread every month because it really seems to work for me.

Next I have my habit tracker where I have ten habits I want to do everyday in February and here I can track when I do them.

I also have a study log so that I can track how much I study.  I’ll be using this log for the whole school term but it works well to put it here.

My possibly most used spread apart from my weeklies is my term overview spread, here I write upcoming assessments and tests for the term, it’s very helpful to be able to see my assessments at a glance and I’d highly recommend this spread if you bullet journal as a student.

Lastly, I have my weekly spreads where I put down tasks, homework and events I have each day of the week in February.

I really enjoyed putting these spreads together and hope you can enjoy them too!

“When in doubt go to the library,”-Hermione Granger