Telepho(ne)bia ?

I woke up this morning an hour earlier than I had to and couldn’t go back to sleep because I was nervous. It’s not like I wasn’t still tired because I hadn’t slept well between weird, anxious dreams and laying awake worrying about this morning. I tried to take my mind of it by browsing social media and playing games on my phone, but I was still stressing out about it while I had a shower and got ready. I was strangely aware of my heartbeat, as I watched the fingers on my clock moving closer to 8:00 am. Running the scenario through my head for like the 20th time, I just wished I was already done with it.

Why I was so anxious? One might think I had an important job interview, a presentation infront of a lot of people or anything  else people might find in any way distressing. But all I had to do was make an appointment with my doctor and another one with my gynecologist. I wasn’t nervous about the appointments itself, I never had a problem with that. The thing that made my heart rate fasten was the thought of making a phone call.

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I’ve been anxious about phone calls as long as I remember. And it always went further than our generations general disregard of direct human interaction. I still grew up in the olden times when we didn’t have mobile phones as kids and you had to call your friend’s landline to arrange to hang out in the afternoon. I usually tried to make them ring me so I didn’t have to call them and have their mum pick up. I liked all my friend’s mums, but I still saw it as a hard task to say the words “hello it’s Alli, may I speak to xy.” Over time I aditionally got uncomfortable with answering the phone at home. I usually avoided it and let my mum get it hoping and praying nobody was calling to me. It went so far that my heart started racing any time I heard our phone ring. I felt better about it the closer I was to the person. I didn’t have a problem calling my parents or my best friend. With other friends I was way more uncomfortable, but talking to strangers on the phone was my nightmare.

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My mum of course didn’t understand that and got pissed off frequently by me refusing to call anyone unless it was inevitable and making a fuss about it. She thought I was being a ridiculous teenager, when in fact the thought of picking up the phone made me feel sick with fear. I forgot how to form sentences just by looking at it.

I can’t even say what it is. I don’t have a problem with talking to strangers in person most of the time. I’m not even scared of public speaking. Maybe it is being judged, not being able to read the persons body language and facial reactions or the fear of not knowing what to say. I don’t know. What I know is it’s not rational.

A few years ago when I became more aware about mental illnesses, I googled it for the first time, because I started to think that maybe it wasn’t just that I’m overly shy and perhaps I wasn’t even the only one with this problem. Turns out I’m not. I found lots of articles about the phenomenon, describing the situation excactly like I experienced it. In this research I found out, that it was in fact a form of social phobia. There are no stats how many people suffer from it, but it’s more common than one would think. You can even find courses or ten step plans to deal with it on the internet. Finding out about it helped me a lot, as to be honest I had always felt like I was weird because of it.

Of course it didn’t get better immediatly, but I found out for myself that it actually got easier the more often you did it. In a journalism course I took we had to call potential interview partners, which totally freaked me out at first. But after I managed to make myself call the first few, it kept getting easier and easier especially as it was always the same conversation. A few months later I had an internship at at radio station, where my main job was to call people and answer the phone. Funnily enough I didn’t struggle with that, because I could kind of “hide” behind the corporate identity. As I read in the articles during my research, a lot of people also get anxious about the phone in the workplace. After I finishing the internship I was convinced I was over my phobia, but I’m still not. I still let my mum make my dentist and hairdresser appointments when she calls them to make ones for herself. I still shake when I have to call my gyn. And I’d still rather write 20 emails than make one quick phone call. I don’t know if that will ever change,but I guess I’ll just have to deal with it. Luckily, the problem about calling friends disppeared by itself by the wonderful invention of the internet and our generation’s preferance for text messages. (Seriously thanks guys)

So I mainly wrote this, that if you read this and if you know the feeling I described, you won’t feel alone anymore or weird about yourself like I did. And so you can show your mum that is in fact an actual phobia. Buuut, so this whole post wasn’t a complete waste of time here are also some coping mechanisms you can try next time you have to use that particular application on your smartphone.

1. Ask yourself what excactly you are scared of. You will see there is nothing reasonable to be afraid of.
2. Think about the worst outcome that could happen, which most of the time is nothing that’s actually bad.
3. Think through what exactly you are going to say. If there are more things you have to adress make a list so you don’t have to be scared to not remember everything. You can also write down important information they give you.
4. BREATHE. Take a few deep breaths to calm down before you press the call button.
5. What always helps me as well is playing with a pen or scribbeling on something while talking to the person.
6. Stand up. Standing up doesn’t only give your lungs more room to breathe but you will also feel taller and more confident.
7. If being anxious about making calls, really affects your life or job, don’t hesitate to talk to a therapist about it. There is no reason at all to be ashamed!

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In the end I also managed to call my doctor. As he told me to make an appointment with a specialist I will have to call in there soon as well. And there are a million of other phone calls to come. And I will have to conquer my fears again and again and again- But even though I’m struggling, in the end I know that I can do it, because I’ve also done it a thousand times before. And so can you. Good luck !

Love Alli xx

(PS: If you have similar experiences and want to share or have questions head to our twitter @castaway_minds or our instagram @castawayminds )

Things I learned to be true during my semester abroad

1. Wherever you go you always take yourself with you. 

You might think you can leave everything behind and start over completely new with new people in a new setting, but the truth is: you can’t leave yourself behind. You will still be the same person with your quirks and insecurities and thoughts that make you you.

I for example even though I was in a different surrounding still was overthinking everyone and was insecure about myself and people not liking me. You can’t run away from yourself and you won’t magically get over yourself just because you go to another place.

So if you wanna change something and leave your problems behind it doesn’t work to just run away and hide in an other place. The problems will find you. You have to face them and constantly work on yourself to actually improve something, no matter where you are

2. Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you flight tickets and that’s pretty much the same.

First of all I think the people saying that money can’t buy you happiness definitely haven’t had to worry about money in their lives. While of course money alone doesn’t make you happy, having enough of it surely makes a lot of things easier. Especially because then you’re able to afford your flight tickets. And not only that: train rides to the mountains, boat tours, dives, rental cars for roadtrips, courses to learn something new and so much more.

Seeing so many amazingly beautiful places like

Whitehaven beach and the Great barrier reef ( to name my favourites) and being able to have new experiences, which sometimes require getting out of your comfort zone, filled my heart with so much awe and my soul with so much joy like I could never have imagined. It was just such an amazing feeling to see some of the beauty of our eart and I’m so grateful I got the opportunity. I spend so much money and still had the feeling to have come back a lot richer than before.

 

 

3. Challenges help you grow stronger

Yes, they actually do and we all kind of know that. Still it was amazing experiencing it on yourself. It might only be little everyday challenges but if you conquer them you feel so much more confident about yourself.  Even though you will still see something you’ve done a lot of times challenging, doing them again and again will make it easier for you every time.

For me that would have been befriending strangers, calling people on the phone or taking the lift (I’m claustrophobic and used to panic in them). The more often I did those things the easier I found them and the better I felt about myself, because I knew I could face my fears and do it anyway.

4. A home doesn’t have to be a house…

It can be a shitty, untidy flat without windows and with furniture from the seventies, that still gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling when you enter it after a hard day of studying and facing people you can’t handle.It can be an old car, which still gives you a strong feeling of security, because there are always boxes of food in there and it carried you safely to so many wonderful places (and you had some pretty nice naps in it). It can be an air bnb flat with the ugliest wallpaper that has ever been printed, because after and exciting day that’s where you go back to cook your go to cheap meal with your friends and fall asleep after discussing every single funny aspect of the day. In the end home is not a place, it’s a feeling and you can find that feeling anywhere with the right people by your side.

5. …and a family doesn’t have to be related.

I found the eight people that became my family in my first week in Sydney. We spent every day together and they were the faces I saw when I came home after a day at Uni. we cooked together and shared our stories, we talked about our problems, we comforted each other, we joked around, celebrated birthdays and christmas and the end of exams. We travelled together and share all our memories. We disagreed we argued and made up. This is family for me. Supporting each other, fighting for each other, sticking together and being there for one another.

6. You never I come back the same you left.

This is kind of obvious as well. You see and do so many things that make you grow as a person and make a permanent impression on you. These experiences become part of who you are and you’re a different person coming back to a place with parts of you still stuck at the place you were.

 

That was it from me for today, I will chill the rest of the day crying over my fotos and unnercessarily mentioning to everyone (if they wanna hear it or not) that I’ve been to Australia. If you have any questions or just wanna have a chat hit me up on our twitter @castaway_minds or our instagram @castawayminds.

Love,

Alli

 

 

To the guy who can fuck himself

Today is one of them days that started off good but then an event happened and all you want to do is go to your bed, have a good cry, eat a shit ton of ice cream and then eventually fall asleep whilst watching a sad film and crying.

Some people might say that it is pathetic why I’m down all of the sudden but today happened something that happens to me quite frequently and something that is about something that I’m not happy about about my body.

Let me explain what happened:

So I had a group meeting with two of my friends for Uni. Whilst walking back from it with Maren (I have mentioned her before here, she’s like my best friend at Uni), we past some traffic lights. I think at this point we weren’t talking but I was just thinking about something that I had to do or we were just talking about. When some guy shouted out something out of a car window. Because I was deep in my thoughts I didn’t catch what he was saying, I only heard that Maren answered something inappropriate/rude. So I asked what he was just saying whilst they drove away. She told me that he just shouted out of the window: You’re fat.

Since they shouted it to us, it’s clear that he meant me. Because let’s face it, I’m not really skinny or thin and have quite a few pounds too much on me. He definitely didn’t mean Maren because she has a great physique and is very toned.

After this happened we popped to the food shop very quickly to get some stuff but it was weird. Like there was a weird feeling in the air after it happened, or at least I felt so.

On the one hand I hate myself for not catching what he was saying because I would have liked to say something back like: Better fat than ugly, or something like that.

But on the other hand, who the fuck gave this guy the right to shout something like this to a girl on the street you’ve never met in your life before? Have you ever thought that this person might have feelings and you can hurt someone by saying such nasty things?

As I said before being called fat or ugly isn’t the first time for me (here’s another example when I wrote about another twat calling me out being too fat (The one time I met an absolute twat), but it never happened in such a rude way. And I also know that something like this shouldn’t get to me because let’s face it the guy who shouted it was just an absolute twat and honestly I’m usually a very polite person and only want the best for everybody, but believe me when I say I don’t care if he would just break his leg or so. In fact that would be karma and the right thing to happen to him. Although I know that, it still got to me.

Like has he ever thought about that the person he just called out because of their weight might have some serious health problems? Like no matter what it is. So many people struggle with their weight because of health reasons, so no fucking person has the right to call someone else out because of their appearance. No matter if it is because they are very thin or because they are bigger. He clearly hasn’t thought about the fact that someone might have something like hypothyroidism or other medical conditions. A person might want to look thin but simply can’t because of a condition they have.

On the other hand someone could have a serious mental problem concerning their body. There are serious mental illnesses that a lot of people have, like bulimia, anorexia, obesity or in general all kind of eating disorders. Clearly a person like him has no fucking idea what such a nasty comment like his can do to the person he just shouted it to.

And normally that’s something I don’t talk about and only one of my friends knows about it but in fact I have had eating disorders in the past. To the point where I still have to track my food, just to make sure that I eat the right amount of things. I had to track my food for 4 or 5 years now and I have so many journals I have written and hid before. Like non of my friends or my family knows about this. Only my doctor. And I guess you now…

This guy and so many other people don’t have a fucking idea what the hell is going on in this peoples life so nor he or anybody else has a right to say a fucking thing about how anybody but himself/herself looks like.

Although I know all of these things it still messes with my head. It messes up with my head that much that I’m sitting here spending too much time thinking about what happened today and writing this blog post. When in fact he should be not even worth a second of my life. And it definitely didn’t help with the way I ate the rest of the day then and the next few days.

Always think about what you say to others. Such a small sentence can have an enormous impact on someone’s life without you even knowing it.

Lots of love,

Jenny

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The silent friend

In my friendship groups I’ve always been the weird and silent one, or the one who isn’t as comfortable as the rest. But lately I recognized this even more.

Don’t get me wrong I like my friends and I like to hang out with them, but sometimes to go out and meet them is very difficult for me. Let me explain why.

Since I was a little kid I was extremely shy and I absolutely hate to talk to strangers or people I barely know and sometimes even within my friendship group. Like for example yesterday I was out with some of my friends visiting a Street Food Festival. Sound awesome right? I mean what could you better do on a sunny Sunday than spent some time with your friends outside with awesome food?! And you’re right, there is barely anything that is better. Wouldn’t there be this weird feeling in my stomach and my head saying me how uncomfortable I am. We sat down on the grass, eating and talking, but for some reasons I can’t really join the conversations. I sit there and listen. I always do. Although a lot of times I would like to tell my little stories as well or say something. Instead I sit there and have this conversation in my head but never speak it out loud. I’m too afraid what they might say to it, or that it doesn’t fit the conversation or that people will make fun of what I’m saying. I’m too insecure about what people might say to what I said or react to it, that I stay silent instead.

A lot of times my friends even point that out. I remember one occasion extremely vividly. It was last year at a friends birthday party. He invited all from our friendship group around for just a chilled evening. We were about 12 or 14 people or so. When I arrived I made sure to sit right in the corner of the bed so I’m not in the spotlight or in the way. Everybody had a nice conversation about all kind of things. Once again I sat there, listening to what everyone was saying. When a friend of mine said: “All Jenny does is sit there in silent and doesn’t contribute anything. She only sometimes give a random fact and that’s it.” Knowing him, he did mean it with any bad intention but ever since it stuck with me. He is right. All I do is sit there say nothing the whole time because I’m too afraid to say anything or say anything wrong. But why? They’re my friends I should be comfortable joining the conversation, shouldn’t I? Even when someone asks me a question or says something to be/about me I immediately turn super red and just want it to stop and that people talk about something different.

I don’t know if this has to do with that I have a social anxiety or any other sort of mental illness/blockade, I only can say that recently I found it even harder than ever. And since my way of trying to solve a problem is to write about it, I thought it would be a good idea to write about it on here. Because ever since I met the other 3 girls I realized that I can be totally myself around them. They don’t judge me for anything I do, they only ever encouraged me in everything I do or want to do. So when we created this Blog I knew that this blog is my safe space. It’s a place where I can turn to when I don’t know where my head is any more and just write about it. There might be people out there who read this right now and realize ‘Hey I’m not the only one who feels like that’ or says ‘Hey there are other people out there who struggle with who they are and social interactions’. If there is even only one person out there who thinks like that I’m more than happy.

I think about topics like this it isn’t really spoken about and I’m really not okay with this. Growing up is a fucking hard thing and every single person struggles with all kind of different problems. Why can’t we talk about them and help each other grow?!

I really don’t know what I can do to be better in social interactions, all I know is even when I push myself to say something it doesn’t help. I still fell uncomfortable and shit in these situations and for some reasons I think that’s something that will never go away. I guess I have to learn just to live with it. Or maybe I don’t. If you know any tips please let me know in the comment section below or on our other social media:

instagram

twitter

Anyway, I think I’m going to watch some Netflix now because that’s how I can just forget about stuff like this.

I hope you have/had a wonderful day!!!
Lot of love,

Jenny xxx.

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Meeting new people as a shy person

Hello you beautiful people,

I’m very sorry that I haven’t posted anything in like forever. So I went back to my flat because I had to write an exam, studied for another one but the night before I decided not to write it because there would have been no point in it because I barely know anything about it, then I had to clean the whole flat massively (I tell you there is a lot of dust if you and you flatmate aren’t there for over 1 month!), I met up with some of my friends that I haven’t seen since we all went home to enjoy our holidays (well sort of enjoying them when you have to work the whole time) and lastly I had to pack because then I went on holidays in Scotland i.e. I’m annoying the shit out of Katie ;). And finally I’m back at Uni and today started the first week of the new Semester, so I have a regular days again.

But here it is finally:

Meeting new people as a shy person. As you might could have guess from this long into, I met new people when I was at Katies and as you also might could have guessed, I’m a shy person around new people. So I thought I’m going to share my tips and tricks when meeting new people and make everything a bit less awkward in trying to give you and myself a bit of a prep talk.

So, meeting new people is always awkward for everybody. One of my main issues is always that I feel that I’m making a fool out of myself when I meet people. Start with the introduction, how on earth are you greet them? Like with just a ‘Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Jenny.’, just hello, a wave and hello, handshakes, hugs, kisses on the cheeks, nothing at all????????? Like what on earth is appropriate???? You can see I always feel very secure right from the start.

If you finally got over the awkward introduction of 2 people try two different things from the above and kinda meet in the middle, which looks even weirder that you can imagine, what’s next? If its a group of people you meet do you just join in the conversation and pretend your friends friends are automatically your friends? Do you sit quietly in the corner and join in with some laughters and approval nods? Or do you sit there completely quite, trying to get as little attention as possible? What on earth is the right thing to do?

How much do you tell them about yourself? Just the things that are necessary? As much as you would tell any other friend? Sit in the corner and pretend you didn’t hear them ask you a question? A selected amount of facts and things about yourself? Sit in the corner, cry and ignore everybody?

And when you leave your friends friends again how do you say goodbye? Do you hug them as well as your friend does? Do you just stand there say bye? Wave again and say bye? Run away and never come back?

As time has told me, there is no need in questioning all these things. Everybody you will meet is different and you never can use a certain schema on everybody. It always depends on the situation and people you with and around. Like I met new people were it was totally fine that I hugged them when I met them and for some odd reasons we behaved like we have known each other for years. And then there have been situations where my only thought was ‘when I can leave again?’. I think in the end there is no difference if you are a shy person or not, meeting new people is always scary for everybody because you never know how well you get along with the other person and what it will be like talking to them.

Of course extroverted people usually struggle a little less with meeting new people because they are out-going and, most of the time, like to talk to new people. But who says that they don’t get a bit scared either?

I think the only real advise I can give to shy people, like myself, is not to try to hide behind your shyness. When I moved to England and University, I basically knew nobody there so somehow I had to make new friends and if you want to make friends you have to talk to people first. Yes, it was scary and definitely not easy but it showed me that even though I’m shy, I can meet new people and I can go up to others and talk to them as well as every other person can on this earth. Your shyness is a part of your personality but isn’t something that should determined who you are. You can go up to the employee in the supermarket and ask how much the avocados cost. I’m more than sure they will give you an answer. You want to talk to that girl on the other table because she looks nice? Go for it, introduce yourself and start some small talk or ask her if she would like to work with you on this group-work. You see somebody with the same fan-merch, go to this person and ask if they like them and for how long and what other musician, people or whatever in this area the person likes. I bet with you 99% of the time the person will start talking to you and talk to you about it and who knows maybe this is even the start of a great friendship?

Sometimes we just have to straighten our back, hold our head held high and tell ourselves that we can do that. We can go this new person and ask them the question we want to ask them. We can do more than we actual think!!! You can do more than you actual think!!!

So next time you meet new people, don’t be shy and hide yourself, try to be confident (or at least fake to be confident) and talk to them. If you achieved to do so once, I can guarantee you that next time it will be easier and after a while you won’t even think about it any more.

Go out there and conquer the world, lovely people!!!!

Lots of love,

Jenny xxx

 

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How not to fall into a back-to-school-blues

Hey you lovely person,

As school soon begins again or even has started for you already I thought I should write about some tips how you can avoid a post-holiday-blues or a back-to-school-blues. Okay maybe also because I only have less then 1 month left until I’m back at Uni myself and I need a pick-me-up to get not totally frustrated in how fast this time has flown by.

Tip 1: Your friends

Beside of be able to broaden your horizon, school is good for one more thing (or if you don’t like school like I did sometime, the only good thing): your friends.

These are the people who make school bear and actually fun. When you’re on holiday, sure you have fun times with your family exploring new cities, countries and cultures (even if that means you’re just visiting a different part of your country, damn are these people different to the ones you’re around usually). But having your friends around talking about the newest cute classmate, the new annoying teacher who takes her/his job way too serious or why did Holly cut her hair and dye it this awful colour? In my experience your friends are the ones who make your school-life fun, entertaining, bearable and also memorable. And after like 2 months off you have plenty to talk about, because let’s face it because of different plans and timings you’re never able to see all of them or as often as you would like to. So there is some major talk to catch up to.

Tip 2: Try to see the good in every subject

If you’re like me and you hate maths, physics, chemistry or whatever subject with a passion, it is extremely hard to keep awake whilst the lessons, homework are an absolute nightmare and I’m not even starting on revising for class-tests or exams. But every subject has some positive side as well, or these wouldn’t be subjects chosen by the government you should learn about.

Math for example, most students hate it and to be fair I still have no clue of most of the things I actually should know about in my dreams, but it also has some positive expects. Like you need to know how to sum up things if you’re at the supermarket and you need to know if you have enough money with you, as the poor uni student you are. Or you definitely need to calculate the sum of two matrices together on a daily basis in order to survive your day. Also don’t forget how important it is for you to know what happens if you put vinegar and baking soda together, one day you need to prank your sibling or your room mate and knowing the proportion is very important. You will be glad that you actually listen to your teacher for once. See Caspar Lee, he actually makes money with doing pranks on his old room mate.

So even though it is an absolute nightmare and you much rather would spend your time daydreaming about your current celebrity crush, it has some reasons why all these stupid subjects are chosen by the government. Who knows one day you might be at ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ and you would only win the 1 Million question because you listened to your absolute boring teacher who also could be Albert Einstein judging by how you would guess his age. But hey at least he taught you something useful.

Tip 3: Soon there will be other holidays

School isn’t forever and sooner than you can think, you’re laying back in your bed all day, binge watching another series on Netfilx. School terms aren’t actually that long if you think of it.

Tip 4: Don’t leave everything till the last minute

If you’re like me and a major procrastinator you will leave ll your all your homework, projects, proposals and you have to stress about it all night whilst you try to finish it in time with a half decent outcome. Truth is, if you don’t leave everything to last minute, plan your work (and actually stick to your plan) school isn’t that stressful as you might think. After school there’s always a certain time which you should spent on doing things for school and if you would actually spent this time doing things for school and not play Sims or watch all PLL episodes from the beginning you actually should be able to get through the year without such stress and actually with quite decent marks. Also revising all the things you have done in school that day and re-reading the things from the day before will help you at the end of the year with your exams, because believe it or not but the human brain can only remember things if you revise everything again in the next day n the long-term.

But whom I am even kidding here, we all know that most pupil will binge-study and do everything at the last minute as usual and hope that it will turn out alright.

Tip 5: Don’t stress yourself too much

That’s what I always did. Each year I told myself: ‘Okay Jenny, this year you’re actually study for tests, you stick to your organization plan, write everything in exercise books and not on random pieces of paper which you’re actually losing in the end’. Well, as you might already guessed this lasted for liked 2 weeks and then everything was out the window. But truth is, deep down, I always knew that I could survive school with less stress and better marks if I would have actually done so. So don’t follow my paths and be as stupid as I was. Yeah sure, B’s and occasional A’s are good and you can get through with that to some Universities but hey, if you actually get you’re shit done and stick to your plans you can actually get A’s as a normal thing and then you can choose to which University you want to go or what job you would like to do and you aren’t limited because of your marks.

As I mentioned in Tip 4, if you do everything soon enough and you study every day you won’t even start stressing yourself about these things because your marks will improve and you don’t have to stress yourself too much that you have to do all nighters before your exams so you get good marks, so you actually have a slight chance to still be able to get into the college/ University you want to. And even though you get a bad mark, who cares?! Nobody is perfect and only because of one mark you don’t will end up living on the street with no perspective. A certain level of pushing yourself is good because then you can only develop the true potential of yourself, but don’t try to push yourself too much that you neglect your friends, family and your hobbies. These are there for a reason so your brain can rest and process all the information. In the end everything will turn out good. Look at me, even I was accepted at an University, so you will be too! 🙂

Lots of love,

Jenny

 

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How to procrastinate like a pro

Hello lovely people,

today is my turn again and since I’m a bit in a studying stress I though I write about the reason why I am in a stress: my best friend, procrastination!

I would consider myself as an absolute pro at procrastinate so I thought I share my knowledge with all of you and I can feel a bit less bad about myself! 🙂

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Tip number 1: YouTube

My best/worst thing I always do is spend hours on YouTube instead of actually revising. I mean watching all ThatcherJoe main channel videos and vlogs is something very important in life, right?! Finding new YouTuber which I obviously have to stalk first and then subscribe to and watch every single video of them or they appeared in. These are the essentials in life and make a great impression in my CV! Not everybody can write in their CV: Special Skills: Knowing every single YouTube video off by heart. My future boss must be impressed by that and ignore my bad grades, right?!

Tip number 2: Cleaning

When I started revising for my A-Levels back in the days, or now in University everybody always said that cleaning is becoming your best friend. I personally never was this person. I much rather laid in bed watching YouTube videos but this changed this semester. I was swept away by the hype. Somehow cleaning seemed very appealing and boy, my room was never as clean as it is at the moment.

Tip number 3: Baking

As you might know I’m a big lover of baking and this continued this semester. Learning or baking cookies for my girl night-in later in the evening? Baking a birthday cake or revising for my exam in 4 days, I guess the answer is clear… 😀 I mean I did something for my friends, right? It wasn’t wasting time at all, right? 😀

Tip number 4: Have a lay-in

I don’t know when you can study the best, but I definitely can in the morning between breakfast and lunch. So having a lay-in and only be able to study for like 2 hours before you actually make some food which is basically your lunch and then being absolutely unmotivated is a super tip. You definitely should try it, I can only recommend it!

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Tip number 5: Learning cards

Spend your time wisely for studying and make some studying cards is a good thing, right? Well, not if you waste your time writing them and then basically have no time anymore to actually learn them. Yeah sure you keep some things by just writing them but when you write your exam and have to know all the in-depth information in order to pass your exam just writing your cards isn’t helping really. But heyho, you can say you studied and it wasn’t your fault, right?

Tip number 6: Online shopping

What better then looking online for absolute unnecessary clothes, shoes, make-up, handbags, beddings and all kind of other stuff? I guess, if you actually should do other things there is something better then online shopping. I know this is shocking news but sadly also very true.

Tip number 7: Daydream

Once again one of my favs. Just sit in front of your papers, stare at them and imagine how life would be if your (celebrity) crush would actually know you or how life would be if you’re already finished University and you’re an independent, successful women in your job. Definitely is going to help you in your exams.

Tip number 8: Making lists

I’m an absolute sucker for notebooks and lists and I probably make more lists then Michael Clifford changes his hair. So starting a new list instead of studying is a brilliant idea. What about ‘What I should do during my holidays’ or sort out all your family and friend’s birthday and Christmas presents till 2030. Sounds like a magnificent plan to me.

 

Tip number 9: Make study breaks

Everyone needs study breaks, so you definitely should do them regularly. The only bad thing is if your breaks take like 2 hours but you only study for like an hour. You see the problem? Not really efficient but you can be annoyed at yourself soon enough. More specific the day before your exam when you ask yourself why on earth you’re so stupid and you do all the things mentioned above.

Tip number 10: Be annoyed

As I just mentioned there is this one time were you ask yourself why you have done all the things above and you get super annoyed at yourself. What you only realise right before bed is that once again you wasted a day by being annoyed at yourself or you tell yourself that now there’s no point in starting revising properly anyways.

These are my 10 top tips in how to become a top procrastinater. You only have to follow these steps and I’m sure you’re as good as me in no time.

But in all seriousness, don’t procrastinate! It’s stupid and only effects your marks, in which you could be so much better if you actually would stick to your studying-plan. So don’t procrastinate kids!!!

I’m off, trying to get as much information as possible in my little head last minute because somehow I need to remember 34 written pages (on computer) on Wednesday morning and so far I’m able of around 13. So wish me luck and that I don’t procrastinate as much anymore.

Lots of love,

Jenny xxx

 

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How to not work in a group

As I’m just writing now, I’m sitting in a group meeting of a project from Uni I have to hand in on Wednesday. This project contains of 4 groups. 2 groups who are filming a short film and 2 groups who are doing an interactive website (that’s basically where you can click on things and then you’re on a new page and there are videos and stuff like that). I’m in one of the website groups and during working on our project I realized a few things how you definitely shouldn’t work or do when you’re working in a group and people are depending on you.

1. Always do the tasks you’re asked in time

Currently we’re in our meeting since 7h and that’s only because the other group couldn’t be bothered to work on the things they should have done. So my groups is sitting there waiting for them to finish, what fun.

2. Always check everything with the others

During our preparation one of the other members of the other team changed things without asking us and there was one point where he basically changed nearly everything we have worked on a whole day. I guess I don’t have to mention that my group was pretty curious about it.

3. You’re a team, so work as well

To be honest my group has been pretty good with working equally on the project, but on the other group there is a member who basically never showed up to any meetings, never asked what she could do or if the others ordered her to do something she didn’t do it. And even now in our meeting she just sits there, isn’t asking what she could do or is helping in any form. Please don’t be one of these persons, they are the worst when it comes to working in a group.

4. Typical people working

You know there are always different people and especially when you’re working in a group you can see them perfectly, here are a few examples.

– someone who’s doing everything and doesn’t give other people a chance

– somebody who’s doing nothing and is never showing up

– the crazy one who’s always singing (shout-out to Maren, she made me write it! ;))

– someone who isn’t able to do the task but still tries

– someone who isn’t able to do the task but isn’t bothered

– the quiet one who has good ideas but never says something

– the one who’s always talking about other things

– the one who thinks knows everything but in real live doens’t

– someone who’s only showing up when the meeting is almost finished

– the one who’s always providing awesome food (shout-out to Selina! You’re the one!)

I’m sure you can come up with more, but since I’m a bit in a hurry because since friday to now my, honestly, whole life was either being in Uni or to work on the project. And when I came home at around like 10pm I wasn’t really motivated to do anything but go to my bed sit there with some sweets, trying to calm my nervs down, and catch up with all my friends and family who are super pissed because I haven’t answered the whole day.

I promise next weeks post is going to be longer.

Lots of love,

Jenny xxx

 

Marens Instagram (go and check her out, she’s amazing! and she didn’t made me write that :P)

Selinas Instagram + Blog  (go and check her out she makes the best food!!!!)

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