push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.
push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.
get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.
stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.
buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.
buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.
strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.
organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.
have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.
push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.
message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.
think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.
become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.
lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.
This is all really good advice for dealing with long term depression and anxiety. It’s not gonna magically cure you, but I’ve pushed myself to incorporate a few of these things into my day to day routine and it helps
Since I’ve started tagging some posts as “shitty introverts” I decided to make this post to serve as a reference without being quite as sarcastic and salty as I have been, though I’m pretty sure I’ve already failed with that title. Will I change any minds? It’s doubtful, but if you ever want to know why I’m tearing into that introvertunites/introvert, dear post, you can look at this.
First, a brief definition of introversion in two different systems.
In MBTI: Introverts are people who have a dominant introverted function. Extroverts are people who have a dominant extroverted function. Ambiversion does not exist in the MBTI system - more on that later.
Outside of MBTI: Introverts are people who are energized more by time alone than by time spent with others. Extroverts are people who are energized more by time spent with other people than by time spent alone. Ambiverts are people who fall close to the middle.
In reality, everyone is somewhere along a spectrum (ie, we all need some alone time and some time with people), so arguably we’re all ambiverts, but it’s commonly used for people who find themselves needing a pretty even balance of the two.
Now, ambiversion still doesn’t exist within the MBTI system. If you want to call yourself an ANFP* or whatever, then you are making things up and that is not an MBTI type - it is a personal adaptation that uses some concepts from MBTI. Does this mean that MBTI doesn’t acknowledge that some people are non-MBTI ambiverts? No! It just means that MBTI theory uses the introvert and extrovert terms in a particular way, and doesn’t fully explain what social situations energize you, just like it doesn’t explain fully your favorite ice cream flavor or whether you like sports. It’s perfectly fine to say “I’m an ENFP, and I’m pretty ambiverted.”
Okay now that that’s out of the way, what does introversion, outside of MBTI, not mean?
It does not necessarily mean shyness, awkwardness, or lack of social skills. There’s probably a correlation, because people who prefer to spend most of their time alone have less of a vested interest in getting over shyness, awkwardness, or developing social skills, but there are awkward extroverts and socially adept introverts everywhere.
It does not mean misanthropy/hating people in general. I personally think hating people is not a particularly great way to be, as it means you’re closing yourself off to a whole lot of great experiences, and it definitely is going to be more common in introverts as it makes extroversion really hard, but if that’s your deal, fine. Just know that it’s not at all synonymous with introversion. Introversion means needing a good deal of alone time. It doesn’t mean that you hate the time spent with others, just that it’s going to require more energy.
It does not automatically make you smarter, kinder, more creative, or ‘deeper.’ Whatever psych studies may say, they’re going to be based on a subset, so even if introverts are, on average, smarter, it doesn’t mean you, arbitrary introvert, are smarter than an individual arbitrary extrovert. Another way to put it: more Americans have Olympic gold medals than Jamaicans, but I don’t have more gold medals than Usain Bolt. Use your alleged intelligence to learn and understand basic statistics.
Introversion, or for that matter shyness, awkwardness, or whatever do not excuse rudeness or flakiness, and nothing excuses expecting people to understand you without any explanation.
Look. I get that if you’re depressed, or have social anxiety**, you may say yes to a party invite only to find that when the party actually comes, you can’t bring yourself to make it or even to call. That’s okay. But it’s also okay for the host to be upset that you didn’t show up or let them know that you couldn’t come, and it falls to you, when you are up to the task, to explain why.
Is that hard as fuck to do? Yes. Is expecting other people to read your mind and know all the details of your life and mental health and accept all of your actions completely unfair to them? Also yes. Because here’s the thing: you can’t control other people’s reactions, and it’s ridiculous to think you can.
Which brings us to the shitty introvert. The shitty introvert does the following:
Assumes they are in some way better than extroverts - smarter, more creative, better listeners - and may believe that because they let so few people into their lives, including someone is an honor in itself.
Assumes that having emotional responses is unique to them - that no one else dislikes public humiliation or unpleasant surprises.
Either complains that they’re getting dragged to parties, or complains that they’re no longer getting invitations to the parties that they repeatedly turned down, as if the host has nothing better to do than send you an invite they know you’ll refuse***.
Is rude to others and blames it on being introverted instead of considering that other people also have feelings and either putting in enough effort to maintain civility, or apologizing and taking full responsibility of their actions.
Expects to be understood and accommodated automatically without any explanation, and generally does not put in effort to understand or accommodate others.
Sees introversion as an excuse to never try to improve or challenge themselves. If something is hard for them, they will just give up or avoid it.
In summary, they insist they are more considerate, feeling, and creative while being rude, selfish, and stagnant.
Don’t be a shitty introvert.
*For some reason the example fake MBTI type with Ambiverted is always ANFP. I suspect it’s because Ne both is associated with being towards the middle of the itnrovert/extrovert spectrum and with being like “what if we didn’t follow the rules,” and Fi is associated with “your labels cannot contain me” but that is another post for another day.
**Social anxiety and depression are mental illnesses, and I’m not going to go into them or other mental health issues in this post in more depth, but please note that they are not tied to introversion. Will they often make people withdraw from social situations? Yes. That is a symptom of the illness, not an indicator of extroversion or introversion.
***”I want to be invited, I just don’t want to go!” shitty introverts cry, as if the hosts of the parties are not also human beings with needs and emotions. “Oh, yeah, sorry” the hosts are apparently supposed to tell the person they actually want to invite who would show up and bring a decent bottle of wine, “I’d love to invite you but I have a tiny apartment, so I can’t invite any more than 15 people, and I need to reserve a spot for my friend who not RSVP, ignore my calls, and will most likely either text me with some lame excuse an hour after the party started, or just completely flake. But you see their desires are more important than yours or mine.” Honestly what the host should do is just queue up a few automated invites to nonexistent parties, and on the off chance the shitty introvert does indeed show up without RSVP-ing to one of them, the host should just be like “Oh sorry, I know I said I’d have a party but I’m just not feeling it tonight.” GOLDEN RULE IN ACTION MOTHERFUCKERS.
this also applies to high school in a lot of ways, esp in organization and involvement
I read this book by cal newport called “how to win at college” in prep for my freshman year & u should definitely read it yourself because there are lots of important points i don’t cover in this post, but if you don’t want to, this is my summary of what I think were the most important points he made.
STUDY HARD, BUT YOUR GRADES DON’T MEAN AS MUCH AS WHAT YOU LEARN OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM. he prioritizes getting vital experiences such as
- joining a club and eventually taking responsibility in it and becoming a leader
- apply for scholarships every year (he said 10 a year)
- volunteer, but not for your resume. do it to learn and become a better person.
- get involved in research, and get involved in your major department (like go to the events and lectures, even if they aren’t mandatory)
- write outside of class regularly because writing is super important (example- submit to your school newspaper)
STAY ORGANIZED AND ON TOP OF YOUR SHIT
- he really really REALLY emphasizes not procrastinating and studying / starting papers well in advance of deadlines. his rules are to
- - >start long term projects immediately after they are assigned and continue to work on them by following a reasonable schedule (he says to finish early, revise, then finish again),
- - > take 3 days to write shorter papers (aka you have abt 2 weeks to work on them and they range from 2-15ish pages) (aka make preparations pre writing, then write a rough draft on the first day, revise and focus your writing on the second day (make sure your arguments are very clear!), and polish your paper on the third day), and
- - >take 2 weeks to study for an exam. study in shorter blocks during the first week, like maybe an hour or so each day. over the weekend, add more hours. the few days before the test, study in 2-3 hour chunks to really cement the already familiar information.
- get a filing cabinet for your papers instead of just piling them on your desk and having to search for them later.
- have a HIGH QUALITY notebook and a folder for each class (or whatever stationery keeps you organized) and keep all your folders/notebooks/binders neat and organized.
- empty your inbox and organize your emails
- schedule your free time- aka have specific times that you choose to relax and spend with friends rather than unintentionally relaxing during work time, or worrying about work during relaxation time.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
- you NEED sleep, you NEED healthy food, and you NEED exercise. you really shouldn’t put anything ahead of these things.
- NEVER pull an all nighter. if you’re studying ahead of time, this should be easy. all nighters aren’t glamorous, they’re unproductive, really stressful, and unhealthy
- keep in touch with old friends, and remember to call your mom
- make sure to spend time with new friends and take care of them. be there for your friends.
- keep your room neat and make your bed!!
like i said, there is a lot of important stuff that I didn’t cover so i recommend reading the book how to win at college by cal newport, and take what you need to from it. good luck!!!
One of the main reasons why you don’t make progress or why you are stuck in the vicious cycle of procrastination is the lack of courage to take that one small imperfect step. The more you are fixated on the end result, the less likely you are actually going to do something to achieve it.
A case in point of this so called ‘phenomenom’ is when you keep putting of you essay for a class you are taking. You keep convincing yourself that you have lots and lots of time to write it and suddenly your deadline is tomorrow. What do you usually do in these kinds of situations? I bet you usually open a new document and just start writing something, a quick draft, because you think you just need to get something done. In other words, you are actually just taking an imperfect step towards your end goal, which in this case is a finished essay. When you’ve taken your imperfect step, you often get this flow and just keep working and working until you are satisfied with your input. It seems surprisingly simple, right?
To summarise everything, you need to stop being so focused on the end result. The process is the most important part of your work and you can always edit and work on it later. An imperfect step is the most important step and more people need to realise this. If you have a long list of things to do or deadlines to meet, then just decide to start somewhere. Make that awful draft, scribble down something, make a mistake, just do something. Sooner or later, you are going to notice that you’ve made a great deal of progress. These imperfect steps are what you need in your life.
Hi everyone, welcome to day two of my week of masterposts to
celebrate my 4000+ follower milestone. Today I will be sharing how I take and
compile my notes in university. I am currently in my first year and after trial
and error this is a method I have found works for my and might hopefully work
for you too : )
Before the lecture
Before all my lecture my teachers publish the PowerPoints
online, and for the most part the PowerPoints contain all the key points needed
for the exam. What I do is export the PowerPoint as a handout with just the
outline then reformat it so I can easily print it off or use it directly on my
computer.
During the lecture
When listening to my lecture I highlight the points that the
lecturer emphasis (these are the only things I make into notes) and write,
either with another colour on my computer or by hand, other points that the
lecturer says that are not on the slides.
After the lecture
After the lecture I like to skim through my textbook and
take notes on points that are based around what was discussed in the lecture.
Sometimes I take a lot of notes other times I take only two, it depends on what
I deme important based on the lecture and how the lecturer examines.
Compiling your notes
This is the most important step as it is what will guide
your revision! Gather all your lecture notes and textbook notes and write them
in your own words. Take the highlighted points from your lecture notes and the
additional information you wrote and type that up in your own words under
different headings. After you are happy with this go through and add in the
additional textbook notes that you have, to elaborate on the lecture notes.
When this is all done I like to put a line up the top if my document saying all
the headings that are in these notes as it makes it easier to find information
later. This is what my compiled notes typically look like:
I really hope this helps you because it is the only method
that I have found helps me and is easiest method I have found in terms of preparing
myself for revision. If this helps you, please let me know!
Have a wonderful
and productive day and I will see you tomorrow for day two of masterposts : )
we’ve only got 20 days until the repeal of net neutrality goes into effect! do not forget about this issue! it will affect every single person who uses tumblr and other social media!
Now, there is a bill that would reverse the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality. We only need one more vote to make it happen! Get to calling your senators, folks! Don’t let these greedy, laizzes-faire assholes take away the web that connects us all, provides coping mechanisms, and platforms that inform the people.
If you’re suffering from depression and are looking for a sign to notgo through with ending your life, this is it. This is the sign. We care.
If you see this on your dash, reblog it. You could save a life.
Just in case you don’t think it can actually save a life, this is a message I got in my inbox after reblogging this post
I don’t care what the theme of your blog is. Reblog this.
Always
I wanted to add this because I was on the fence about posting it, but I got this when I did. Please reblog this post, it really could save someone’s life.
Hey there everyone! I just wanted to say that I love you all 💕 If you’re struggling with depression or anything else, my inbox is always open! Even if you’re having a bad day, message me and we can talk :) Please talk to someone about your feelings! ❤️
