Nothing explains me more than this

My coach (via apples-n-all-that-jazz)

Motivational Monday printables #4 and #5

I decided to post two printables to make up for missing last week! My internet was down on Monday and Tuesday, so I didn’t have the ability to post week four. I decided to wait and post last weeks and this weeks together because I didn’t want to post on a day that wasn’t a Monday. Since last week was the Women’s March I was inspired to post a quote that was directed towards everyone who identifies as so! For week five, I was feeling a little down a couple of days ago and have been trying to remember that each step is progress towards your goals. No one is perfection and you shouldn’t aim to be! You can download the files as a PDF from the links below.

I hope you enjoy using these and if so, I’d love to see them in action! Feel free to tag me on Tumblr with #emmastudies or on Instagram with my username @emmastudiess in any photos you upload. If there are any problems or errors, please let me know via my inbox.

I’ve decided to share a version of these unwatermarked/uncredited since I’d like the option to have one without if I was downloading it. However, it would be great if you could credit me if you get the chance!

Disclaimer: This printable is for personal use only. You may edit it yourself if you like, but please do not redistribute without my permission. Thank you!

DEALING WITH STRESS AND ANXIETY WHILE STUDYING

I have found that studying and having certain expectations placed on you by both yourself and others causes a lot of stress and often a lot of anxiety too. While I have not yet mastered how to chill out to a point where I am completely calm, I have developed a few techniques which I thought I could share to try and help others out there.

When I have a lot of things going on in my life, both personal and study-wise, I get a lot of anxiety and stress over the smallest of things. I feel myself constantly worrying about any and everything. And when one thing works itself out I worry about it all over again from a completely different angle. If I had a test coming up I would worry about whether I had enough time to study, and when I had studied as much as I could have I still worried that I could’ve done more. Even once I had written the test and felt I had done ok, I would worry all over again and doubt my own assessment of how it had gone. This has been a constant theme to my studying and it has fed into my personal life.I stress about everything, and worry so much that I am going to fail that I feel anxious constantly.

Not only has this effected my physical health (it effects my eyesight, and my fingers go numb from not breathing enough) it has also effected my mental health. This is too often not spoken about in the studying community. We are all so ready to focus on pretty notes, neat hand writing, and aesthetic desk layouts but we are too silent on what goes on behind the scenes.

Dealing with anxiety is a really common issue amongst a lot of students of all ages. As many as 1 in 6 people are effected by an anxiety disorder. In my case I experience only a part of what those with an actual disorder do, so I can’t give advice on how to handle anxiety disorders (if you do suffer from and anxiety disorder or think you may please go speak to your Doctor about dealing with it, because telling yourself to relax is not going to work). 

But this is what I suggest for how to handle a stressful situation and periods of anxiety brought on from studying.

1. PLAN YOUR LIFE OUT TO A TEE My stress and anxiety stems from a feeling of not being in control of my own situation and pressure to achieve. This combo spikes my anxiety to a whole new level and I am always convinced I am going to fall on my face and fail. What I have found as my best tool to defeat this feeling is to plan out everything. I mean everything. I assign a time to everything I do, which motivates me to keep pushing myself to get everything I need to done but also helps me feel like I am in control of all the moving parts of my life and that its not the other way round. 

Plan your meals, your studying times, what you have to study, when you will take studying breaks and how long those will be and what you will do during them. Set out hourly, daily and weekly goals of what you need to achieve. Work backward starting with weekly priorities and then decide which ones you will do on what day. From there determine when in the day you will be able to set aside time to get this done. Seriously this works so well.

2. TALK ABOUT IT Vent! People around you will be going through similar things as you, especially your friends who are in your classes etc. Other people feel your stress too, even if its not the same they will be able to understand it and can reassure you. I often get so worked up about the smallest things in my mind and once Ive spoken to my friends about it I feel so much better. Its not even about what they suggest but more about being able to unload your worries. Plus sometimes the advice is usually pretty solid.

3. EXERCISE Stress and anxiety have physical as well as mental side effects. I usually have tonnes of pent up energy from all the adrenaline when I’m really anxious (anxiety is caused by your body not being able to processes it). So releasing your energy through running or doing some type of activity will help you not only release all that energy but can also help you clear your head and get some quiet time to yourself and your own thoughts.

4. KNOW THAT YOU AREN’T PERFECT Accept that you are not always going to be perfect, and that if you don’t succeed you are not a failure but just a person. We all get it wrong sometimes, and cant do everything. You might not get that A or even pass a test. You might forget to do something on time or wont study enough as you could have. Don’t be so harsh on yourself, because you don’t need to be your own worst enemy. While its great to have high expectations for yourself, as this helps you achieve your goals, it is extremely self-destructive to tear yourself apart if you get something wrong.

5. SET OUT GOALS Create a vision board of your goals, aims or wishes. Stick it up somewhere you can see it often, as a visual reminder every day of what you are working toward is a great motivator to help you understand why you are in the situation that you are. I get really stressed out with studying and sometimes want to give up because the pressure is too much, but when I see my goals set out in front of me it serves as a great reminder of why I feel that stress — I want to achieve my goals. And its that realisation that I find has a calming effect as thats when the determination kicks in.

6. REFRAME YOUR THINKING  By reframing your anxiousness and stress from a negative thing into a positive thing, you can be a more productive version of yourself. By looking at your worries in a different way you can channel your stress into a positive outcome. Use it as a motivating tool to work hard, rather than as a distraction. While this is something that people with anxiety disorders can’t just do, if you experience stress and anxiety like I do you are more in control of your state of mind than you think. I give myself a little pep talk and realign how I am viewing a situation. You are the one who knows yourself best, so naturally you should be able to motivate yourself using the stress as a catalyst.

I hope this helps you calm down and take back control over your feelings of anxiousness and stress. These techniques work for me, but please add more that find help you! 

That view!!!

#novemberstudychallenge my fave subject is the one i’m doing this minute….global health and health inequalities/social determinants of health!!! i need to finish the reading for a lil essay tonight📖

Popular apps perfect for students

Staying on top of all your to-dos, errands, tasks and due dates can get complicated but luckily there is an app for everything! If you’re looking for app to wake you up in a morning, manage your priorities or soothe your anxiety, you’ve come to the right place. Here is a list of all the top apps that students are using:

Organisation

Productivity

Note taking

Studying

Sleeping

Mental health and self care

Health and fitness

Finance

Hope this helps! x

Updated with some new apps!!✨