..on making mistakes, stress, being a hot mess and being stuck in a rut...


 I find myself a being a hot mess too. Us girls (and guys) can all fake it till we make it! But even then we all slip up. We've all had days where we would dream the night before, of getting up bright and early, throwing that dusty gym kit
on and after a cup of coffee go about having our productive day. You toss and turn, 8 hours later the alarm rings, you snooze it rings, you snooze it rings, you snooze.. The next thing you know it's 9:45am and your lecture is in 15 minutes. Sometimes you make mistakes that don't define you as a person and you end up just being stuck in massive rut, feeling as if you're failing at life. No, i'm not being dramatic, it's really how I feel sometimes. So how do you prevent this from happening as a constant? Truth is, sometimes it just happens and there is nothing you can do. HOWEVER. Most importantly, you need to learn from your mistakes or at least be aware of them. I personally believe that being stuck in this feeling of stress and feeling lost, is necessary so that you experience the feeling and avoid, as much as possible from it happening again or at least what you can do/ think about when it does happen again. Although life can just happen, there are things you can do and there are little changes you can make, to take steps towards being the best you, you can be.

1.) Putting things in perspective- I find myself feeling like I'm a 'hot mess' a lot, and different things may cause thats state for me. Feeling stressed about things or the things you have done is an uncontrollable feeling. You feel that there isn't enough time to do everything and you just binge out on Netflix and avoid life. I recently found that whenever I have something that I worry about or I feel like things are getting on top of me, I grab my journal and start jotting things down. I jot down things like my goals, where I want to be, where I want to end up in the future. When I have it all on the page, getting up in the morning is easier because you know why you do it, it's right there, in black and white. It almost acts as a contract to yourself, something you promised yourself. 

2.) Shower- Another recent discovery that helps me get out of bed and commence my day earlier is to go to the shower in the morning. It started off as kind of.. Well.. Rolling, which turned into crawling and eventually walking to the shower. I never thought it would work, but it does. It wakes you up and it actually makes you feel better and more awake inside too. I always end up feeling fresh (of course) but not only in the inside but on the outside too. It's almost like having a fresh mind and you feel more active, and more ready to kick start your day in the right way. It's one of those things that you think won't help but it really does! 

3.) Sleep- The key to being productive is sleep. As students it's extremely tempting to leave everything to the last minute, finish an assignment at 6am, sleep all day as reward. I've been there and I've done that and it's not a good idea, trust me! I guess that's how I learned from that mistake, you have my word it's NEVER happening again. BUT imagine how much more skilled your writing will be in the day time, how your brain cells think better in the day time and the chances are you'll finish quicker too as your brain will function productively, distraction will decrease and concentration spam will increase. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a good recipe to me? I know that a lot of us read on kindles, iPads, computers or watch tv before bed, but I recommend reading a paper back, real book (yes they still exist). I think all these tech things, they prevent you from falling asleep quicker. I'm not going to get all science on your ass because I wouldn't know it anyway, but reading from a gadget will not send you to sleep. Paper back book is more likely to.

4.) Start working on yourself- To be productive on the outside, you need to be productive on the inside. It's actually not that hard once you get into it. When I came to university I changed my lifestyle in tiny proportions. White grains to Brown grains, more fruit less sweets, more water less fizzy which honestly made me feel better about myself and when you feel good about yourself, you instantly do a better job at whatever you're doing and your thought process changes too, in a more positive way.

5.) Fixing mistakes- You can't really do that, people make stupid choices and make mistakes, but as I said it previously, don't think of them as mistakes, think of them more as a lesson. Whatever happened, you cannot change. Don't regret what you've done or the choice you made, it's probably not the first and certainly not the last mistake/bad choice you've made so don't beat yourself up about it. Choices you make build who you become, but they don't define you as a person. Pick yourself up, hold your head high and strive to be the person you want to be or the person you are. There's only so much you can do after you make a mistake, make amends if they need to be made, but most importantly, don't beat yourself up, it's in the past and use today as a new opportunity to make a better choice, one that will build upon the person you truly are.

6.) Tidy- I'm most unproductive when my environment is a mess, I become lazy and all I want to do is curl in a ball under the duvet and watch 90210. Light up a candle (if you can) spray your room with your favourite scent, do your laundry if it needs to be done. Take care of where you live because I promise it will have an impact on the way you live. 

7.) Me time- It's so important that you take some time in a week, it doesn't have to be all day, it can be anything you want it to be. Use that time to reflect what you need to do in the forthcoming days, what will happen if you don't do it and how disappointed you will be in yourself if you could have done it but didn't try 100% to do it best. These reflections seem petty, put it really shapes your perspective. Through having that me time, you have time to sort your thoughts, figure out what it it that is stopping you from being active and what is getting you down. Similarly there is no wrong in completely unwinding and not thinking about anything at all. Maybe you like painting, reading a magazine, what ever it is that will make you feel relaxed and happy.

8.) Don't be afraid to grab a friend- Give them a call. Call one of those real friends that will really give you a kick up the arse, harsh or not they're probably telling you the truth. Talk to them, it's always so good to get another persons view on your situation, maybe there is a real issue you need to handle to move forward. Similarly, it's always easier after. Maybe telling something, whatever it is that you need to say, though it may be embarrassing or hard, the feeling of relief you'll get after will be a massive weight off your shoulders. Your friend will talk to you and reassure you. I promise, share your thoughts and share your experience with someone, you'll move past it quicker too!

I hope these tips (if you could call them that) help you through whatever it is you're going through. Always, always, always remember that you're not the only person in the world going through 100 emotions at the same time, you're not the only one who makes mistakes and you're certainly not the only one who makes terrible choices or decisions. Sometimes life gets the better of us, but we all need to pick ourselves up and work on ourselves and build upon who we are.

Lots of Love
Angelika
xoxo
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