#I didn't realize it was going to be a consistent pattern of winter making me feel like shit | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

studentbyday · 6 days

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oops! i did it again. lessons from this school year...

Hey, you remember that post I made about my winter term priorities? HAHAHAHAHahaha ha ha. That plan totally went to shit, but it's all part of the journey, right? 😅 (Tbh, it's quite difficult to make a conscious effort to change yourself when the default response to being and feeling busy is to go on autopilot -> all the unconscious habits, even if unhealthy, take control, and bc it's unconscious, you don't realize it until it gets quite bad! anyway! no more! my future plans make it so this will be impossible to do while still retaining some sense of sanity. so to prep, we're gonna slowly implement little changes so hopefully it's not so overwhelming that i give up)

🧘🏻‍♀️ comparing mindsets in fall and winter term

Fall term was not that bad bc I had 2 STEM subjects I really really loved and was interested in (biochem and mol bio 💕), and despite their difficulty, that love and interest and the feeling that "I am in the right field for me" kept me positive. There were times I thought I would feel burnout symptoms if I wasn't careful, but I really think that positivity protected me from the worst of it.

Winter term, however...I had one favorite subject: moral philosophy, which led to me wistfully dreaming about an AU in which I double majored in philosophy and piano performance, lol. After the highs of biochem and mol bio and the natural ease with which the bits of info flowed together in those subjects, I did not enjoy pharmacology or the 2nd half of psyc as much -> loss of interest -> negativity and feeling like I'm in the wrong field bc how dare I not like pharmacology (or psychology) as much as the other life science-y subjects when it's really so important for us to survive and thrive! 😅 I mean, there were times I could get that spark from pharmacology or psyc, but it wasn't often enough or intense enough to keep me consistently inspired throughout the semester. The feeling of "maybe I don't have what it takes and I'm in the wrong field" was compounded by the re-realization that there's sm to know of bioinformatics and I struggle to know any of it! Persevering is important, but it's harder to persevere with a negative mindset.

😤 what went wrong this school year and what i learned from it

I still struggle with perfectionism (and bc of it, procrastination). While it might not be as bad as it was in high school, I still spent too long on assignments that weren't worth much and during finals season, was so scared of getting less than 90% just to keep up my A+ streak. Like, I'm pretty sure no one who cares to know your GPA cares about whether you have an A+ streak or not. I have too high a threshold for what is a "disappointing" grade. I also struggle with deep regret about how I haven't mastered everything they throw at us in each course... definitely an unrealistic expectation, especially as the proportion of new info to absorb increases with each course. I did what I could using what I knew to do, so it is what it is. I may find ways to make improvements and learn more, but I won't beat myself up for not having known to do those things in the past.

Did not use effective study methods. Since first year, my problem has been keeping up with the readings and my solution has been to just use typed outline notes. It worked for the first few years when it was mostly review from previous courses with a few new concepts in between. But as I progress through my degree, the proportion of completely new info is increasing. This notetaking method won't work anymore bc it just causes cognitive overload, especially during exam season (when I've mostly forgotten the details of everything that isn't smth I've already known for years). E.g. for pharmacology, I got so bogged down by the details of all the drug classes that I didn't see the big picture and so didn't organize the info according to it. This made it hard to see patterns and better chunk the info. I was so stressed during finals season bc of this (and the sheer amount of notes that I had to read for psyc 😭). What makes it feel like even more of a problem is that the cognitive overload problem from my notetaking method has been a thing for all other uni courses thus far, it's just that pharmacology was the first time I needed to create a stronger connecting thread between the otherwise disparate pieces of info (drug classes). In all other courses, that thread was part of the nature of the topic being studied so I eventually understood it as I kept going and mentally re-organized it in my brain...but even then it was hodge-podge and so my depth of mastery was and is so flimsy, and every semester I leave feeling drained and like I wasted the opportunity to maximize my learning. (How dramatic I get about this is also probably tied to my perfectionism, but I still think it would greatly benefit future me to change my notetaking style.)

🎓 advice for future me

Look at the academic calendar, specifically the faculty course descriptions. Look at how many hours they say you should expect to spend on each activity in the course. Try to use those learning hours as a guide for your schedule so that you don't spend too long on an item that isn't worth much. If there isn't such a breakdown, assume one based on whatever they give you or other courses and adjust from there.

Be a more efficient reader by skimming the text first so you can map the flow of info in a way that best creates ease of understanding/synthesis/memory (e.g. via an outline, tree diagram, flowchart, mind map, or simple drawings - and noticing when a list/outline will NOT be helpful bc it'll just be too overwhelming and not easy to compare/contrast info and see patterns). I knowww you've survived thus far without doing it this way and done well, BUT with this many courses, the increasing complexity of each subject, and the overload of info in each, you WILL need to do this to make quicker work of the readings, save you sooo much stress during exam seasons, and improve how much you learn while in school which is the real goal you've wanted to achieve all this time. Don't repeat the mistake you made in pharmacology. And it really doesn't have to be aesthetic and you definitely should NOT get caught up with it if you really wanna learn. You could just use one color for everything and a highlighter and just basic shapes/lines - that alone can be way more effective than boring paragraphs/lists or a colorful, overly complex diagram that'll just distract you from the main point.

Create a realistic daily routine (wake-up and sleep times, start and end times for schoolwork) and be strict about following it. Set your non-negotiables for personal goals to keep up with alongside your schoolwork bc academics aren't everything. Remember how you regretted not devoting more time to extra-curriculars and other skills in high school which would've rounded you out as a person. You can try theming the parts of the day so that you don't have to think about what task you should do first after study breaks and keep up the momentum (e.g. mornings for readings and notes, afternoons for active recall/homework). Then you can live the rest of the day after school as structured or unstructured as you wish. If this strategy doesn't work for you, you don't have to use it.

Take advantage of interleaving so you don't get bored. Whether by following the theming strategy or just switching subjects every hour, idc if you aren't done yet, you better switch bc the second consecutive hour of the same thing is never as effective as the first.

#studyblr #studyspo #study motivation #becoming that girl #pink aesthetic #study tips #study advice #personal post #100dop #100 days of productivity #stemblr #stem academia #stem student #100 days of studying #100 days of self discipline #perfectionism #study strategies #mental health #chaotic academia

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tarns-neurodivergent-lookbook · 11 months

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How I Purged My Entire Closet in 48 Hours (PT.1: Preparing for a Purge)

TL;DR:

Step 1: Do ALL your laundry. Step 2: Sort your clothes into broad categories and write them down. Step 3: Decide which categories you're purging today. Step 3.5: Put everything you're not purging out of sight. Step 4: Purge.

But if you want to know all the details of how I made it go so quickly for my neurodivergent self, here are the real steps to purging an entire closet.

The Real Steps to Purging an Entire Closet

Real Step 1:Understand how your brain categorizes your clothes.

Take a look at where you currently keep your clean clothes or how you aspire to store them. Are your socks and underwear crammed together in the same space, making it difficult to find the pizza patterned socks you really want to wear today? Apply the same concept to other clothing items as well. For example, if you have multiple styles of shirts mixed in the same drawer, it can lead to mental overload and analysis paralysis. Real life example:

Before my clothes purge, all my shirts from crop tops to casual long sleeves were crammed into the same drawer. This chaotic system didn't work for me because I rely on visual organization. If things aren't visible at first glance, they might as well not exist. Real Step 2: Categorize your clothes!

Here's my primary categories and subcategories: Tops Crops (sleeves of any length) Tanks Tees Nice Short Sleeves and No Sleeves Formal Short Sleeves and No Sleeves Casual Long Sleeves Nice Long Sleeves Formal Long Sleeves Exercise Bottoms Short Shorts Shorts Long Shorts Capris (purge category) Jeans Casual Pants Formal Pants Exercise Intimates Bras Sports Bras Underwear Boxers Socks Thigh High Mid Calf Above Ankle Ankle Tights Bathing Suits Masc Suits Fem Suits Secondary Warm Layer Sweaters with buttons Sweaters without buttons Hoodies Dresses (Sorted by formality) Skirts (also sorted by formality) Officewear, Etc. Coats Exercise Raincoats Vintage Winter Casual Accessories such as shoes, belts, hats, jewelry, as complementary items, are their own beasts and will be addressed separately after purging the bulk of clothing. The key aspect of Step 2 is that the bolded categories are planned and intentional, while some subcategories emerge organically as I take stock of my belongings and determine their appropriate spot.

Example of planned vs organic subcategories:

For intimates, I utilize a plastic chest of drawers. The top drawer is reserved for bras, the middle one for underwear, and the bottom one for socks. Purging according to these categories, one at a time, was part of my plan.

On the other hand, regarding tops as referred to in Step 1, I initially stored all of them in the same drawer. However when I had them all on the floor in front of me during the purging process…

The twelve piles pictured organically developed.

The bottom left pile consisted of items to be hung up, including long sleeves that didn't belong in that drawer to begin with, and nicer short and sleeveless tops. The three center piles were t-shirts sorted by level of "formality," while the six piles on the right were tank tops and crop tops. Why Categorize and Subcategorize Before Purging? Addressing similar clothing groups individually is far less overwhelming than tackling the entire "shirts" category at once. This approach allows me to evaluate each shirt as part of my wardrobe, going beyond a simple decision of whether to keep or discard it.

For instance, I categorized together these four functionally identical shirts (tops/short sleeve/nice but not formal/neutral):

If I had sorted "Tops" as a whole instead of categorizing first, I might have kept all four without realizing that two of them were similar enough to purge. By considering the specific subcategory, I was able to identify the factors that led me to purge the two on the left in favor of keeping the more flattering V-neck style in a much better condition.

Breaking down the process into manageable clothing categories before tackling allowed me to evaluate each item based on its function and relevance to my wardrobe, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of clothing or missing near-duplicates. In Part 2 of "How I Purged My Entire Closet in 48 Hours," I'll elaborate on how I purged based on the most flattering colors and cuts that complement my personal style, referencing seasonal color analysis and the Kibbe system.

#closet purge #closet #Neurodivergent Closet #Closet Purge Guide #Sensory Friendly Closet #Functional Wardrobe #Organized Living #Personal Style Journey #Closet Transformation #ADHD Closet Purge #tarnnl

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