Happiness is more than a single destination...

What is happiness? Like truly think about it for a minute. We will all have different answers. Some might be, “being financially stable”, others, “achieving all my academic goals”, for some it may even be, “having a family”, but all of these answers would be wrong.

Happiness isn’t a goal, it’s not quantifiable, and it’s more than anything you can think of. You don’t achieve happiness it’s not something you unlock when you reach a goal. It’s an emotion just like sadness and anger and hurt. You will never be truly happy as long as you base your happiness on achievements.

But you also need to remember being truly happy doesn’t mean that you are in a constant state of euphoria and happiness. It means that the bad days no longer become bad months.

You are human, you will hurt, things will happen that will make you sad, there will be days where it seems the world is against you. Don’t give up. Just because at that single moment in time you are struggling with whatever you struggle with it doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.

Sit, breathe, open a window, get some fresh air into your system, think about all the things you can be grateful for, be content, happiness will follow.

xo

Wanderlust

I think the first thing that got me attracted to the idea of busy cities like new york/london is that i could lose myself in all the people but now i'm feeling like it's more than that like maybe i could actually find myself there

So I was lucky enough to spend 2 weeks over the Christmas holidays in New York City and had such a good time. Every aspect felt like a dream and I really had a lot of time to reflect while I was there. Currently having some issues with getting the photos off my phone too my mac but I am working on a couple of long posts about my time and thoughts there. I just wanted to share the above sentence that came about while having a heart to heart with Amy.

xoxo

Goals

So I’m very bad at making small sub-goals and generally aim for huge goals which I never get round to achieving because I don’t really know how to get there. So with the help of a couple of friends I now have 2 big goals with individual sub goals relating to each.

1       Med School

a.       Get at least a 2:1 in university (I’m really aiming for a first)

b.      Get up to 6 months work experience

c.       Work on GAMSAT/UKCAT

d.      Gain interview practice

2       Specialize in Psychiatry

a.       Make all dissertations psychology based

b.      Pass Med school

c.       Get onto Psych ward rotations for Junior years

d.      Make good impressions on Psych wards

e.      Gain Psych ward registrar qualifications

f.        Apply for a job on a Psych ward in the UK

g.       Apply for a transfer to US after 2 years’ experience

I need to keep reminding myself that this is a long term thing – 6 years+ at least I think – and it’s not going to happen overnight.  So this is my check list and as I achieve these things I’ll come back to this post and cross them out as a visual reminder of how far I’ve come.

(PS I will be writing and uploading another one of these sub-goal posts for the other direction I am thinking about going in, which is Law. I am still very conflicted on which route I want to take in the future. Having a solid set of goals for each option will possibly make the decision easier and mean there is less to think about when I finally do make a decision).

How to get motivated....and stay motivated

So I've got a couple of really big and interesting projects lined up for the near future as well as uni exams, ergo I may not be blogging as much but I realised I like it way to much to just completely stop after starting so recently. I'll blog as frequently as possible and might have more time now considering I'm not splitting all my time between huge projects and university (my first year is already over what???).

Anyway to the point of this post motivation! I don't know about any of you guys but I seem to get these short periods where I feel like " Yeah! I'm so motivated! I'm gonna do everything I need to do! Wooo!" and then like an hour later I'm back in bed on netflix watching gossip girl (which I surprisingly still haven't finished yet). So here are some of my tips on how to stay motivated.

1) DO NOT SAY YOU NEED THE INTERNET TO REVISE!!!! You can easily get everything you need from books suggested in your reading lists. So switch that internet off disconnect your computer from the wifi and work hard.

2) YOU DO NOT NEED YOUTUBE!!! If you want to listen to music download it and listen to it on an ipod. If you put youtube on well there goes any productivity for the next 4 hours (unless it's this 9hr video of the harry potter soundtrack

3) PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY!!! Get someone to take it away from you for a few hours if you have to you can reply to those tweets and check your instagram later you do not need to do it right away not even as part of your 10 minute break.

Also my dad linked me to this article and I just thought I'd share this excerpt from it:

"If you don't believe that you have achieved anything particularly remarkable by age 17, that's okay, too. We hadn't heard of most world leaders by the time they reached 17. Part of the journey of life is finding the area in which we can make the biggest, most positive contribution and then following through with this awareness.

What's important to know is that by developing who you are on the inside, you will affect your external experience. 

Making a commitment. Working towards a goal with consistent, conscious actions. Being kind to yourself and to others. These are the things that matter. These are the things that will determine your success in the bigger scheme of life."

24 hour lockdown

Nowadays, people are rarely seen without some form of access to electronics and the internet. Whether you're at school, sat on the bus, the tube, university, work, the list goes on you will always be within reaching distance of a computer/laptop/tablet/phone all easily connected to the internet. In our obsession to instagram and tweet moments we often miss out on actually enjoying the thing. I mean yeah you might have the memory but you're missing vital time enjoying it in the presence.

I, along with my family, therefore have a complete switch off from internet and all electronics are put away and yes that includes no TV at least once a month. The only one we trust to hide everything is my mother, and I must say she has some good hiding places - it also helps she takes the batteries out and hides them separately to the devices.

Admittedly the first time it was hard I mean no tumblr or instagram how could I live?! But the more we did the more we all enjoyed it. We actually sat down at the table at dinner time and talked. We spent the day playing board games and joking around the whole family.

It's honestly worth trying and even if you can't quite convince your family just yet do it yourself. Take one day and read a good book or just spend time thinking without any distractions. It's amazing how much you get done without the internet even though most of us claim to be unable to work without it.

A very delayed character post #2

THE HUNGER GAMES SPOILER ALERT (although...there are books you could have read)
"Primrose Everdeen"..."I VOLUNTEER" this was the moment I sold my heart to another book series. The first one was amazing, the second one was the worst and the third was mneh. But the whole way through from the moment Katniss first volunteered as tribute for her little sister I created an unbreakable bond with her character.

Everyone constantly debates the whole Peeta or Gale aspect of the book and who Katniss should have chosen and if she chose the right person. Honestly my view on this neither of them...she settled for the one who would understand what she went through better. Her choice, however was never which boy she should marry but if she could save her sister. Gale knew the moment his idea killed her he had no chance. (I still think he shouldn't have given up that easy but they all went through so much I'm not surprised).

I have a little sister and Katniss' repetitive choices to get home to her sister safe, to keep her sister safe after without hesitating is really really something I relate to. I can say with a broken heart after Katniss lost her father, her sister and was exiled I don't know how she kept living. She is a fighter and a female character who I will always hold in the highest regard. She lost everything and somehow managed to keep going.

I don't think there's much more I can say about her other than even if you don't like the book, even if you hate the films, or the actors in it, whatever. At least take a page out of this book and her character development. If things get tough, if you lose everything, even your reason for living, never give up. Do everyone who you love proud and show anyone who doubted you wrong.

Organisation

I know I've said this before and I will probably say it a million more times but I am sick and tired of having such a messy life. It really affects my studies and everything else. Why the sudden realization Dinah? Well I was inspired by this photo Belle posted on instagram.

I've tried a million different things to stay on top of my work and all of them fail miserably after the first two weeks. So I will be creating a post in one months time detailing my attempt at using these sheets which can be found to download and print here.

So far I have filled out four of these - one for each module - and come to the unnerving realisation that I have a law exam at the end of this year which counts for 100% of my final module result!!! To say I've been kick started into panic mode would be an understatement.

Wish me luck I may have only 4 weeks of fullish lectures left of my first year (seriously where the hell did the time go?!) but I have a feeling these may be the toughest to get through.