Hi Ivygrl!

Thank you for pinging me! It’s so good to hear that you are doing well. I’m sorry I lost track of your thread. Please feel free to do so again in the future, it goes straight to my e-mail.

To answer your previous questions about self-care. It might involve sticking to a routine. Making sure you eat, drink, bathe, brush your teeth, sleep and exercise regularly.

But you can get create with it. It might involve writing a journal, drawing or doing makeup. Anything you like or enjoy counts as practicing self-care. If you are having a difficult day it is very important to take extra care of yourself and treat yourself very kindly. This helps you recover from the difficulties.

You mentioned being scared about writing in a journal. If you are scared about getting into trouble for writing something in your journal you don’t have to write exactly what happened. You could focus on your feelings and keep things vague so that no one is identified. This means that you would not include the content of the argument.

E.g. I feel hurt. School was difficult. I had an argument today, it was really upsetting. I don’t think it was fair.

You asked about how to stop punishing yourself and pushing yourself so hard. By treating yourself kindly and practicing self-care. People are able to do more when they are happy and relaxed. They have difficulty doing things when they are tired and stressed. Pay attention to how you feel. If you don’t feel great, you need to take care of yourself.

Goals take time to achieve. You already have a busy life with school. Prioritising tasks is an important skill.

It’s important and it needs to be done quickly.

It’s important but doesn’t need to be done quickly.

It needs to be done quickly but isn’t that important.

It isn’t important and doesn’t need to be done quickly.

The most important thing for drawing, writing or any skill is to practice. It’s okay to take breaks, but if you try to draw or write something once a week or once every two weeks, over time all the practice adds up.

How to stay accountable for the things you’d like to learn and taking care of your needs? Prioritising tasks and activities might be helpful.

Advice on how not to forget about books while studying. When studying it is suggested to take regular breaks. Everyone’s needs are different. Use a timer on your phone or a clock to figure out how long it takes for you to find it difficult to concentrate. For me, it’s about 40 mins. Next, try taking different lengths of breaks on different days. Somewhere between 5 mins and an hour is recommended. Figure out what is best for you. After your break, continue studying.

If you manage your time and take breaks while studying then you are scheduling putting your book down and scheduling when to pick it up again. A bookmark to hold your position might be helpful if you don’t have one already. A set place where you put your books when you study might help remind you of where they are when you put them down.

Good luck with everything! What are your favourite genres of book to read? I like horror, fantasy and science fiction.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Helcat.