Motivating Yourself When Life or Studying Feels Difficult
Dear all,
I am writing this especially for SPM students who are having SPM this Wednesday. But I didn't want to put SPM tips for my blog title because this motivation is for everybody, regardless whether you are sitting for an exam next week or not.
First, I want you to think back at the time life felt challenging. Think of what you did, how you dealt with it. Next think of your wonderful achievements. Helping someone in need is also considered a big achievement in my opinion. Finally, think of somebody else's life challenges. Something much worse than yours, a tragic death, war, illness and natural disasters. Your mind will automatically tell you that your problem seems trivial. In the case you are experiencing one of the worse, please bear in mind that God will not test you with something you cannot cope.
Before I go further, let me tell you a story about myself.
This weekend was one of the most challenging for me. I am sick and I have a lot of work due. Despite my sickness, I still need to cook and take my medicine. Then suddenly I realised that I'm running out of grocery and I feel too tired to cook. I ate my medicine and tried to study and do my work but I couldn't as the medicine made me drowsy. I didn't want to sleep because I wanted to finish my work and battling my tired feelings and keeping awake me made me feel miserable. So then I thought of not eating my medicine so I wouldn't be sleepy but that made me feel more sick. Most of the first years were going out, joining events etc and some did not even do the homeworks yet. Finally my mum and my <3 made me realise what I was doing to myself. They gave me the most moral support I could ever ever ask for. I started to realise I was putting it too hard on myself, trying to do everything (including things that were not on priority list). It was like my inner self was saying "I'm sick I want to rest. I have studied too much, I want to do something else." But my mind was ignoring the remarks and didn't consider any of it much. My mum reminded me how much I like blogging and that's what encouraged me to write right now :)
When you are in a top school, the feeling you get is much different. More sacrifice comes along with being in a world's top school. But hey do you remember that diamonds ( the best rocks in the world) are formed under high pressure? So whenever you feel pressure imagine yourself as a diamond in the making ;) Pressure just makes you stronger and better, you just need to know how to loosen up and overcome it. I guess so far my work has been mostly manageable but some things like programming can be totally hard that I'm completely lost because we were expected to know how to do it WITHOUT being taught. These are the times people in normal schools will feel thankful. That's why we have pros and cons either way :) But if you ask me do I like my classes and education here. Definitely YES, the geology department is amazing. We study different rocks and minerals in practical class. The department makes us feel so welcomed and at times we just get motivating emails from lecturers saying "You guys did amazing! Great job well done in..... I'm so proud of you". They never fail to remind us about every tiny little thing and help us, responding to our emails within minutes, giving us free geological kits and even a free reading week every term so no class! No other department except for Earth Science and Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering has reading week. I do have 6 modules this Autumn Term until first week of December. In other universities you normally have 2 or 3 only. That is not including my independent 3000 essay to submit by March, my extra subject - Global Challenges, my workshop twice a week, club meetings and etc. Busy right? hehe
Well yeah, these are challenges of being a student.
Wanna hear about fun stuff? Ok well I went to Hyde Park with my <3 to feed the ducks and took my new teddy bear in my handbag. He left it on my kitchen counter while I was making breakfast and I was surprised to see it there. Plus, it had a hoodie! As if it can feel that its getting cold here in London,sooo cute >.< Then last Friday we had a surprise for my friend at Hummingbird Cake Shop. We divided a rich red velvet cake into 7 slices so one piece was like 5 cm thick ;) Then we went to Bayswater to eat dinner at Khan's. The benefit of being in London is that everything is near you. Today there was a charity event "Smoky Not Smudgy" for females and they had so many things going on from muslimah fashion shows, cake making, threading, facial, make up, massage, hijab for sale, jewellery, cupcakes and etc. I had the 15 minute massage for 7 pounds just now and wanted to do threading but the lady had left. Then my friend and I went to the
library and my mummy actually ordered pizza for me all the way from Malaysia. The love of a mother is too great <3 she wanted to help me because I was sick and that was really touching to come back from the charity event, getting a call that pizza was downstairs.
My conclusion here is that for all of you facing any difficulties, let the bright side of life dominate your heart, mind and soul. They always say 'look at the bright side' but the true fact is that you can see the 'dark/difficult side' too. And you can't escape that. Just like you can't escape your exams. I remember how afraid I felt because I wanted to get all A+ but something I must say that in the exam hall, don't think of that. You can ONLY think of that while you are studying, not while you are doing exams. In exam hall, your goal must be to answer ALL questions and also remember what you study. Thinking that 'I want to get all A+ ' will just make you panic especially at last minute. While I was doing my SPM paper, I didnt think of getting a high grade but I was more focusing on being able to answer ALL questions and remember what I learned. InsyaAllah my answer will be accepted. So you need to do the same.
From the story I told you I actually wrote it in a sequence. The unhappy part, happy part, motivating part and how I dealed with it today. I would honestly say I am proud of myself for adapting quite well here insyaAllah. Before I came here, I didn't expect myself to adapt this easily because its my first time living independently very far away from home. I talked to my friend, Scott who lives opposite my room and he said he could never do it, even for a guy. He lives just 40 minutes away and he feels the challenge too. He even said that I'm very brave. For now, I'm thankful to Allah for planning it for me and making it easier as with His plans, I just live across the road to class hehe and also have my <3 near me and super amazing corridor friends, although some guys turn on the music too loud at times, I'm really happy to be around the poeple here now. In class 85 people is just too many and even in a month, I dont exactly remember seeing everyone and hope to know more people. Of course I know all the Malaysian, Brunei and Chinese which are all guys and 2 girls including me.
Being here also made me discover my cooking talent, says my <3 so I'm not being perasan :) I took a picture of most of the dishes I made and will blog on that soon when I have more pictures to post.
At the end of this post, I would like you too see that life gets better. After hard times comes a beautiful rainbow. After a storm comes a sunny day. After SPM comes 'Exams are over' days. So while you are at it, cheer up, smile and study till that day comes.. Pray whenever you feel down or stressed then continue work again. Exercise and relax, eat well, study, Allah will do the rest.
For those who were awaiting my response for SPM tips, I just replied before writing this post. You can go and check my comments. I'm truly sorry that some were super long ago. If there's anything urgent you need to know before Wednesday, do comment here or write in my chatbox by Tueday,Malaysian time 4am, I will try my best to reply asap.
All the best, my prayers are with you. Take care and have a very pleasant week ahead :)
I am writing this especially for SPM students who are having SPM this Wednesday. But I didn't want to put SPM tips for my blog title because this motivation is for everybody, regardless whether you are sitting for an exam next week or not.
First, I want you to think back at the time life felt challenging. Think of what you did, how you dealt with it. Next think of your wonderful achievements. Helping someone in need is also considered a big achievement in my opinion. Finally, think of somebody else's life challenges. Something much worse than yours, a tragic death, war, illness and natural disasters. Your mind will automatically tell you that your problem seems trivial. In the case you are experiencing one of the worse, please bear in mind that God will not test you with something you cannot cope.
Before I go further, let me tell you a story about myself.
This weekend was one of the most challenging for me. I am sick and I have a lot of work due. Despite my sickness, I still need to cook and take my medicine. Then suddenly I realised that I'm running out of grocery and I feel too tired to cook. I ate my medicine and tried to study and do my work but I couldn't as the medicine made me drowsy. I didn't want to sleep because I wanted to finish my work and battling my tired feelings and keeping awake me made me feel miserable. So then I thought of not eating my medicine so I wouldn't be sleepy but that made me feel more sick. Most of the first years were going out, joining events etc and some did not even do the homeworks yet. Finally my mum and my <3 made me realise what I was doing to myself. They gave me the most moral support I could ever ever ask for. I started to realise I was putting it too hard on myself, trying to do everything (including things that were not on priority list). It was like my inner self was saying "I'm sick I want to rest. I have studied too much, I want to do something else." But my mind was ignoring the remarks and didn't consider any of it much. My mum reminded me how much I like blogging and that's what encouraged me to write right now :)
When you are in a top school, the feeling you get is much different. More sacrifice comes along with being in a world's top school. But hey do you remember that diamonds ( the best rocks in the world) are formed under high pressure? So whenever you feel pressure imagine yourself as a diamond in the making ;) Pressure just makes you stronger and better, you just need to know how to loosen up and overcome it. I guess so far my work has been mostly manageable but some things like programming can be totally hard that I'm completely lost because we were expected to know how to do it WITHOUT being taught. These are the times people in normal schools will feel thankful. That's why we have pros and cons either way :) But if you ask me do I like my classes and education here. Definitely YES, the geology department is amazing. We study different rocks and minerals in practical class. The department makes us feel so welcomed and at times we just get motivating emails from lecturers saying "You guys did amazing! Great job well done in..... I'm so proud of you". They never fail to remind us about every tiny little thing and help us, responding to our emails within minutes, giving us free geological kits and even a free reading week every term so no class! No other department except for Earth Science and Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering has reading week. I do have 6 modules this Autumn Term until first week of December. In other universities you normally have 2 or 3 only. That is not including my independent 3000 essay to submit by March, my extra subject - Global Challenges, my workshop twice a week, club meetings and etc. Busy right? hehe
Well yeah, these are challenges of being a student.
Kensington Palace
library and my mummy actually ordered pizza for me all the way from Malaysia. The love of a mother is too great <3 she wanted to help me because I was sick and that was really touching to come back from the charity event, getting a call that pizza was downstairs.
My conclusion here is that for all of you facing any difficulties, let the bright side of life dominate your heart, mind and soul. They always say 'look at the bright side' but the true fact is that you can see the 'dark/difficult side' too. And you can't escape that. Just like you can't escape your exams. I remember how afraid I felt because I wanted to get all A+ but something I must say that in the exam hall, don't think of that. You can ONLY think of that while you are studying, not while you are doing exams. In exam hall, your goal must be to answer ALL questions and also remember what you study. Thinking that 'I want to get all A+ ' will just make you panic especially at last minute. While I was doing my SPM paper, I didnt think of getting a high grade but I was more focusing on being able to answer ALL questions and remember what I learned. InsyaAllah my answer will be accepted. So you need to do the same.
From the story I told you I actually wrote it in a sequence. The unhappy part, happy part, motivating part and how I dealed with it today. I would honestly say I am proud of myself for adapting quite well here insyaAllah. Before I came here, I didn't expect myself to adapt this easily because its my first time living independently very far away from home. I talked to my friend, Scott who lives opposite my room and he said he could never do it, even for a guy. He lives just 40 minutes away and he feels the challenge too. He even said that I'm very brave. For now, I'm thankful to Allah for planning it for me and making it easier as with His plans, I just live across the road to class hehe and also have my <3 near me and super amazing corridor friends, although some guys turn on the music too loud at times, I'm really happy to be around the poeple here now. In class 85 people is just too many and even in a month, I dont exactly remember seeing everyone and hope to know more people. Of course I know all the Malaysian, Brunei and Chinese which are all guys and 2 girls including me.
Being here also made me discover my cooking talent, says my <3 so I'm not being perasan :) I took a picture of most of the dishes I made and will blog on that soon when I have more pictures to post.
At the end of this post, I would like you too see that life gets better. After hard times comes a beautiful rainbow. After a storm comes a sunny day. After SPM comes 'Exams are over' days. So while you are at it, cheer up, smile and study till that day comes.. Pray whenever you feel down or stressed then continue work again. Exercise and relax, eat well, study, Allah will do the rest.
For those who were awaiting my response for SPM tips, I just replied before writing this post. You can go and check my comments. I'm truly sorry that some were super long ago. If there's anything urgent you need to know before Wednesday, do comment here or write in my chatbox by Tueday,Malaysian time 4am, I will try my best to reply asap.
All the best, my prayers are with you. Take care and have a very pleasant week ahead :)
Hi Yasameen. Hope you are good in London :)
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