How to be happy

Sometimes in life we find it hard to be happy. We don't need to deny it: it's okay to be sad. But that doesn't mean we have to indefinitely. And yes, it can be hard to be happy at times, I know, which is why I'm here. Because I'm going to tell you how.

It's simple: find something that makes you smile.

For me, at this moment in time, it's wattpad. (Shameless self-promotion: you can find my profile here.) Wattpad is a place where I can go and perhaps write for a bit to take my mind of things, or maybe find a funny story to read that will make me laugh out loud, or maybe just start a conversation with a fellow writer. If you love reading or writing, I highly suggest you visit this page.

But just because I am loving wattpad right now doesn't mean that it was always the thing that made me a happy, because the things you love change as you change. And needless to say you don't just have to have one thing that makes you happy: I have many more. This blog, for example. If I'm feeling glum, tired, or overwhelmed I simply come to my blog and it makes me feel a whole lot better. Or take the piano: I love music more than anything and playing the piano never fails to cheer me up, just as wattpad does, just as my blog does. Just as many other things have done in the past, and just as many more will do in the future.

Now it's your turn. Think of one thing that you know never fails to make you just that much happier, or maybe even more than one if you're feeling like an eager beaver. And if you can't think of something, find something. Look around you. Try this: google 'people laughing'. It's impossible not to feel happier when you see all those beaming smiles as you scroll through! See the little spots of happiness that can be found all over the world, even it is as mundane as offering a stranger a smile as you walk by.

Find something that makes you smile. Really look. And perhaps you will find happiness right where you were least expecting it.

Hello

Wow, it's been a while!

One may imagine that over my two week holiday I would have had plenty of time to create loads of wonderful blogposts, but instead here I am on the last day haven written absolutely nada.

See I realised something over these few days of freedom, and that is that I don't want to have to feel obliged to post regularly on my blog. (That sounded confusing haha). I created this blog so I could just write down whatever I felt like, and though I loved blogging so much at the beginning that I just wanted to write a post every single day, I sort of got into the habit of forcing myself to write something just for the sake of updating, and I realise now that I really don't want to be doing that. I want to just post when I feel like posting, so that I can create meaningful content and not just random stuff that doesn't really make any sense.

Long story short, I just thought I'd notify you - and myself, I guess - that my blogposts will probably be much more spaced apart as of now. (Also I have exams coming up in about five weeks so there's that too). I want to put thought into each blogpost, and with all the studying I'll be doing (or pretending to do) I won't have so much time to think, because when I have to study I literally have to force myself to do it as I am such a procrastinator.

Anyway back to the point - blogposts will be spaced out. Well, that's all really. This post seems like a bit of a contradiction as I'm not really saying anything in it except that I want to write blogposts that are meaningful, and this one is clearly not that.

Oh well! And don't worry - though you probably weren't anyway - because there will still be plenty more coming from me, so keep your eyes peeled and watch this space!

As for now, goodbye, and see you soon.

Getting Organised

Hola, welcome to my blog if this is your first time visiting, and welcome back if you are returning (though I'm not sure why you would be you know you should probably get out while you still can).

Anywho, today I thought I'd just share a couple of ways I stay organised, because my last couple of blogposts have been more thoughtful and really just what was on my mind, so I thought I'd attempt to do something that might be at least a tiny bit helpful. Not sure how that's going to go, but it's worth a try! So yeah, I give thee five ways I like to stay organised.

P.S. If you didn't know already I am a high school student, so most of these things will be most useful if you are in high school. Although I guess quite a few can also be used in college or university or whatever else as well :)

1. Making lists

Okay so my number 1 way of getting organised is by first making a list of everything I have to do. I have this cute little book that says 'I love lists' on the front and I use it literally all the time, as I find it so much easier to get going with work when I know exactly what I have lined up to do. It also really helps as I can give myself a time limit according to how much else I have to do, rather than taking loads of time on one thing and not leaving enough time for everything else. Just don't spend all of your time making the list and then not doing what you have listed. Unfortunately, this happens to me a lot.

2. Keeping my diary updated

It's easy to forget what homework for what subject you have, or at least it is for me anyway! I always feel much more secure when I know I have everything I need to do written down exactly, so I always use my diary for this. That way I can check back on my day when I get home to see all my homework and when it's due, which I find very helpful because everything is in one space. Also, it's the most satisfying feeling when you can tick something off once it's done!


3. Putting major events onto my iPad calendar

Seeing as I use my iPad a lot at school, I find it super convenient to put all major events into my calendar. I really like this calendar because you can look at the whole month or the whole week and see all the things you have coming up, which helps me feel more prepared for the week ahead. I usually put it all tests, essays or projects due, as well as birthdays or other events such as our school play, which ran through last week. I also like to keep all school related things in pink and other things in blue, helping me differentiate which I find super helpful, and it's also great because if you have an iPhone you can sync the calendar, so you can quickly whip your phone out to access it wherever you are!

4. Having a whiteboard above my desk

This is another way to make sure I have everything in place and in order, so that I know exactly what I am doing and need to do. I have loads of little magnets so I can put up anything important, as then it is always right there when I sit down at my desk - which I do a lot - and that makes it impossible to forget. Right now it looks pretty empty actually, as I just have up my school timetable and my yearly planner which I got from school and has all major school events on it. (I've just realised I seem to have everything organised by day, by week, by month and then by year haha!) Having a whiteboard is also handy because if I need to quickly make a note of something, or write down an urgent reminder, I can whip out my whiteboard marker and out it on the whiteboard, and then once it's done I can just rub it off again!


5. File dividers

The final way I'm going to share that I keep organised is really only helpful if you're in school or maybe university, as this is by using file dividers. I currently take ten subjects at school and have a separate file for each that has all my work from last year and this year so far in, and I find it so much easier to keep everything in order with file dividers. This picture is of the literature section of my english file I think (it was the closest file I could find when I was taking the pictures haha) and this makes it super easy to study and revise for exams because when I look back at my work everything is in order! I also like how they add a bit of colour to my file, as I don't know why but I find it so much easier to work when there's colour involved!

But yeah, there you have it! I hope you enjoyed this blogpost and found it a tiny bit useful, I'm not great at giving advice but I thought I'd just give it a go anyway. Anyway yes, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you with another blogpost very soon.

Adios amigos!

Midnight

My favourite time of day has always been midnight.

I think it's something about the beauty of it. The clock has been counting up all day, the minutes adding up and adding up until in an instant, they reset. 00:00. 

And then that day that you were just in is over just like that, and there will never be another one of those days in the whole of space and time, there will never be another Sunday the 15th of March 2015 that is the same as the day you have just had, and you just witnessed it's end. Or, if you want to look at it another way, you just witnessed the birth of the 16th of March 2015. There has never been one of those yet, and no one knows what that day will bring, and you just witnessed that tiny fraction of time when the clock reset itself and the day was born.

Midnight is a time that doesn't really seem to exist. It's neither today nor tomorrow, neither here nor there, the clock reads nothing - time just seems to stop dead. Everything else seems to fall away.

It's rather magical, doesn't it?

But it only lasts a minute. And then the clock turns to 00:01 and the count begins again, time restarts and everything keeps moving and that fraction of time is forgotten, and the magic vanishes. The day continues as normal and we keep living.

Until the next night, when the clock will reset itself again and the magic only the tiny fraction of time that is midnight can bring returns once more.

The Adventures of Rocky

Hello all!

So I was just going through some of my photos from the time I spent in England over Christmas, and found a few I took on the plane on the way home. Basically, for me and my sister it's tradition to get a little cuddly toy in the top of our stockings, and this year I got this adorable little turtle, the label calling him Rocky. Clearly I was rather bored on the eleven hour flight back to South Africa, and so I took these pictures of little Rocky and I think they're adorable! (Also I got my new camera a few days before and was therefore experimenting with it.) So I thought I'd just share these pics because I honestly think they're so cute!

Sorry that was a rather rambly introduction, but anyway here it is: 

The Adventures of Rocky.

So there you have it, Rocky's little adventure on the plane. Hope you enjoyed this blogpost, and I'll see you again soon!

Byeee!

Procrastination

Hello again!

So, as I am writing this it is sunday, my least favourite day of the week. Why is sunday my least favourite day of the week? you might well ask, or you might not you might just be wondering why on earth you're still reading this. But anyway, sunday is my least favourite day of the week because I always leave all my work for the upcoming week until sunday, but then, of course, I in no way at all feel like doing it on sunday, and instead do a bunch of other stuff that is neither productive nor helpful to me in any way. And this is a phenomenon one might call

i had fun editing this ok

Yup. And while I am quite capable of acknowledging the fact that I am a major procrastinator, I never seem to attempt to change it. Actually that is, strictly speaking, a lie - I have attempted to be productive a few times. (emphasis on 'attempted') I even made myself a revision timetable, planning on doing about 30 minutes each night, which seems manageable, right?

Well, let's see how that turned out.

Yep. Yep.

But anyway, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this blogpost because I am currently procrastinating from all the work I have to do, which is currently in a drawer in the back of my head - a drawer which I will open tonight, take one look at and curse myself for not starting earlier. See, I know that this will happen but I still do nothing about it? Is there something wrong with me or does this happen to other people too? I don't even know anymore...

So I guess the point of this blogpost is just to ask for help. Please, if you have any methods, rituals, idk anything that you do to stop you from procrastinating please let me know, I'm kind of desperate! I seriously need to sort myself out here.

But yeah, that's about all! Sorry this blogpost was a little weird, but basically all of them have been so I'm just gonna embrace it. #embracetheweirdness

Idek anymore, I'm in a weird mood. I think I should probably shut up now.

Bye!

A-Z: Things to do when you're bored

Hey guys. I'm bored.

I'm like 300% sure boredom is something all of us have experienced at least once in our lives, and so I'm going to be a lovely person and give you an A-Z of things you can do if are feeling this way, which perhaps you are right now and that is the very reason you are here, who knows? But anyway let's get on with the list, and let me know if you do or have done any of these things!

A: Attempt origami

B: Become an elephant for the day

C: Call your best friend

D: Do a puzzle

E: Eat a banana

F: Fart

G: Go to bed

H: Have some lemonade

I: Irritate your neighbours

J: Jump up and down

K: Keep a diary

L: Lie on the floor

M: Make a paper mache lobster head

N: Neigh like a horse

O: Open a bank account

P: Pretend the floor is lava

Q: Quit your job

R: Re-arrange all of your books

S: Start a blog!

T: Tell someone you love them

U: Underline everything

V: Vlog

W: Watch a movie

X: X-ray your leg

Y: Yell at your sister

Z: Zap yourself into outer space

And that's about it! This was rather random, but what can I say, I'm bored. But now I'm going to go and zap myself into outer space, so I guess I won't be bored anymore.

Bye!

*zap*