Tips for studying

It’s this time of the year when all I have to do is study because there are only exams and courseworks. But I have the bad habit to do everything else instead of studying and do all the work right before the deadline.

I spent my time watching mostly anime shows and surfing the Internet for all kinds of things. Also the house is cleaner than usual, I help my mother with the cooking (even if she doesn’t need me), I play more with my pets and other things like these. I am always ready to find an excuse not to do my work and I am sure many people are like me. All of a sudden everything seems much more interesting when you have to study. I am not a bad student, though. I mean I am not in a university just because I am bored, I am in a university because I want to learn different things which will help me in the future.

If you are in my situation, here are a few tips which can help you on concentrating:

·      Get out of your favorite sites! No Facebook, no Twitter, no Tumblr, no nothing. It is really important not to have any distractions.

·       Music. It depends on the person and sometimes on the material. You can play some music which will not make you want to sing or dance. It may sound funny but when I play the wrong songs I start to sing the lyrics and sometimes I even start dancing. So find the right music or do not play music at all.

·      Difficult material. If the texts you are reading are hard for learning you may read it aloud. It helps concentrating more and understanding it better.

·       Other distractions. When you are living with other people it is normal they to come to your room (or whatever place you find most comfortably for studying) and distract you with their own things or to ask you something. Before you start, tell them that you have work to do and you need full concentrations so they won’t bother you.

These are the tips I follow when I have to study. I hope they will help you. 

Mothers

The thing about mothers is that they will always be next to us no matter what happens, they will love us unconditionally and support us in any our initiative. But what happens when you mother and you have different thinking about some stuff and what is normal for one of you is not for the other. What if one of you makes a big problem from something that the other one realizes it is not a big deal. The result is one of you is feeling guilty (most times for no reason) and the other one is hurt.

Why does this happen? Can everyone understand what is important and what is not? I had many hard times because of these problems. My mother can get mad in half a second literally for nothing. And no matter what I say to calm her down it even makes it worse. I start feeling really guilty and bad in those moments (and since I am an emotional person) my eyes get wet and this makes the situation unspeakably bad. I know I have hurt her because for some reason it something meant to her. She is my mother and my biggest wish is she to be the happiest woman in the world. I start apologizing and she forgives me because she loves me from the bottom of her soul.

I really try to do the things she wants, I do my chores when I am home. I even do things in home she hasn’t thought of just to make her happy. But in the evening when she come home from work, despite I have done 9 from 10 things she wanted for the day, she immediately forgets about the 9 done and catches for the 1 I have forgotten. Maybe for some of you this is normal but for me is not. I have tried many times to explain my point of view to this kind of things but she does not hear me. It drives me crazy but I try to do my best to understand her and to try next time not to bring her on the edge of madness.

After everything I wrote maybe it sounds like my mother is a monster. She is definitely not. She is really cool and I love her really much. She is my bestfriend and cannot think to be something else. My point is that in every family, in every relationship there are happy and not so happy moments. I can ALWAYS count on my mother because despite of the people who come and go, she is going to be there for me no matter what happens. She gives me strength when I am weak. She believes in me when I don't. She is there to support me in my good decisions, to give me an advice when I hesitate about something and (of course, like every mother does) to open my eyes if I set out to do something stupid. Love your mother – she is the only person in the world who loves you more than everything!!!

Animals and their feelings

Animals have feelings, too. People often forget this. I’m an animal lover and I treat the animals as human beings and many times I even care more about them than about people. That is because they rely on us, on their owners. When they look you with those puppy eyes and you immediately understand that something is going on.

At present, I have one cat inside and two cats and one dog outside. I love them all and I always try to make them happy. And it doesn’t cost much. Just give them a food they like (they all have different personalities and like different kinds of things) and some fondling and that is enough to see the happiness in their eyes and, as I see especially on my husky’s face, a smile.

It always makes me believe in humanity when I see someone helping an animal. Rescuing a little cat from a tree, a dog with a broken leg and etc. it is something to be proud of. I always feel sorry about the homeless animals and even feel guilty that I cannot help them. It’s unbelievable that some people get rid of their pets without any pity. The owner is the pet’s life and I cannot understand how they can live after leaving his 4-paws friend.

There are a lot of stories you can find on the Internet about people saving animals. Some are about adopting pets from shelters, but the more emotional are about people who have rescued animals with a missing limb or with really serious wounds. When they find the suffering being, they immediately take all necessary measures so the animal will recover in a healthy environment and one day it will have a normal life, full of love. It restores your faith in people when you see this kind of an article.

Almost every time I can understand what my pets want and also I know when something is wrong. And when that happens I go and talk to them because deep inside I believe they understand me and my words can reduce a bit of the pain at least for a moment. I can’t stay calm knowing that one of my furry friends is not feeling well. It is not acceptable to leave it without doing your best to help him.

Before deciding to have a pet, you have to know that this is not a toy, it is a breathing creature and you have to take care of it all the time. Think about it carefully, do not act spontaneously, so you would not abandon it after realizing what is about to take care of another creature except yourself.

Is it worth being mad?

People often get angry at simple things which are not worth it. Being nervous or even angry about things you cannot change in the moment is needless. It is normal for a big part of the people to get mad because things didn’t turn out the way they supposed to but it is not like the world is going to end or something.

When something not so pleasant happen to me or it does not turn the way I expected, like everyone else, I’m not so happy with it. But I always search for ways to turn it around so it will work in my favor. Or at least I accept it how it is. This is the idea I want to explain to people, mostly to my closest ones.

Living in a world where every your initiative is affected by many circumstances, it is usual for them to develop in unexpected ways. Little things such as waking up early, not catching the bus, waiting in a traffic jam and etc. should not be a reason to make you forget your smile. There are so much other reasons to be happy about.

Before getting mad, ask yourself “Is it really worth it?” and “Will I change something if I just sit here and be angry about it?” Most of the time, especially for the second question, the answer is “No”. So when you answer yourself and you really understand that is not the end of the world you will probably feel better. After that, when you are calmer and thinking clearly you will find the right solution of the problem (when is possible, of course).

It often happens someone in my family to get mad at little things. It depends on the person the way I find most properly to explain him that is not such a big deal. Sometimes when the person is definitely not in a good mood is more difficult to make him see the real situation. But I don’t surrender that easy. I’m always trying to explain to my family that they get mad in vain at these little things.

I do not say that there aren’t things which doesn’t need to get nervous and mad at but you have to find which are worth it and which – not. The world is much better when you search for the good side and try not to think about the little bad things in the daily life. You can always oversleep, forget something you need in home, get stuck in the traffic jam on your way to work but they are not reasons to ruin your day.

Life without the material part

I often hear things like this celebrity got a car for her birthday, that celebrity got a private jet for Christmas and other stuff like this. And I am sitting here and thinking how much a little souvenir can make me happy. I’ve grown in a family where it does not matter how much you’ve spent on the gift, it matters that you are giving it with love.

When someone in my family has a birthday or it is for Christmas, we usually give things that are not going to be needles. Or if it happens that the current person doesn’t need anything (or we don’t have any other idea) we give him something for the joke or something that can bring good feelings. I cannot understand people who are buying really expensive gifts just to show that they have money.

Maybe for those people is something normal. But the material is not the most important. The rich people have everything that could be bought, but they often forget that there are much more valuable things than money and shiny things.

If I have $200 I would not go shopping for clothes or other stuff that I don’t need. I will spend them on going on a trip to a place I haven’t been to before. Even for 2 days, it will make me happier than buying a dress or shoes which I will put on once and after that forget about them. Not everyone thinks like me, of course. I do not want to judge anybody. My idea is just to remind everybody that happiness does not have a price tag. 

People think and live as their circumstances let them. There are many people on both edges. Those who don’t have much, really value the non-material and know how to be happy with little. On the opposite, those who cannot count their fortune often forget the valuables like love and respect. They forget that one of the most important things is to appreciate each other.

Getting a book, flowers or a frame with a photo should be enough to make a person happy when you love him and, especially, when he loves you. It’s not the price that counts in the end, it's the feelings, the family and the friends. Without them, even if you have all of the world's gold, you will be the poorest man on earth.

             Here are some of my favorite gifts. Even though they are little, they mean so much to me because they are from the people I love.