How to De-Stress Your School Year

Well, it's the start of another school year. Those lazy summer days are nothing but a distant memory and it's all algebra, HB pencils and pointless comprehension questions on Of Mice and Men for as far as the eye can see.

Regardless of whether you're a bright eyed Year 7 or a burned out Post Graduate, the school year can easily become a stressful haze of unmanageable homework loads, Chemistry topics that no one (including the teacher apparently) can grasp, indecipherable exam questions and timetables jammed with assignments, re-drafts and extra-curricular activities that nobody really wants to attend, but that you plough through anyway to tag onto the end of the CV you've been putting off writing for the last 3 months.

I've woken up in a cold sweat amongst my colour coded revision post-it notes more than once. I get it. Essays, projects, trying to learn how to be a competent human being...the whole shebang can get extremely stressful. So, for the sake of your sanity (or whatever's left of it), you owe it to yourself to take a little time off every now and then and slow down.

In this post I have a few tips and tricks to help you unwind when the worlds gets too hectic and exam stress starts to turn your brain to mush.

Stay Organised

Prevention is better than cure as they say and that's certainly true in this case. End of year exams will roll around, regardless of whether you're prepared or not. Just a little forward planning, organisation and 15 minutes or so each evening could be the difference between you weeping into a pile of poorly composed flash cards or sailing through revision with ample time for snack breaks and catching up on the new episode of Game of Thrones.

Start out with the best intentions and keep on top of things throughout the year.

• Keep a diary, noting all assignment due dates, upcoming exams and fabulous social engagements 
• Make sure all notes are legible and keep them all together, in order
• Get any homework or assignments done out of the way as soon as possible. Don't leave them until the least minute!
• Keep your mornings as easy as possible by packing your bag and laying out your clothes the night before

One of the best things about being in school is the cute stationery. Pick yourself up a new diary, folders, highlighters...indulge in all the things you need to keep yourself organised and on top of your workload.

My Back to School Giveaway!

I know school just finished and we're all busy enjoying what I guess is technically summer (constant rain and fog aside), but get your brain back into school-mode for a few seconds because I'm running a Back to School Giveaway on my Youtube channel.

I'm giving away everything you'll need to go back to school in style including pens, pencils,
notebooks...excessive organisational goodies. And even if you're not heading back to school in September you can still enter because, let's face it, we all love cute stationery!

You can enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, get out there and enjoy summer and good luck in the giveaway!

Boring information:
1. In order to enter the giveaway you must be subscribed to my Youtube channel. Extra entries can be gained by following me on social media etc, but these methods of entry are optional.
2. The giveaway is open until 12am 1st September 2016. The winner will be announced in a video that I'll be uploading to my channel on 2nd September 2016. The winner will be contacted directly via email and will have 3 days to respond before I offer up the prize to another winner.
3. Entrants under 16 years old must seek permission from a parent/guardian because I will be contacting the winner directly.
4. This is an international giveaway. The prizes will be sent via Royal Mail delivery, but it's worth noting that some countries have customs taxes and the cost of this will not be covered. I can't be held responsible for the condition of the prizes once they leave my possession (I will wrap them up nice and tight to protect them against heavy-handed postmen though!)
5. Extra entries can be gained by following me on social media or tweeting about the giveaway, but I reserve the right to disqualify people for entering on multiple different email addresses or not playing fair. I know this doesn't apply to the vast majority of you, but it has been an issue in the past and I want everyone to have a fair shot of winning!

I'm Back (And in Desperate Need of a Latte)!

I'm back! I've crawled out from the corporate rock I've been stuck under for the past few months. I've thrown off the shackles of business meetings, conference calls and tossing and turning in a pool of sweat at 3am wondering if my new shoes for the office strike the right balance between 'I'm a corporate highflier' and 'I'm a Margaret Thatcher look-alike'. I'm slowly weaning myself off the 5 gallons of caffeine a day it took me to get through my working day without falling asleep at the wheel (sure, there's still a lot of twitching going on, but slow progress is better than no progress).

 I'm finally starting to feel like myself again!

 It's been a while since I last sat down to write a blog post so I apologise if I'm rusty. It's not that I purposely discarded my beloved blog or forgot about all you wonderful people who enjoy a little dose of my madness every week. The truth is, I was so swamped at work that, slowly but surely, without me even realising it, my blog ended up in in the pile labelled 'things I used to do when I had the time'. It was a hefty pile. Yoga was in there too along with reading, going to the gym, spending time with my fiends and, increasingly, eating meals and sleeping.

 There weren't nearly enough hours in the day!

 

So, I took the plunge (for better or for worse), discarded my 'sensible' boring, black, low-heeled shoes, and quit my high-flying, corporate job. As tempting as the image of myself as a fancy business woman with a bank account healthy enough to justify a closet full of Laboutins was, at the end of the day, I'm not a fancy business woman. I hate graphs. And schmoozing. So in September I'm heading back to university to train as an English teacher. Because what could be better than talking about books for a living? Except, of course, talking about books for a living and getting paid enough to justify a closet full of Laboutins.

 But, hey, you can't have it all!

1000 Youtube Subscriber Giveaway!

While I was off gallivanting around America, something amazing happened. My Youtube channel hit 1000 subscribers! Yes, 1000 people have joined the 'oddball family' and regularly choose to listen to my bizarre rants and ramblings. It's amazing!

To celebrate I'm running a giveaway and there are lots of lovely prizes up for grabs!

You can enter here through rafflecopter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The only thing you must do is be subscribed to my channel. Everything else is just an optional extra to give you a few bonus entries.

Good luck everyone and thank you all so much for subscribing!