My Life This Year (aka, Year 12)

I am so so so so so incredibly sorry that I haven't done a blog post in AGES. I am terrible at this. It isn't just these posts that I am falling behind on, but also my vlogs and also my covers. Year 12 involves a lot of study and homework. Therefore, my life has been pretty boring and I haven't been doing a lot of stuff that is vlog-worthy or decent enough to update you on here. I haven't even been shopping for weeks... also because I don't have a lot of money and when I do have money, I either spend it on lunch at school, phone credit, or I put like half of it towards a certain saving goal. Hopefully by the term break in two weeks, I will be able to do some shopping.

I don't even know what this post is going to be about, but I thought I would do something to show that I am still alive. I guess I will just talk about Year 12...

So far it has been okay... not great but okay. I think we are all feeling the pressure and stress that comes with this year. There is A LOT of work to do and not all of it is set homework. What I need to do more of myself is extra study, like writing notes about classes to help when it comes to exam revision time. I also need to stop procrastinating. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely things I am enjoying about this year, but there are those few things that I am not.

So with all of this, I am going to take my experience and use it to help any of you in school and heading towards the final two years of school, or just generally. You probably will have been told all of this before by teachers/parents, but I will just re-enforce it.

1. Choose subjects you need for any further study and tertiary education and make sure you enjoy them. Don't pick subjects just because you have friends doing them. You will make new friends in all your classes. There is one subject I am doing which, halfway through last year, I started not to like any more and I didn't want to pick it for this year, but there were no other subjects my school offered that I wanted to do. So I just stuck at it. It's too late for me to drop it now so I have to finish it and do what I can in it. There is no use stressing, worrying and complaining over your subjects, it will impact how you will go when it comes to the end of Year 12.  
2. Plan each night's set of homework and study and make sure you do it. This will help you keep on top of all your work. I am guilty of leaving pretty much everything to the day or two before and am finishing it after 10pm. This isn't good. If you have free/study periods/lessons, use them well. My friend makes a list of everything she aims to get done in that free and I think that is a great idea. If you work better in your school environment than you do at home, stay back in the library once or twice a week for an hour or so to get work done. That then will give you more time at home to do your own thing and chill or if you feel like it, to do more study!!
3. Get a good night's sleep. You should get around 8/9 hours sleep. Studying/finishing off work late at night and cramming doesn't help. You will probably forget the majority of it all in the morning and won't be able to concentrate in class the next day. Constantly not getting enough sleep with just keep adding to your sleep deprivation and will make your condition much worse. Drink chamomile tea or a glass of milk before going to bed, these will help relax you. Also, if you can, have a shower or bath before going to bed. This will also relax you AND give you more time in the morning.
4. Eat well. Have breakfast, and a decent one too. Breakfast helps your metabolism and brain function. Eat your fruit and veg and drink plenty of water. 
5. Take a break every now and then. Don't study in massive blocks of time. Do around 50-an hour of study/homework then take a 10 minute break and keep repeating for however long you need to study to do your homework for the night. Also take time out to enjoy life. Go to parties, go out shopping, do whatever to keep your life in balance. Just don't go getting drunk every weekend. Doing work whilst hungover is probably not the best thing (that bit isn't from experience btw). 

So there you go. Just a few things to hopefully help you at school, especially in your final year or so. I will hopefully have another vlog up on here sometime soon and hopefully another cover up on here soon as well. 

Best of luck with all your study and schooling and I shall talk to you all again soon.

Peace & Love

Rachel xoxo

Looking Back on 2013

I have seen a few of my friends and others either writing a blog post or making a video looking back on their 2013, so I thought I would join them.

It was a hard and challenging year for me. I had moved interstate from Hobart to Melbourne in December of 2012 which I was really excited and happy about as Melbourne is my original home and most of my family and old friends live here. However when it came time to go to school, I realised that especially going into Year 11, moving schools is not that easy to do as it was for me at least in Grade 2. One thing I am very grateful and happy for is knowing at least one person to hang out with at break times. Having her helped me mix with the right people and build my foundation of making new friends. I am also happy with the friends I was able to make in my classes.

First term was going well, but once the first set of holidays finished, I realised how much I actually had to put in for one of my subjects and came to the conclusion that that subject wasn't for me and I had my first (of quite a few) breakdowns over school. Luckily once I started term 2, I was able to drop the subject and gain a study period which I am so very happy about. It gave me extra time to finish bits of homework so I had less to do at home. Second term was pretty good overall with rehearsals for our school production and kind of feeling like I did belong here. But it didn't stay that way.

In the winter break I found out that the guy I liked didn't like me back which really did hurt me as it was the first time I had told a guy I liked him and he was probably the first guy I had actually really like, and the weekend after I found out he was going out with a friend of mine so I decided to give them both space. I decided to stop sitting with that group and started to hang out with people I ended up feeling more comfortable with. The start of term 3 also saw the beginnings of a lot of unnecessary drama between my friends.  During this time I was also losing a lot of motivation for school and I wanted to do other things and I seriously did consider dropping out. However mum pulled me back together and pushed forward.

It then came to spring break and during this time I decided to forget about all the bad stuff and focus on being happy. I only had one more term left before I finished Year 11 and it was a pretty short term. Exams were coming up so I didn't worry too much about what was going on and to just get the year over and done with. For most of my exams I am happy with what I got, but others I know I could have done a lot better in.

So, overall for school, 2013 hasn't been the best. There was too much drama than was necessary, my study habits dropped a lot and finding the right group of friends was difficult. However, there was a lot outside of school and a bit to do with school that was great!!

In school, I became a class captain for my homeroom, I took part in my school production and got to perform in a proper theatre and I have made some really great friends who have helped my settle in and get me through the past year.

Outside of school, I have missed my friends in Hobart so so so so so very much, but I have been able to Skype them when we feel we need to chat and I have also been able to have them visit me here. In April, my friend Alex came over and stayed with me for a weekend and in October my chummy, Sarah, came to stay with me for a week, during which we saw One Direction in concert. I could not have asked for any better person than Sarah to come to see 1D live with me. This past year I have also been able to see my brothers, Shaun and Kieran a great deal more than when I was living in Hobart. I have also been able to spend a lot more time with my two little nieces, Celeste and Louisa. It has been so lovely watching them grow this year and I look forward to watching them grow even more.

In 2013 I have learnt that school is hard work and in the last two years you cannot really afford to slack off too much, BUT you do have people that love you and will help and support you through anything and are always there to talk to when you need it.

Although for me, it has not been the best year I have had overall (I guess that happens every now and then) but there has been quite a few amazing and memorable moments and a lot more that I can use to learn from.

I am, to be honest, scared but also looking forward for what 2014 has in store for me and the people around me. It is going to be a massive year with lots and lots of hard work needing to be done, but I hope in a years time, when I most likely will be doing this blog post again, that I will look back on this year and say that it has been a great year.

Peace & Love,
Rachel xoxo