Public Speaking Masterpost

how I keep myself sane during summer break.

I think we can all agree that the mere idea of having holiday breaks from boring lectures and all-nighter study sessions sounds like heaven; although this romanticized idea of having so much free time often turns into wasted summer days, oversleeping, and basically an anti-social teenage version of house arrest. so, to help you out (or, more to help Myself) here are some things I do to keep myself busy, on a budget (kind of), and mentally healthy during long breaks from school.

continue your morning routine. this is important; by this I mean to basically treat your summer mornings as you would your school mornings, without the rush and alarm. brush your teeth, brush your hair, start/continue a skincare routine, get out of your pajamas and into real clothes, make your bed, make some coffee, eat some breakfast, do it with some music on, whatever you want. this keeps your mind and body into a daily routine. don’t let all your precious no-class mornings of summer go to waste!

savor sleeping in, but not too much. I know its super tempting to go to bed at like 2 AM and wake up the next “morning” at 12PM, but trust me, you’ll regret fucking up your sleep schedule once you actually have to set an alarm and get your ass to class next fall. I’m not saying you should force yourself to set a summer alarm (although, if you really want to train yourself this isn’t a bad idea tbh) but for the love of god, at least go to sleep and wake up at reasonable times. don’t waste your entire day!!

force yourself to see your friends a couple times a week, even if you really don’t want to. obviously this excludes mental health days, but I’ve found that spending time with my friends actually distracts me from any anxiety I’ve felt during the past week. I love my alone time, but human interaction is super important both mentally and physically. as college students we’re all pretty much broke, so don’t underestimate the power of free things- watching netflix at someone’s house, having a boardgame night, going to parks, you name it. as long as you’re with your friends, you’ll have a great time!

clean out your music library + make a playlist or two. y’all know I love a good playlist. this is something totally 100% FREE, and a perfect way to make use of your free time. delete all the stuff you don’t listen to anymore and make a few playlists of your favorite songs, or even go with playlist themes to organize your songs. it’s fun and your future self will probably thank you later for getting rid of so much audible junk.

get back into reading. this is something that was on my personal summer to-do list. I haven’t read a book for myself (aka not for a class) in sooo long, and let me tell you- I don’t know why I ever stopped reading. I know for a fact that once the semester starts I’ll have zero free time to read for myself, so summer is the perfect time to get into a new book or two!

eat your three meals a day +hydrate. I mean this. its very easy to skip/forget meals when you really don’t have any set schedule whatsoever, so plan your meals into your day. even make an alarm if its necessary. also: if you don’t know if you’re drinking enough water, you probably aren’t.

deep clean your room/workspace/closet. I’m super guilty for putting this off but, long breaks like summer are the perfect times to deep clean! what makes it easier for me to clean my room is to go section by section, which means not doing it all in a day (because that gets hella overwhelming and stressful, let me tell you). grab a garbage bag, put on some tunes, and pick a section to clean that day; you’ll be done with the entire space in no time!

outfit plan. for someone like me who has way too much in my closet and somehow still “never has anything to wear”, this is essential! set some outfits out on the floor/bed and take pics of them on your phone so that you can look back on them for some style inspo the next time you have “absolutely NOTHING to wear”.

find a new hobby, even if you’re bad at it. make some collages of your friends, make a scrapbook, learn photoshop, paint a little, learn how to sew, garden, cook, practice your phone photography skills… if there was a time for you to try out new things, it’s NOW.

make a post about all the shit you should do. I’m doing it right now. literally. you’re reading it right now. its not a bad idea.

if you know you have shit to do, plan it into your day! this is where the planner/agenda/bullet journal aspect comes in. having no class and no homework is not an excuse to stop planning out your day, your week, or your month. make some task lists and pencil in your dentist appointments and dates with people and whatnot; and even journal your days while you’re at it! if you’re a planner, never stop. Future You will thank you for it, I promise.

Muslim Characteristics and the Purpose of the Hijab

Anonymous said: hi! i’m writing a story where the main character is a muslim teen girl, and it’s not like the /main/ focus of the story but since i’m not muslim myself i was wondering if you had any pointers on how to show that as a part of her life (beyond the hijab, which is something she chooses only to wear at home?) without being too blatant/forced or oppositely non-evident? thank you!

Hi there! Islam is a deeply intricate religion that is woven into a muslim’s everyday life, and there are definitely easy ways to sneak in indicators of a person’s religion. For example, muslims only eat meat that has been cut the halal way- your character could ask about that at a restaurant, or forgo the meat just to be safe. Muslims also pray five times a day (with the exception of the days some people are on their periods), so you could show her waking up at sunrise to pray Fajr. Honestly, there are a million and one ways to portray a muslim girl.

Also, while I might not know the complete context of your character’s situation, the purpose of a hijab is to shield a person from the gaze of male strangers. Homes are places where girls let their hair down and relax. A muslim only wearing a hijab at home contradicts the very importance of a hijab and could be really offensive to some readers. There are many muslim girls who don’t wear a hijab, so I suggest maybe going with that. There are also muslim girls who wear the hijab in certain areas (read: around traditional family members) to preserve social standing, but aren’t actually committed to the hijab.

I suggest you do more research on Islam if you want to convey your character realistically.

-Yasmin

I’d just like to add that I see quite a few writers taking the non-hijaabi route in order to avoid repercussions of possibly negative representation. I’d just like to stress that, if you feel that offering this representation is important, and you feel that you can do the research and continue to ask the questions to make it as good as you can, you should strive to do it.

Of course, we need non-hijaabi representation, but I do not think that should be the only option offered if a writer is nervous about approaching the hijaab.

Besides that note, I agree with Yasmin’s eloquent answer and the fact that a girl only wearing the hijaab at home is rather unusual and offensive. Good luck!

-Kaye

Looool

"Let's help her concentrate."

*-* yes .. (not german)

(Submitted by sehun-oppa)

I'm 21 but inside me lives a 30 year old..

Age Test

this is so cool! add your real and mental age in the tags :)

I made Nutella brownies last week. :) delicious☆

ヽ(≧∀≦)ﾉ  I have recently tried the japanese mochi! (daifuku) =') it's nice ... kinda...

“ تتلاشى الأكتاف من حولك تدريجياً, كلما ازدادت حاجتك للاستناد

يحدث ذلك , لأن الله يريد تذكيرك بأنه وحده لن يخذلك متى احتجته ”

A drawing collaboration with my friend , was really fun!