What Books Have You Done This To?

this is your reminder to study literature that isn't always taken seriously.

i'm taking a sci-fi course this semester, analyzing it as a means of societal criticism. i have a history course on punk music. i'm analyzing street graffiti for a project. my favourite prof did her thesis on the often under read works of indigenous women.

remember to read what is under-read.

all forms of knowledge are worthy of study

If you’ve ever been curious about running away to Florence to study painting with ancient techniques, I made a video about it! 🎨📚

damn we got 9/11 tomorrow

I want to be able to say I studied everything on time for once

This is a matter very close to my heart. I have bipolar I disorder and ADHD as a result of bipolar. There aren’t many big posts about studying with mental illnesses so I figured I would compile a huge list of tips and posts! I’m going to be making a video about this very soon. I hope for all of you struggling that this can help or at least remind you that mental health is more important than school sometimes. Take care of yourself in any way you can. lets get started…

Studying with Mental Illness

Take things slowly. Don’t be afraid to take a week doing one assignment. Making sure that you can focus on assignments can be draining so breaking them down day by day can truly help you. Make a task list with each portion of an assignment mapped out so that you can see exactly what you need to do. I know that i get overwhelmed very easily and seeing smaller things is less daunting then having a list full of HUGE things like research papers and midterms. Seeing it as “write paragraph one” or “review unit one vocab” makes everything less scary. 

Nothing has to be pretty. Notes don’t, papers don’t have to be perfect, study guides don’t need to be colorful and cute. What really matters is getting things done. My mom always tells me “even an F is better than a zero” which is so true. Turning things in late is not shameful because you are still turning it in. You still did it and that is something to be proud of. 

Study somewhere other than your room or your house. Make sure there are people there. Surrounding yourself with others will allow you to feel less isolated and sometimes more motivated to do things. You can’t take naps when you’re at a Panera or Starbucks either. People can be motivating, they can remind you that you are not alone, they can hold you accountable for what you have to do. Get out of your bed where you can sit and stare at the wall and go to a coffee shop or the library where other people are doing work. This always helps me get on track. 

Study in short bursts. Don’t wear yourself out with work. Find out when your concentration peaks and go with that. I usually work the best around 2pm so I have to make sure that I have eaten and showered before then so that I can capture that time to focus on my studies. 

Don’t beat yourself up. Studying just takes a lot more effort other days when depression hits you the worst. There might be days when you can barely get yourself out of bed but know that you do have the ability to succeed and that depression just has to suck sometimes. 

Get yourself out of bed. Shower. Change your clothes. Read a single page. Look at only one thing you have to do so you aren’t overwhelmed. That is something to be proud of and know that I am proud of what you did!

Study in a routine style. Let yourself have a routine that you can fall into. Try pomodoros or study games, Create a routine that you can stick to

If you don’t feel like doing anything… work for 5 minutes. You may feel more motivated or up, or you will at least be able to say that you have done something. 

HYDRATE. I’m really awful at drinking a lot of water, but it helps so much with both anxiety and depression. Water keeps you moving and awake. SO drink that H2O guys

Helpful Links

Staying Sane on Campus

Tips to stay mentally and emotionally healthy while you study

How to school when mentally Ill

Depression

Studying with Depression

Depression study tips

Studying through Depression

6 Tips To Get Motivated When You’re Feeling Depressed

Five Ways To Deal With Depression During Exams

Anxiety

Anxiety in Grad school

Dealing with Stress and Anxiety

Studying with Anxiety

Get Ready for School If You Suffer From Anxiety

Living & Studying with Anxiety

ADHD

How to succeed with ADHD

10 Study tips for ADHD students

I couldn’t find any resources about OCD, BPD, PTSD, or bipolar for that fact so keep on the lookout for any additions to this post if I find anything more! If all else fails, just google things. That always helps me. Message me personally if you have any questions about my struggles or need some specific advice! I love you all so much and I am so proud of you!! xx Haley

romanticizing 101 : picking flowers in a flower field

⌕ sailor moon - minako aino.

like or reblog if you save/use.

"Don't use Libby because it costs libraries too much, pirate instead" is such a weird, anti-patron, anti-author take that somehow manages to also be anti-library, in my professional librarian-ass opinion.

It's well documented that pirating books negatively affects authors directly* in a way that pirating movies or TV shows doesn't affect actors or writers, so I will likely always be anti-book piracy unless there's absolutely, positively no other option (i.e. the book simply doesn't exist outside of online archives at all, or in a particular language).

Also, yeah, Libby and Hoopla licenses are really expensive, but libraries buy them SO THAT PATRONS CAN USE THEM. If you're gonna be pissed at anybody about this shitty state of affairs, be pissed at publishing companies and continue to use Libby or Hoopla at your library so we can continue to justify having it to our funding bodies.

One of the best ways to support your library having services you like is to USE THOSE SERVICES. Yes, even if they are expensive.

*Yes, this is a blog post, but it's a blog post filled with links to news articles. If you can click one link, you can click another.

why do i keep seeing whole videos on advice for artfight from “veterans” or whatever. here’s all the advice you need:

you don’t need to draw every day

you don’t need to fully render every drawing, sketches still count and the person receiving it will still love it

you don’t need a fully polished ref sheet for every single character, having a basic one or even just a colour palette along with whatever other art you’ve done works fine in most cases

you don’t need to draw a fully rendered piece every single day do not burn yourself out or injure yourself for funny little internet points good lord

boom done there’s your 15 minute video

Here are some interesting facts about books:

1. Harvard University Library has four books bound in human skin.

2. Iceland tops the world in per capita book reading.

3. People who read books are less likly to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

4. In Brazilian prisons, reading a book can reduce a prisoner's sentnce by four days.

5. Virginia Woolf wrote all her books while standing.

6. The most stolen book is the Bible.

7. Roosevelt read an average of one book per day.

8. There are over 20,000 books written about chess.

9. Victor Hugo’s "Les Misérables" contains a sentence with 823 words.

10. Words like "hurry" and "addiction" were invented by Shakespeare.

11. If all the books in the New York Public Library were lined up, they would stretch 8 miles.

12. Leo Tolstoy's wife hand-copied the manuscript of "War and Peace" seven times.

13. Noah Webster took 36 years to write his first dictionary.

14. The Mahabharata is the only book or epic in the world with over 1,200 characters.