by Reilly Jaworski | Apr 26, 2021 | Archive
A sad truth of the modern age is that few people practice the act of reading voluntarily. This is a topic that I continually take a passionate stand on, though I know it isn’t that way for many reading this; we’ll work on that. Reading isn’t just a hobby, it’s an activity necessary to the understanding of the world we inhabit and everything it contains (though, it’s also an undeniably fun way to pass time).
Yes, reading is fun. Just because it’s something you have to do for school doesn’t make it any less fun. Reading should not just be something you do to pass English class, but something that you do if you want to dig deeper into the world and how you feel about. Reading gives us an opportunity to really notice things beyond our first impressions of them. One of the several superpowers that will strike you with a book in your hand is the ability to think about the world you live in rather than maintaining the habit of merely living in it. Reading grants you the power to really notice things rather than just pass them by, while also lending us the prospect of thinking freshly and opening our mind to new opinions and perspectives.
There is a book for just about every situation you find yourself in and a poem for nearly every feeling you have. This idea is elucidated in this quote from The Catcher in the Rye: “Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles… And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.” Reading is the only thing we have that proves our connections and similarities with people whom we have not met, both dead and alive. The fact that we are never alone in our interpretations of life becomes evidently clear when we read our own thoughts within books written by other individuals, demonstrating that life’s greatest thoughts are communal. When we realize how similar we are to the people whose thoughts we read, there is an invisible line that stems out from ourselves to those people, connecting us. When your eyes linger over the words that have been organized into sentences by a person you have never met, you meet them in a sense that is far greater than if you had met them in the flesh, just passing by.
A really great thing about reading is that you can choose what you read (most of the time). There’s a book for everyone just as there is a movie and TV show for everyone. The facet of reading that makes it much better than TV, though, is that you are granted the privilege of interpreting it in your own way and seeing it in your head differently than anyone else who has read the very same book. Your experience with a book will always be unique and your perceptions of the world within the text will change the way you perceive your own world. A great book persuades you to inch out into a different world and live there for a while, focusing on the lives of characters and how they both mirror and contrast with your own.
If the more abstract benefits of reading weren’t enough to convince you, perhaps the knowledge of mental and physical benefits will be enough to coax you over to this side of the argument; according to Healthline, reading actually changes the networks of your mind, making them stronger than non-readers, thus earning you total bragging points. Another major benefit is that consistent reading can decrease your chances of cognitive decline as you age increases. If that’s not enough for you, it also lessens stress, which is an attribute of reading that we could all profit from. While making you a smarter, better rounded individual, the effects of reading branch out into many different aspects of life.
Reading isn’t just an obligatory assignment or something you do occasionally just to feel good about yourself. It shouldn’t be a chore or a relief once finished, but something you treasure. Savor the moments in which pages shift in the creases of your hands. Hold onto the feeling you get when words leave the page and relocate to your eager mind. Understand that history and original thoughts are being carried on with you each time that you read. Within you, they live. When you appreciate reading rather than dreading it, all of its merits will become strikingly evident, ready for you to enjoy.
by Reilly Jaworski | Apr 12, 2021 | Advice
So, you just can’t bring yourself to do your work, thus causing a pileup of stress all because of a lack of motivation. I totally understand. This isn’t an inconceivable concept, as we all find ourselves reacquainted with the affliction of idleness on occasion. While both frustrating and familiar, lags in motivation are easily defeated. This article will serve as a tutorial of sorts, in order to get you back on track.
The first thing you can do that will have immense curative effects on your motivation deficiency, is to trick yourself into doing something, by acting like you really want to do it. For example, instead of saying that you “have to do” your math homework, say that you are “going to do” your math homework or that you “want to do your math homework.” This may appear worthless with slight to no noticeable effects, but if you practice this habit, the dreadfulness of work will inevitably lessen. Another important thing to be noted, is that everything you do in your life is a choice. Sure, there are things that we have to do, but do we really have to do them? Or are we choosing to do them. We say that we have to study for math, but nothing is really stopping us from neglecting this responsibility. So, really, saying that you have to do something is a lie. You are choosing to do everything that you do, and that’s exactly what makes what you’re doing so very important.
Now that you know that everything is a choice, it’s the choosing to do what’s good for you that’s difficult. Maybe you really don’t want to do your homework, so, on average, you don’t. The best way to combat this condition is to make boring tasks less boring. There are a few ways to do this that I personally swear by. The first seems almost contradictory to education, and that is watching TV while you work. Though, it’s more listening to TV than watching it. Understand that you won’t always be able to do this when tasks that need more fixed attention present themselves, but sometimes a little background noise is exactly what makes choices that don’t require too much attention less grueling. A couple of these tasks may include doing membean or taking notes. Another thing you could do is listen to a podcast or music in order to provide a little bit of background noise. If something requires more attention, I highly recommend listening to classical music. This works really well when you have to read something or do any sort of work that requires more concentration like math or science. There are loads of immersive playlists on YouTube that have been my frequent source of entertainment and that actually make me want to do my homework. (My favorite YouTube playlist is literally called “you’re studying in a haunted library with ghosts” and if that doesn’t make you want to do your homework, then I deem you a lost cause.) Trust me, this is a hidden gem for making homework less painfully boring. Lastly, sit somewhere comfortable for you. Think desk, bed, couch, bean bag, or even outside when it’s warm. Making tea, eating a snack, and lighting a candle are also a few joy-bearing instruments in making everything better. Overall, anything that will make you happy is something you should try to work into your homework routine.
You have goals, dreams, and current pursuits that only solidify when you work on them. It’s important to stay motivated and understand that lapses in motivation generally stem from a state of boredom that calls for change. Remember that everything you are doing is a choice made by no one other than yourself. There will always be ways to enjoy the choices that you make.
by Reilly Jaworski | Mar 19, 2021 | Archive
What if I told you I was writing the bulk of this article before I’ve even had breakfast, on a school day? Would you deem me a lunatic, tell me I should go to sleep and wake up at a humanly hour? I would understand if these were your initial reactions, as mornings are among the most universally deplorable concepts existing in modern day, and having to get up early in the morning is an even more detestable situation. Your morning probably looks something like this: you get up, you brush your teeth, you throw on some clothes, maybe acquire some time to eat a granola bar before booking it out the door. I know this is the most likely case, and I also know that it is the very reason why you object to the morning arising each day when your alarm goes off. When you don’t have time to do things that make you happy and set you up for an actually enjoyable day, you won’t actually enjoy your day.
Start by waking up just fifteen minutes earlier. Now, this deducted fifteen minutes of shut eye shouldn’t radically set you back energetically. Fifteen minutes, I find, lies right in the sweet spot of being able to get more done before your day starts while also not causing you to be too tired to function. However, if you’re going to bed at two in the morning, you can’t blame me for your lack of energy. Kindly go to bed at a reasonable hour that works with your schedule and set your alarm just fifteen minutes earlier than you typically would.
Now, what to do with these extra fifteen minutes. A fair question, of which I have a myriad of answers. Is there something you’re putting off? Should you read your book for English for a few minutes? Feel like exercising or going for a walk around the block? You could always try for eating an actual breakfast (it’s the most important meal of the day, you know) or even watching a few minutes of your favorite TV show to set the day right, and get you in a good mood.
There are other perks to getting up early that you may not think of in your pessimistic haze, some of which have some very emotionally beneficial impacts. Firstly, and my personal favorite part of the morning, is that you might be able to catch the sunrise. Frequent are the mornings in which I look out my window, my mood instantly brightening. The emotional effects of a colorful sky should by no means be underestimated. A more concrete benefit of waking up early is that it decreases your stress level by allowing time for a calm, well paced morning routine, leaving behind the need to rush around like someone who doesn’t wake up early. Lastly, it’s shown to improve your sleep, as you are able to get through all sleep cycles at night, thus, leading to more enjoyable rest as well as a greater amount of energy to dip into throughout the day.
Now that you’re educated on the benefits of waking up early, I encourage you to try it for a week. Just a week of waking up fifteen minutes earlier than usual is what I urge you to do. If after a week you see not even a sliver of improvement in any realm of your life, give it up and sleep in longer. Hopefully this trial run of earlier rising will get you practicing a new habit that pushes you closer to a mark of improvement in some aspect of your life.
by Reilly Jaworski | Mar 15, 2021 | Archive
If you’ve ever found yourself trapped in the midst of a homogeneous cycle in which every one of your days is indistinguishable from the last, you probably are pining for something new. However, you most likely also tell yourself that you don’t have time for something new. We all do it; claim that time is what controls the ranking of our days. What if I told you that there’s a way to do everything you want to do by using time to your advantage rather than thinking of it as an opponent?
First and foremost, as I’ve always said, time is a manmade fabrication. Not to get too philosophical but does time really even exist? Does it matter? Should we let a concoction of mankind control our happiness? I’m not telling you to stop showing up to your classes on time or to cut sleep out of your schedule, but I am saying that having “no time” is not an excuse for mediocrity. I understand that the workloads pile up from school and then there’s your job at the grocery store that takes up time and chores that you have to help out with, but, there’s also a life to be enjoyed and not a single moment should be construed as a triviality.
So, how do you come up with clever ways of doing what you want to do while also making time for things that you must do? There are a few steps, actually.
- To-Do list. This is my personal staple and is the ultimate backbone for ensuring that you make no excuses for not getting to what you want to get to. Write down a list of things, with threefold categorization. Firstly, scribble down (usually I use purple pen but whatever works for you is just as well) all of the things that must be done that very day. This for me is usually school assignments. Next, write in a different color all of the things that you want to do for yourself. This could be reading, watching a specific show, taking a nap, whatever you fancy, and whatever you feel would make your day worth your time. Thirdly, write down things that you want to do with and/or for people around you. This could be doing the dishes for your parents, helping your friend understand the homework assignment that they couldn’t figure out, or anything else that could benefit someone you care about. Then assign a little box next to each item on the comprehensive list, in order that you will be able to check it off at the end of the day.
- Timestamp. Here’s what you should do in order to make sure you get to everything on your list: record how long you are doing each activity so that you don’t lose track of time and end up spending an hour and a half on your chemistry homework. If it helps, write down desired times next to each item on your list so that you know precisely how long you want to do each one for. This will help you immensely with being both realistic and optimistic about your itinerary.
- Release the feeling of guilt. We’ve all felt guilty for taking a break between study sessions, feeling like we aren’t doing enough to approach our goals. However, guilt is a liar that misleads you into believing this. The truth is, the best thing you can do for yourself and for your future is to give yourself time to relax and absorb information before putting in more laborious effort. It’s actually proven that we learn and retain information better when we give ourselves the occasional hiatus from work. It might feel strange to take time for yourself and to rest, but it isn’t just nice to take a break, it’s vital.
So, in the midst of that familiar cycle of monotony, remember these steps and break out of it before you look back, unable to note any distinctions between the days.
by Reilly Jaworski | Feb 26, 2021 | Archive
We are quickly approaching the depths of that widely anticipated time of the year when the lulls of winter appear inescapable. Annually, as we grow increasingly sickened of the winter weather, we start to lose the grasp of our New Year’s resolutions. I’m here to help you remember why you adopted these resolutions in the first place along with why and how you should go about sticking to them.
I should probably start by acknowledging the fact that many of you may not even have any resolutions. To those of you who aren’t taking those steps towards self-improvement, I truly encourage you to conjure a few ways to make your lives better. It can be something as simple as getting more sleep or exercise. A resolution doesn’t have to be rung in with the new year; you can change anything you want to about yourself and your life at any time. One of the greatest things about being an independent being is the freedom of choice and adaptation that accompanies it. When you think of a resolution, work to make it measurable. Specifying your goals will make it automatically easier to achieve them. For example, if your resolution is to drink more water, say you want to drink at least four glasses of water per day. If your resolution is to read more, say you want to read ten pages a day. This encourages you to take action and ensures that you will feel a greater sense of accomplishment.
After practicing your new lifestyle change for a certain amount of time, it’s natural and to be expected that you start to lose sight of it and ponder the prospect of giving it up. This circumstance is so easy to face and yet so easy to defeat. One of my resolutions for this year is to meditate daily. You can imagine my dismay on the numerous occasions when I approach the precipice of bed and realize I have forgotten to meditate. It’s really difficult to stick to certain things sometimes. However, what I’m about to tell you will immediately nullify your lack of motivation: Remember why you started. This is really an imperative step to the solution of your disinterest. When we remember why we do things, they will automatically become more enjoyable. Remember that the next time you are studying. What are you studying for? A certain job? College? Why did you initially want to go to bed earlier? Did you want to feel more alert? If you continue to pursue your goal with purpose hovering over you, I guarantee you won’t flirt with the idea of giving up again.
Resolutions evolve over time, and if you find yourself with a product that looks different than the original goal, that is completely okay. Sometimes, carrying on with a resolution is more about changing and growing as a person than it is about having a finished product. If your goal was to make your bed everyday and you did not accomplish this goal, please don’t see this as a manifestation of failure. Instead, think about how the unintended result changed you as an individual. Do you find you’re able to listen to yourself and understand yourself to a greater degree of efficacy? Do you have more motivation resulting from the times that you did make your bed in the morning? If the answer is yes to any question that you pose to yourself surrounding your goal, then you can be secure in the knowledge that you have succeeded at something. Revel in that feeling and remember it the next time you start rolling out plans for a new expedition.
Ultimately, we’re all just trying to be better than we were a second ago. Life is about changes of varying sizes. If there’s one thing I encourage you to take away from this is the fact that every step that you take to change is beneficial no matter how minute. Correspondingly, every resolution is valid and conducive to some form of success. Take the first step to the life you want by practicing one thing that can push you there.
