Damn I never thought Term 3 would go by this fast! It feels like our Term 2 holidays were just yesterday, and I can’t believe that we’ve been in lockdown for 12 weeks already?!
Looking back on this term, I’m really proud of myself and how hard I worked. Not only did I balance school and self care, I also prioritised myself and gave myself breaks when it was necessary. Some key aspects I really flourished in were school, time/task management, self care, and exercise.
School
This term, due to covid19, we had to do online school. Last year, online school was really bad since it was our first time going into lockdown, and the teachers and students had no experience with learning online. However, this year, I believe that we did improve a great deal, and the teachers actually communicated and made an effort with us to see if everything was going okay and if the workload was too much or too little. For once, they actually seemed to care about us, and applied our feedback.
I also worked really hard on my assessments this term, and the hard work seemed to pay off for once! I got full marks for a number of my assessments, including my maths trigonometry assignment, my history assessment, and my design and tech brief. I felt a bit disappointed earlier on in the year, because it felt like no matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t and wouldn’t be as good as some of my other friends who were flourishing in all aspects of life. However, I feel like this term, I began to truly understand my limits, and I extended myself beyond my comfort zone and didn’t limit myself to my own expectations of failing.
Time/Task Management
One hardship that I faced last year during online school, was time/task management. I remember there being so much work given to us by our teachers, that I would stay up until 10 pm every night trying to complete bits of my work so that I didn’t have to do as much the next day.
This year, I used the app Notion in order to stay on top of my tasks, and I learnt how to chunk my tasks. I think I did a really successful job of completing my tasks before they were due and to a high standard. I also learnt when to stop working, and take time for myself to do things that made me happy. I think one of the key differences this year, was that I actually did this, instead of pushing myself and burning myself out.
Self Care
I also began to incorporate more self care into my routine. I started to build a stronger before and after school routine, which helped me spend my time wisely and more efficiently. I began to read more this term, and actually borrowed some books from the library, which I’m really happy about! I’ve also continued to listen to music constantly to calm myself and create a more relaxed yet productive environment.
By doing simple things like reading, writing, listening to music and taking hot showers, I’ve been able to prioritise myself and just take care of myself. I think self care comes in many forms, and by experimenting and just doing things that make you happy is self care in its own form.
Exercise
The last key aspect that I think I flourished in this term, was incorporating exercise into my life. I realised that I haven’t actually done Jujitsu in AGES, and although I’m really sad about that, I’ve still been trying to stay fit and active. I completed many youtube workouts, insanity fitness workouts, and even started consistently exercising with my friends on Wednesday afternoons. It honestly has improved both my mental health and my physical health and body. I really want to keep exercising and focusing on my physical body more in the months to come!
Although I’ve had more ups than downs, there were quite a few challenges including:
- The love triangle
- Drifting away from my best friend
- Lack of motivation
- Not going outside of my room
However, I ended up clearing everything up, and turned these challenges into opportunities. I addressed these hardships, and then began to actively take steps to make them into something better. I found alternative solutions and reached out to people, and even though it was sometimes confronting for me to do it, I’m glad I did.
Overall, this term has been really good. I think it has been my first good term I’ve had since 2020, and I really used this time alone to focus on solely myself. I want to keep doing this, and building and prioritising myself in the final 3 months we have left of 2021!