chiliwriting

[chiliwriting]

A bunch of mistakes

We all make our share of mistakes but if I have changed one life overall until the end, then I haven’t lived in vain. Sometimes no matter how many mistakes we make, if we manage to see the bright side of them we’ll soon realise that life is not a game… it is a process of learning how to deal with different situations and handling people. Keep up or quit?

We never quit, no matter how hard it is to deal with the circumstances faced. At the moment it feels like you have a mountain in front of you when in fact all you need to do is assess the situation and calmly tackle the issues one by one. Learning to deal with emotions is one of the most important skills that anyone gains throughout their life. One of the hardest things in life is to have emotions and feelings and not being able to release and show them. This is when the real oppression comes in and this is when you need to put your ego on top of your head and let it lead you. Become stronger and independent and tell yourself “No. I am not letting anyone ruin the life I pictured of myself for any reason”. You are great, you are amazing because of your own personal assets that you need to recognize and anyone would be lucky to have you in their lives. You cannot recycle people but sometimes fixing or helping things to be better, makes all the things we need to fix in ourselves, invisible.

Sometimes all it takes for you to be happy is to make people you love and care about to smile. When you make people smile it is when you understand what being a great person really is and this should be enough. The greatest gifts in life come for free and smiles are indeed free so next time you are feeling down yourself, turn around and find someone you love (let it be family, friend or something more) and give them a reason to smile. If you do that, at least in the end of the day you will know what it is like to be the reason someone is feeling happier. Happiness and pain are two very subjective feelings, meaning that each individual experiences them in their own particular way. What I define as happiness is nothing like what my friend defines and neither we can experience the same period pain (gross I know, but us girls go through this too). Similarly one act of mine that I think will bring happiness to someone may only bring confusion, discomfort and irritation. To put it extremely bluntly, people live on their own world and experience situations on their own way.

It is only a blessing to find someone who will be on the same page as you and feel that “click” when you do stuff for them and they reciprocate. That’s all we are asking for isn’t it; receiving what we provide. While for some people it is fairly easy to give what they take and see that happiness in the other person’s face, some other never know how to express their feelings. It is never about buying presents, cook dinner or surprise them on a hard day of work just because you think this will relax them and they will be happy. Appreciating the effort the other person makes and acknowledging their keenness on trying to provide you with a light is what matters the most. It really is not astronomy or rocket science, it is rational thinking and gratefulness that someone cares a tad bit more.

 I am sure when you look back to this you will always remember that silly person who put their time and energy to make a change in your daily routine and appreciate them for who they are. Appreciate yourself and never let anyone define your worth, find your own worth from inside. Even if you realise your efforts are just a bunch of mistakes... at least you know now how to handle certain people, learning what their limits are and testing yourself as well. 

Talk to you soon! xx -Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

House of A

Have you ever had this massive light coming in your life from a person and did not appreciate it enough? How much do we do for people and how much do we care? Do we care more than we should? Do we forgive more than we should? Do we tolerate more than we can? One of my favorite songs says, “I don’t care go on and tear me apart. I don’t care if you do cause in a sky full of stars, I fix you”. Most of us know who wrote the song… Coldplay yes. The meaning of that phrase is playing and replaying in my head during the last days mainly because it shows that this guy or whoever came up with the lyrics was willing to possibly experience a lot of pain in order to help someone else stand on their feet. Why? Who knows; it is impossible to realize how much some people do for us without asking anything in return or on the other hand what we are willing to do for others only because we care for their wellbeing. So yeah… at this point I bet you are confused about what I want to analyze in this post. This post is my attempt to discuss the topic of caring and sharing and how this influences others and us.

Recently I came up with a new rule: Let’s try not to figure everything out at once. So I will start explaining my points of view bit by bit. A special friend of mine turned to me the other day and said, “girl… you cannot fix everyone. And I just replied try me”. This is so wrong. I said that because I am able to understand how much I can accept, tolerate and forgive when I want to help someone. The right thing to say would be “you can’t fix everyone who doesn’t want to be fixed”. Perhaps you’re standing there behind that screen thinking “ what a naïve person she is, thinking she can change others”. Trust me… even if I get to influence the way you dress or how often you brush your teeth, it still is a change inspired by me so yup… I did make you change. Jokes aside, yes it is hard to make someone change their habits or their beliefs but it is better to try and fail than fail to try. Because then the only question in your mind will be “so what if…”?

Nobody here says it is easy to change people, internally or externally and fix broken pieces of theirs but it is worth to end up leaving them in a better position than the one you found them. You might need to accept their drawbacks. You might need to be patient and wait for the butterfly to come out of the cocoon. You might have to experience some pain yourself. But in the end, if you care you actually see that this pays off and you are able to realize how this experience changed both you and the other person. Being able to realize how we change through these experiences and what they offer us is just brilliant. We tend to become stronger just as the people we are helping are. Some of us go through a lot of pain until we realize it makes us stronger with the knowledge it provides us with. Some others say that this is not working and it is useless to try and fix everyone. So whether you are the helper or the broken one take a moment and think of the following questions to figure out how much you care for yourself instead of others.

What if for a moment you didn’t hate yourself? What if for a moment you stopped overthinking? What if for a moment you tried to see the positive parts of yourself? What if for a moment you were grateful for the ones who help you? What if for a moment you lived in your present and not the future? What if for a moment you realized it’s not bad to get help to fix yourself? What if for a moment you appreciated the massive light that got in your life? What if for a moment you realized the benefits of your experiences? What if for a moment you put yourself on the side for someone else? What would actually change if you thought about all these?

They say people come; they say people go. You will soon come to realize that people in our lives do not stay forever and they don’t forgive forever and they don’t tolerate everything forever. No matter if this is your mother, no matter if this is your sister or brother, no matter if this is a friend or a girlfriend. It is your decision to make whether you appreciate those massive lights trying to help you out sometimes or you just find excuses on why you don’t want to get fixed. I’ll say this and end my story, because it is quite late and I am really dead. I recently watched a documentary of philosophers and physicists named “The Secret”. It was all about what energies we send in the universe, what we get back and where do we focus. I’ll tell you one simple thing I kept from the whole one and a half hour video. When you focus on the negativity of stuff around you, more negativity is going to come your way. On the contrast, when you start appreciating the good parts in your life and focus on the positivity of a situation, this will become better and better. In other words, when someone tries to help you, do not focus on how incompetent you are to fix yourself on your own, instead be grateful that someone is kind enough to help you build up the pieces the right way. I named this story House of A, because this blog is my house and describes my views on this complicated topic named life. So don’t figure everything out on your own. Let others enter and be there for you.

Talk to you soon! xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

From Prada to Nada.

Just at the moment when you realize you got everything, that greediness will always pop up in your mind. You recently got a new purse but oh well… that Prada on the window looks perfect for an autumn outfit. It’s always going to be that “newness” that humans seek for in their daily life. Sometimes though it does not only come down to newness but lack of appreciation in relationships on what others do for you. The Queen said “I want it all”… I guess they knew better why they were writing this song. People want everything without appreciating what they already have or what they are given, which sadly ends up for them to move from Prada to Nada. In case you have not realized today after two months we shall discuss the topic of appreciation in this blog post as it is a topic that troubles many people.

Why don’t we appreciate what we have?

It is quite simple, why people never appreciate what they have. It is mainly because primarily they have the freedom to get more and more and seek for that newness to fulfill their needs. Freedom may take the form of financial ability to answer any request and live happily ever after with your new shoes, clothes or earrings you just got bored of dressing up with. Freedom regards ethical issues that rise up as well. Is it morally right to buy something new when you already have something and when someone else is starving so as to create what you have? Some may argue that everyone lives on their financial state and if they can afford it they should buy it. Why not give the money that you would spend to a donation box? Someone else might need it more and since there is a financial freedom, why not help the people next to us? On another note freedom comes in the form of upbringing. The ways we learn to think and act are shaped through our family upbringings. If you are allowed to have freedom on how much you spend it goes without question that you will always request more, simply because you have learned that spending and getting the newness you request is something normal. It is a mathematical equation where 1+1=2 and the more you add the more you increase the number. This also applies to relationships and friendships. We refuse to be thankful for the friends that have been there through thick and thin and instead we ask for more just because we take things for granted. Sorry, I got news for you, the more you pull a string the higher the possibility it will break. Do no harm but take no shit. We refuse to be thankful to have a relationship or a specific friendship because we are afraid enough that we could do better or that we do not deserve what we have. That is how we do not appreciate what we have, maybe because deep down we feel we don’t deserve it. But is this the case? [food for thought]

Why don’t we appreciate what is given?

I think I have the best answer to this question, “because people tend to be needy and greedy”. The huge mistake we do is that we take situations for granted and wait for others to give us more, which ends up to lack of appreciation of their value. For instance, as I am a student abroad, I have learned to appreciate the company of my grandma who is now 86 years old and I have realized that she might not be around for as long as I wish she could. I have learned to appreciate my mom’s food and concern (up to a certain extent). I have learned to appreciate the work both my parents have done to send me in one of the best universities in London. Those three examples are common instances that we tend to take for granted with an attitude that reads, “these people ought to be there, ought to do these”. Have you ever wondered that it is not what they “ought to do”, it is what they “want to do”. They want to be there for you, they want to cook for you, they want the best for you. This brings me back to the question: Why don’t you appreciate what you are offered, why are you not thankful for what others do for you?

I have learned not to ask for more unless people offer it by themselves. Why? Because I have learned to be grateful for what I am given and I refuse to take for granted others or myself. No one will be around forever, so take a moment and make a choice. Would you rather play around and think of it as something granted expressing neediness or will you eventually become autonomous and learn how to survive on your own? You do not need to ask for more when a satisfying number is given to you. Things are like gambling: the more you earn, the more you play, the less you end up walking out with. Grow up and learn how to live, learn how to balance your choices and how to become independent using the tools they provide you with.

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for”, thus said Zig Ziglar. Instead of being grumpy and needy, how about a change to become passionate and thankful? Be thankful for having a roof above you. Be thankful for the friend you have. Be thankful for the clothes you wear even if they are not new. Be thankful for the food you eat and the job you have. Be thankful for the education you are given and the life you have. Be thankful that everyday you wake up.

This is the newness people should seek to my eyes. It comes down to a new state of mind in which we need to learn to grow through gratitude and use what we are given to develop ourselves and our thinking more. People just stand there thinking how much more they can get when they rely on others’ backs and ignore the amount of work they can do on their own. No one is going to cook for you everyday, you need to learn to do it on your own. No one is going to do the laundry for you everyday, you need to learn to do it on your own. No one is going to drive you home everyday you need to figure it out on your own. No one is going to run behind, chasing you to complete your “to do list”, you need to learn to prioritise on your own. You need to learn how to function within the society we live in. So make a choice and decide who you want to be. Do you want to be grateful and appreciate the things you already have? Or do you want to keep relying on how others act and think so as to function in a mechanical society? Will you stick to Prada... or will you end up with Nada? The choice is yours, it always have been.

Talk to you soon! Xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

The daily mistake

I think I speak on behalf of the majority of our planet’s population when I say that all people make mistakes and so do we… End of the story! Juuust joking because what you are about to read is not a common mistake story but a collection of daily common mistakes people do and will keep doing only because they are acting on them unconsciously. We’ve all been in those places… forgetting our keys, our wallet, our phone, our charger or even waking up late ending to spill the coffee on us as we’re running to work. However, worst of them all is buying new shoes and wearing them without a plaster. All of these mistakes are simply common mistakes most of us do in our everyday life just because we forget or we don’t pay much attention. Sit back and relax, grab a coffee or breakfast and chill as I walk you through a story combining all of your daily mistakes.

Forgetting the wallet:

It’s Friday morning and as you wake up you think about your day plan. Someone invited you to his or her birthday party and of course you’re thinking of what to wear. So, you get dressed, eat your breakfast and run out at the Mall for window-shopping if not actual purchases. As you walk through the shops you just happen to fall in love with those shoes that would be ideal for the occasion. You go in and ask kindly for your size and there is not much more to say other than you end up in front of the tilt with empty hands because… your wallet was left at home. Snap! What now? You really want the shoes but you have no money on you! Okay… Okay… you take two deep breaths and ask for the lady to keep them for you until the afternoon. You drive back home get the wallet and eventually two hours later you purchase the shoes you fell in love with.  It happens to everyone to forget our wallet home. Why? Because we unconsciously believe that it should be where it always is… in our bag. However, sometimes we act in different ways, breaking the schema of the wallet being in the bag and as a result we end up with empty hands when we’re out. Don’t worry, it happens to everyone! Next time take some deep breaths and make sure it wasn’t stolen. Otherwise my friend you’re allowed to have a heart attack. Wallets are precious!

Forgetting the keys:

Continuing my story, as you run all this time to get your wallet and buy those lovely black platforms for your party, you leave the keys behind the door. This means that you have accidentally locked yourself outside until a saint comes and opens the door for you. I know the feeling when a sequence of shit happens and you just stand there thinking, “what have I ever done?” or “ how bad can a day be?” or even worse “should I lock myself inside for today, cause I don’t know what else might turn up?” Well… just remember that even your worse day only lasts 24 hours and you always have the chance to change it. Just choose something else to do or even better; choose to slow down the pace of your day and think before you leave the house. Anyway, forgetting your keys is not actually as bad as forgetting your wallet cause still you can walk around until you get in, have lunch and come back when someone is back home for you. None of these is a choice? You are really in bad luck indeed; try checking it out with a doctor or a psychic.  

Forgetting your phone:

Honestly, after all this imagine not having your mobile phone with you! Di-sa-ster. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology everyone in the world uses a phone. If you don’t have a phone it is harder to communicate, harder to get updated and harder to spend your time if you’re locked outside your place. Iphones and Androids have become the scourge of our century and it is just really bad to forget it at home. What if you need to call someone? What if there is an emergency? What if you’re just looking for your best friend to cry? What if you forgot your wallet, your keys and there is actually nothing left to do because your phone is at the same place with your keys? Seriously… how bad this is? Nevertheless, I need to take issue for a moment because forgetting your phone under some circumstances is actually beneficial. It allows you to take distance from the media and people and keep sometime to yourself. There is so much you can do without that device in your hands. I personally made that mistake once and it turned out to be really good. I left on a trip without my phone for three days and finally I got detoxed from the media, especially Instagram! Just to explain this further, my body had created an automatic mechanism on its own screaming “ I am bored and discussed of the crap uploaded by people”. I just needed a break from the phone and communication with others. As a consequence; I forgot my phone at home. So don’t freak out; everything happens for a reason!

Wearing the new shoes without a plaster:

What a common mistake, mostly for girls; wearing the new shoes you got before for the party without a plaster. Yes, I am rewinding back to our story! It is the last part so I promise it won’t take long, keep reading to see how the story ends! After you bought your shoes and finally got back inside at your place it is high time that you relax and get ready for the party! Halfway through the party you realize that your new shoes are so painful and you really cannot stand that pain. Of course this happens because you forgot to place a plaster on your foot. Two choices: 1) take them off and have fun (somehow) or 2) bleed for a good 2 more hours and die in bed when you get back. You choose!

Running with a coffee in your hand:

On another note, I feel there are two more common mistakes most of us do. Waking up late is an accident and happens when we’re all tired. Setting the alarm 5 minutes later than it should be is a huge mistake, especially if coffee is our breakfast and the energy we’re looking for our day. What happens is that we end up running with the coffee cap in our hand only to bump to someone on the go and spill everything on them and on us. Say goodbye to that Juicy Couture top dear… you just lost it. If you’re a boy your trousers need laundry ASAP. Friendly tip: wake up a bit earlier to have breakfast and coffee at home instead of running around the tube with the Starbucks cap in your hand because your boss is super strict on your timings. If you do need to run, order coffee at work! Simple as that and you get to keep your clothes and others’ clean for the day!

After laying out a couple of common everyday mistakes we all do at some point, I just want to say that all of them happen because people refuse to take their time to do stuff and rush themselves like they’re on a roller coaster. That is the huge mistake we do every single day in our life. It’s not about forgetting your wallet or keys, it is not about forgetting that phone or wearing the shoes without a plaster. It all comes to my final mistake, rushing our lives from nine to wine! Wake up 10 minutes earlier; take the time to check your bag before walking out of your home door; take the time to ensure that you are comfortable in what you’re wearing. I reassure you that those 10 minutes make a great difference and you don’t even notice it until you experience it. It’s your choice to make… either rush it and make mistakes or take your time and enjoy life. Whatever you do keep a balance and always remember that even in your worst day there is going to be a good element to keep. Call that a lesson or experience; call that a happy moment; or just call it a wonderful adventure to realizing you live in another universe! Talk to you soon, xx!

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Comes and goes in waves

A line from one of my favorite songs says, “ it comes and goes in waves, it always does”. At this point I am talking about the summer season, the season will all love and anticipate throughout the whole year. Waking up at 12pm with no stress, spending the day at the beach, eating fruits and vegetables… and ice cream, meeting people, falling in love and of course, going out at midnight only to return early in the morning. For us students, that’s the summer we are waiting for. For others it’s work, work, work (not Rihanna’s song) until August when they get fourteen days off work to have fun. For others, it’s just a season only too hot from the rest. You might be waiting the summer for the whole year, you might just hate it it’s here, the thing is though that every summer just comes and goes in waves. Time flies you can barely realize what you’re doing over the summer. I hope you understood already that this post is about summer and vacations of course. As I am Greek, I’ll lay out the top destinations for three types of vacations in Greece just to give you an idea on how cool it is and why you should visit.

A party place

We ALL have that one friend who just goes crazy over the summer and the only word they think about is party. Drinks, parties, beach bars and clubs, amazing views and many shots. Not going to lie, this is not always my cup of tea but I’ve been through that phase too. Greek people are really communicative and open to heart. This means it is really easy to get drunk and meet people especially when they know you ‘re Greek as well. It’s like we are all one family. Anyway, top party destinations over the summer include the islands of Mykonos (always popular for its partying situations and the free shots you get in bars), Ios, Spetses, Paros and Ikaria. For me, it all comes down to these places if all you’re looking for is a huge party. These five islands are different to each other in many many ways, however all of them serve you the same plate in a way. Plenty of choices offered during day and night. Mykonos and Ios are the places in which you get to ask yourself in the end of the day, “how much drinking can I handle from 11am to 7am the next morning eventually?” Beautiful beaches to visit, great sunset views and many places to party. Not going to lie again… Mykonos is more expensive than Ios in accommodation; food and sunbeds are charged in the beach. However, I recommend it for the experience, it’s always worth cause even if you don’t want to party all the time and you are looking for a combination, they do offer you this opportunity to chill as well.

Speaking of a combination of chilling and partying on a lower budget, I strongly suggest Spetses and Paros. They are both islands you can visit in which you do have the opportunity to spend the whole day at the beach without necessarily paying for sunbeds and shade and still choose between a variety of night- clubs and bars to party at night. From experience, I take full responsibility for saying that you’ll spend less than in Mykonos on food and accommodation and you will still have a great time, if you have the right group of friends who are on the same page as you on how they wish to spend their summer. For those visiting Paros if you are looking for a place to party over the day and listen to mainstream music, check out Pounta Beach, they often have special guest events worth going to! Finally, if you are looking for a more traditional place where camping, chilling and Greek parties happen, then Ikaria is your place to go. You’ll get to see another side of partying in a traditional Greek way, with Greek music and dances as well as taste traditional Greek food and wine in tavernas. Two disadvantages: everything goes super slow at the pace people on the island wish it to happen and you need a car. Other than that, you will have a great time and enjoy the Greek beauty at its maximum.

A romance place

You met the love of your life? Are you looking for 5 days of relaxation and romance? Are you looking for the best sunset view in the place you visit? Are you looking for a private catamaran sail tour around a variety of beaches? Although there are plenty of island to go with your “other half”, there is only one place to visit for all these stuff and what would that be, but Santorini. For me, it is THE Island to visit when you are in a relationship or looking for one. People say that you will either love this place or hate it, only because of its energy coming from the volcano and the fact there is no green on that island. I tend to call it an island of rocks. If you book your tickets and accommodations relatively early, it will not cost you as much if you search well. Food tends to be expensive sometimes so pay attention on the menus before entering a restaurant. Top bars to go include: KOO club, Enigma club and of course Two brothers bar, the oldest and most famous bar on the island. As far as beaches are concerned Kamari, Perivolos, Katharos, Eros and the Red beach are the must places to go to. Moreover, I would urge you to visit the volcano and go on a sailing tour although expensive, the money is worth being given. However, after a long day under the sun what would be better than a walk on the caldera from Fira towards Imerovigli for the best view of the sunset from different angles. Oh! Oh! I almost forgot to say that, top place for the most picturesque sunset view and walk around is Oia, do not miss it because those pictures will look amazing. To conclude, just to give you alternatives it is worth looking up for the islands of Andros, Milos and Amorgos if romance is choice for this summer!

A family place

Reaching the final vacation type, if you have a family with children, the abovementioned places would not be included on the top of your list necessarily. Personally, I used to travel with my family as a kid in islands a lot, hence I have three of them to recommend to families. Naxos is one of them. There is a quaint view from the op places of the island that allows you to appreciate the blue of the sea and the rest of the island. It is the ideal place for parents to take some time off from work and spend time with their kids at the beach. Agia Anna is the most common place that people book accommodations and go for a swim. It will sound funny 100% but try those fried potatoes in the restaurant you’ll choose to have lunch or dinner and do not forget to ask for their traditional cheese. You will absolutely love it.

Secondly, I would advise you to take your family to Lefkas or else Lefkada as we Greeks call it. There are now words to describe the beauty and hues of the blue waters that exist on that island. It is ideal for children because it is not expensive, you can access it by car only a couple of hours away from Athens and it offers places safe for families. For instance, restaurants with a small playground where you can enjoy your food but also keep an eye on the children playing next to you. Secondly, the beach bars do not charge you more for sunbeds and since you are a family, you will spend less there too. The time has come now for the third place, which to my opinion is Crete. It is a huge island, full of welcoming people who never stop offering food and drinks to try and there is a variety of choices on where to go and what to see. Each place in Crete is different and has a story to communicate to the tourists visiting. As it is far, it is worth flying there and renting a car on the island. Rethymno and Chania are of utmost importance places to visit when in Crete but if you are a family that can afford it, why not plan a holiday trip on three or four places to make the most out of this experience?

Places full of memories. Places to have fun. Places to relax. No matter where you are, if you are spending time with your favorite people, you will have a nice time. I chose to lay the destinations in that order because this is how summers work most of the times. You go somewhere, meet someone, spend time with them and out of the blue end up being with him or her. Call it a friend who became family, call it a guy/girl you fell in love with and is your summer crush, or just find which of the three applies more to the style of vacations you’re looking for. Nevertheless, please; please; please; do NOT forget to visit museums when travelling on an island. The knowledge you and possibly your kids will receive is really special and cannot be found anywhere else. This is mainly because you will get people from the island sharing their knowledge and stories with you and not random people who just read about it on a book! Again it is a matter of choice, it always is. What you choose to do defines the outcome of your actions up to a certain extent. Every summer has its own story… happy or sad it may be but it will always stay in your heart. Summer 2018 has just started and there are three months ahead to choose what you’ll do over the summer and the memories you want to create this year. Read more, travel more, laugh more and go on the loose. Eat less… you need that summer body for the beach dear, spend less (if you can), work less (if you can) but most of all think less and fill your batteries in for next year. Choose wisely where to go and have a great time! Enjoy the summer!

Talk to you later, xx!

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Life chose me and I choose life.

Do you think you can tell? Is it heaven or hell? Which one do we choose to live? Do we chose or is it just written somewhere in a book called “Destiny”and we don’t know where to find it? Do we choose life or life chooses us? I have been thinking recently how odd it is that sometimes we get to choose how to live and develop our daily lives and why other times life is just as it is for some people. Yes; I was inspired of the second season of 13 reasons why on this topic, do not laugh. I find this show dumb but extremely communicative at the same time. Dumb because it is a teenager show that develops very slowly but communicative too because of all the messages it tries to convey to ignorant people out there.  What you are about to read is a short analysis on major messages the show conveys and how important they are regarding the concept of choosing life and life choosing you.

[ALERT: If you haven’t watched 13 reasons why yet, this article may contain spoilers]

Approach no. 1: Life chose me

Indeed, we are chosen to live by a greater power and we realize that only by the time we are conscious enough. As we grow up we just realize that we were born by two parents we didn’t choose, in a family we did not choose either. Life chose us to be parts of this world and function in the society. Sometimes life chooses for us given the circumstances we live in. I talk about that as one of the major points made in “13 reasons why” new season is about Christianity and whether Hannah should be forgiven about committing suicide. This was based on the ground that she was given a life and she wasted it. This is a really tricky topic to handle, which bring us to think whether she was given a fixed life to live or it was just an opportunity for her to develop her own life. What if our life is just laid out for us; and it is not a matter of our own choices? In Hannah’s case, she did not chose a life in which she was raped; she did not chose a life in which everyone would view her as a material they could use for their own good.  In Hannah’s case… life chose for her. This is one of the main points the show wants to communicate. They want to communicate that even if we make specific choices, there will always be a part that we will not be able or have the power to change it. The point is however, do you let that define you and the rest of your life? This is a matter of how you choose life.

Approach no.2: I choose life

As I explained before, there may be aspects that we are not able to choose our life and instead it chooses for us. But the thing is, most of it is based on our own choices. The paths we follow have their roots in places that we chose to start from. In other words, you are given life and an opportunity to build it up as you want. You choose the friends and network groups that you want to live with and spend most of your time. You choose what food you want to eat and the weight you want to maintain. You choose your career path and whether you want to live a life working on a specific field. You choose when to do what. The rest is fate. Hannah chose to go to that party and chose to get in the hot tub. The rest was fate and a huge risk she had taken. Hannah chose to end her opportunity to live a life because she could not take the burden of it anymore. Does this mean she had no other solution; Of course not. She had the choice of talking to her parents no matter how hard it was and ask them to start over, in a new place and new people. It was her choice not to do that. One of the basic human rights speaks about freedom of choice and freedom of will and this is another message communicated through the show. We have the power to choose what we do and this is what defines us. Some choices are wrong and we are all bound to do mistakes and it’s acceptable. We choose how to live our life and the journeys/adventures we want to go through. After all it is all experiences that we get.

Anyway, regardless of whether we like that show or not it leads to conversations that we should have and we should think about those aspects of life more often. We make choices that move our life forward. Our past choices sometimes have the power to influence the present but should be able to define our future. We can always make a change and alter how our life moves towards specific places. I just want to end this short article by saying; you were given a life in a context of parents and places you did not choose. However, you can choose how you will develop and change your life. Path choices it is! Start from somewhere you want to and keep choosing places that you prefer to be. choose a life that you want and you are proud to live and do not let anyone ruin your chance to live how you want. People around us function differently but this does not mean that we are not able of changing the hell we live in to heaven. do you think you can tell? whether someone is living in heaven or hell? I bet you cannot, so take care of your business and the rest will be figured out. Right now… I personally choose to go and pack so that I can leave moody London and go to sunny Athens for summer.

Talk to you later! Xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Serious and Mysterious

One of the most hotly debated issues in human sciences is the nature versus nurture debate. Focusing on psychology, researchers of the field have long investigated the role of genes and heritability on personality traits and intelligence as a behavior. For many years twin studies and the study of behavioral genetics, have provided us with useful knowledge and evidence on the ways genetics influence certain behaviors, supporting both parts of the debate. This time I decided that I should present more seriously a topic, providing evidence from twin studies on heritability of personality traits and intelligence. To start with, it is important to define terms that will be used frequently. Behavioral genetics is the study trying to understand how environmental factors and genetics contribute to the manifestation of certain behaviors (Fuller, 1960). In other words, researching the relationship between external stimuli and genetic factors that cause someone to behave in a specific way. Furthermore, heritability refers to a specific phenotype relative to a time, place and environment. It is a parameter of a population, which indicates its genetic variation. Explaining this further, individuals inherit tendencies to express specific traits and behaviors, which may then be activated under specific circumstances. For example, Pedersen et al (1992) showed that general cognitive ability is heritable by 80% because genetic influence on cognitive ability in adults is greater than 50% found in early life. Focusing on heritability of personality traits, references on personality in the essay are based on the definition by Larsen and Buss (2014). They defined personality as the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that allows them interact with and adapt to their social surrounding and general environment .One important twin study indicating that individual personality differences rely on genetic factors up to a certain extent is Vukasovik and Bratko study (2015). The researchers conducted a metanalysis to estimate the intraclass correlation of family resemblance for personality between different family members. This study shows that there is a genetic effect underlying individual differences in personality because correlations for Twins reared apart and together. Secondly, correlations between twins raised together and apart were very similar, indicating that the environment has little contribution to similarities of personality. Hence, sharing the same family environment does not contribute to similarities of twins. It should be noted however that people change and adapt according to their environment. This was supported with the case of Judy with BII (Blood-Injury-Infection) phobia. Judy had a genetic predisposition from her family with BII phobia, which she expressed when she received external stimuli from her environment through a traumatic experience that led her to adapt and manifest this behavior.

Additionally, twin studies have also provided us with evidence on heritability of intelligence. Primarily, Carroll (1993) defined intelligence as “mental abilities that permit recognition, learning, memorizing and the ability to reason about particular forms of information”. One of the most significant twin studies showing that personality traits and mostly intelligence is up to an extent heritable is Bouchard et al Minnesota study (1990). The aim was to investigate the role of genes in intelligence using 100 pairs of twins from a variety of cultural background. The participants went through a standardized intelligence test (WAIS scale) to measure IQ. The study showed that a number of personality traits were substantially affected by genes with >50% of variability. Moreover, it showed that genetic factors account for 70% of the variance in IQ with the rest 30% lying on epigenetic factors that influence such behaviors. However, it is important to say that the study suffers from certain limitations as correlations do not establish a cause-effect relationship and there is no control of environmental factors. Hence, the results could be different if environmental factors were controlled. Although there is evidence supporting that personality traits and intelligence can be heritable up to a certain extent, we should also bear in mind that people adapt to their environments accordingly, in order to survive. It is challenging to generalize from twin studies because most of the times they are restricted in numbers or in a specific population. Scar and Weinberg conducted a Twin adoption study which indicated that instead of focusing on either parts of the debate, researchers should focus on an interactionist approach, meaning the extend one influences the other (environment- genetics). So next time you’re wondering why you are so different from your brother/sister or... smarter, take 10 minutes and research on heritability and genetics.

Talk to you later, xx! -Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Exam mood: Off

Dear university students… this time of the year has come. Summer on its way but we are stuck just before the start of May (what a rhyme…). Anyway, exam period around the corner and I seriously don’t even remember how to hold a pen, time myself, take notes before the exam or even pull myself out of bed to study. Terrible isn’t it? I bet I am not the only one here questioning why exams should exist. Well Of course we need tests and exams but ladies and gents please, everything would be so much easier through assignments only. Don’t you agree? I hope you do, otherwise it is very worrying. Stress levels start to rise as time flies and my head just refuses to enter the exam mood on. Where do I start? How do I revise? What do I write on that paper? Well, this is a story trying to solve these questions before exam anxiety kicks on 100% and we lose our mind. Sit back and enjoy the analysis.

Question 1: Where do I start?

Major alert!!!Start by checking when your exam is… you may be surprised to find out it is less than a week away and you lost count in your Easter holidays. In case you are wondering, no it’s not what happened to me but it happens to other people. Checking the calendar and noting down dates helps you plan and organize ahead how much you need to study during the day. For example, if you have a whole week for an exam checking the calendar will help you plan how many pages you need to go through/ exercises you need to solve each day to cover the curriculum for the exam. Art students are a major exception because they work all year long and produce portfolios; hence their whole degree life is an exam. That explains why architecture is considered to be the hardest degree worldwide, because it simply requires the ability to survive through exams on a daily basis for at least four consecutive years. Hard times, god bless the art students. Moreover, after you check your calendar, check what exactly it is that you need to study for the exam. Is it a seen exam? Meaning that you get to see the questions and prepare the essays beforehand? Is it an unseen exam but you got past papers? Revise according to the past papers. Is it that you just need to revise 2 or 3 topics and answer questions? Pick the topics you feel comfortable with and start your revision. Having done all this, make yourself a huge mug of coffee the next morning and set 1 or 12 alarms to wake up and study. That’s how you make a great start.

Question 2: How do I revise?

Revision? What’s revision? However, the biggest question is: HOW DO I REVISE? Do I choose books? Lecture notes and slides? Power-point presentations? Journals? Papers? Oh god… what a mess. Hang on a sec because you’ll need bits and pieces from everything. When I say everything I mean literally everything and anything. If for example you have a seen psychology exam with four questions you prepare for all four questions to make sure you are not going to fail if 3 out of 4 appear in the exam. Anyway, take a couple of A4 plain white papers and write the essay question on top. Then beneath it collect all the useful information and knowledge coming from lecture notes, slides, books and journals you read through the year and online sources you will research. In that way you know what goes where. Once you have collected all these, draw an outline and clear up the notes with specific examples and arguments that go underneath the question. That’s it. I am joking, it is not that easy because then you need to memorize everything before the exam. Perform it in front of a mirror? Read it out loud? Rewrite it in a form of an essay? It’s really your choice to work on your memory and revise before the exam. Nevertheless, take my advice and do not reread the notes 10 minutes before the exam… this will lead to anxiety levels being increased and you blacking out when you get in the room, which definitely is something you do not want J. Read them the night before the exam when you’re chilling in bed.

Question 3: What do I write on that paper?

Okay… this might be the most crucial question of all. I am not sure what to say but I do have a specific technique to write exams and in particular essays because that is what I am tested on (hehe). Step one…make sure you have your personal watch to time yourself throughout the whole exam. Step two… take the time and read the entire question bank on the paper. This will help you have an overview of what is asked and what you need to do in your exam. Therefore, plan how much time you will need for each question. Step 3… before you answer each question write down the outline you revised on a blank/ draft page and all the information you can remember including quotes from other papers. This is very important; as you will save time and double check in the end that everything is there. Additionally, it saves you from forgetting something you really wanted to mention in the paper and may give you a higher grade. I am saying that because blanking out from anxiety is the most common thing to happen during an exam and we only realize it afterwards. Step 4… make sure you develop your ideas thoroughly as if you are explaining an argument to a five year old. Simple terms follow the P-E-E, presentation-explanation-example. In other words, present your argument, explain it and provide an example of a quote to support it. That’s how you are 90% likely to write a good essay. Finally, step 5… make sure you allow yourself ten minutes towards the end of the examination to double check your answers. Writing in hand is tricky sometimes and you may miss out words as you rush to write everything down causing the examiner to think you are just talking nonsense. In case you are curious, yes this has happened to me… thankfully during a mock exam.

Anyway, to conclude my argument turning that exam mood on is difficult, barbaric and not ideal after Easter holidays because all we want is summer to come and get sunbathed. However, Uni life is fixed and exams are included so yeah I guess… bad luck? Use your vacations as motivation or use that scholarship you really want as a motivation. You get to choose what motivates you, you get to choose what to revise and how to revise but most of all you get to choose what to write and get that grade you wanted. It might be a pass you needed or it might be an A you’re going for. Choose wisely!

Talk to you later! Xx -Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Closure

 I hear people talking around me about difficult situations and the importance of having closure. It is insane and it drives you crazy not having closure... holding back to stuff running around your head, instead of getting them in one the boxes and back on the shelf. Because let’s admit it, we all have our own memory library in our heads and it is normal. What you are about to read below is a story on closure and its importance in situations we face every day. Ending relationships, moving out, dropping out on a course you hate… literally anything that may be bothering you. 

Closure is important for many reasons, but mostly because you know were to go when it comes. There is only one way and that way is forward. Without closure you are just holding back to the past, you forget to live today and you are just waiting to see what will happen in the future. I’ve written an entry before on time and how important it is to appreciate time in our lives. Closure is one of the things that we need in order to save energy and time. Let me explain this further. We have the example of a relationship, which for one or another reason just stops without any of the two parties making it clear whether it has ended or not. “It is just not working”, “It’s a very bad timing”, “we are so far away from one another”. This is when you are trying to live in today’s time and face the music. But still… this is not closure for anyone. You keep holding on to the idea “this might work one day”, “we will find the right timing”, “we will travel more to see each other”. And this is when you live in the future not in today’s time. Holding on to the past and living in the possibility of the next acquaintance in the future. Wasting time. Wasting energy on something that is not realistic. Burning up to the idea of “what if…” You know how this ends? One of the two is living their life normally whilst the other is just in pain. It is a matter of choice not letting go, but we don’t chose who to fall for, do we?

Closure on the other hand is when clarity and honesty comes up. Having the guts to turn up and tell the truth about the situation you are trying to end. This is closure, whether this comes to a job, a relationship or anything else on which you might be holding back. People with severe anxiety disorders often develop health problems because they cannot forget their past experiences causing them anxiety. For instance, you live in a house, which hasn’t given you the best memories and as a result causes you distress whenever you think about it. Deciding to move out of it is closure to this specific example. Selling it to someone else is closure, simply because it limits your chances of going back to it and reviving the bad memories and unpleasant experiences you ‘ve had. Playing tough is nothing. We compress feelings and emotions to present an image we may not even be able to support at the end of the day. No matter how hard it is it’s better to have closure in difficult situations rather than waiting. A waiting game means nothing, all games end sometime. It’s fun in the meantime but the aftertaste is mostly bitter. Yes, even in monopoly and twister. It’s so much fun in the meantime but when it ends you’re always like “meh... what now? Do we go for another round or jump into bed?” Sleeping can be fun sometimes too!

Anyway to wrap up what I’m saying, closure equals an end of a chapter. Think your life as a book with many, many chapters. Every chapter needs to close before you move on to the next in order to understand the flow of the story. If you take a step back and think about it, it is not random that people say, “pick it up and start a new chapter” every December. It is the casual cliché that years are referred to as books. “Write a good one” is the most common phrase during Christmas time or oh oh classic one “ chapter one of 12”. But the problem is that most of the times the last chapter has not yet ended you know. Traces from the past will keep buggering your writing process. You know why; Because of choices. Making choices is very hard because they define the past memories, the memories you are creating at the moment and the one you are about to create in the future. How to solve it though? Seek for closure in what bothers you. Make a choice that will actually change your next chapter.

 Talk to you later! Xx

 -Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Fight or Flight

I know I haven’t been posting as rarely as I said I would but you know, we all got stuff to do…busy here… busy there. Anyway I have been thinking lately how fear blocks us from living our lives, as we should. Fight or flight? Stay and fight or run away? I personally tend to run away when I am emotionally stressed, not because I am afraid particularly but mainly because I like to distance myself from things and view them more clearly. There is a whole realm underlying my choice to run or your choice to fight. Of course it all depends to the circumstances as well. Okay, I am currently on a plane to Geneva after which I’ll get on a plane to New York. My feelings are mixed with excitement for the trip and fear of the journey. At this moment I just keep questioning why time machines are not yet invented? Or why don’t I have superpowers and with a snap of a finger travel around the world. Let’s be realists, most of us would be anxious in the thought of flying on air for 8 hours… This is an analysis story in which I wish to explain why sometimes we need to stay and fight against our fears or why sometimes run away from them can actually prove worth.

 Most of my friends are like “ come on! It’s going to be great and you’ll enjoy it and you’ll see it will go by fast” and so on. I’m like… “urm I am just terrified with the fact I’ll be so far from the ground”.  Ladies and gents, although I travel a lot with planes, they are not my cup of tea. Anyway, I think it is obvious I was rethinking about this trip because of my fear for planes. In the end of the day I just said “F*ck it, I’ll go with the flow it is a chance of a lifetime to travel from Greece to New York”. This example explains my decision to fight my fear, challenge myself and discover another part of my limits when it comes to anxiety. Fighting against our fears is not an easy task but it is necessary sometimes as it blocks us from living our lives. Taking healthy risks won’t do harm. It is one thing to take a chance and travel somewhere else but another thing to fight against a thief for instance. What are the odds of a plane crash? Just a few. What are the odds of the thief stubbing you? So, so many.  This is mainly because the thief is as afraid as you are because of the chance to get caught. Hence, what happens is a self-defense mechanism when you try to resist, to protect themselves from getting caught. Therefore, next time they try to steal your phone on the street, just give it straight away, there is no room to fight there.

Having explained the fight mechanism I’ll move on to explain the flight mechanism, which is my favorite not gonna lie. Emotions are a very complex part because they rely both on biological and cognitive explanations. Biologically they are related to hormones and the structure of the body whilst with cognition they mostly hold on the individual emotional intelligence of each and every person.  From this it is easy to understand that emotions and reactions are different to everyone just as unique each person is. Richard Lazarus first defined the cognitive appraisal theory of emotions. He purported that a situation is considered threatening or stressful depending on personal perception of the event or conditions by the person who is in that situation. He explained that cognitive appraisal processes play a major role in how a person reacts in different situations. A person would react with anger, guilt or joy depending on how he sees a given situation. Considering this, cognitive appraisal can be defined as the process by which a person categorizes a situation and its aspects in relation to whether it is potentially threatening or not.

 Emotions are in fact one of the factors distinguishing people because some of us don’t have the strength to accept emotions and reveal them or some people are very upfront and reveal their emotions no matter what. Going back to the flight mechanism, it occurs when the emotion of fear is so great, our body decides to run away from the incident occurring. In the robbery example I gave before, adrenaline would be very high in percentage at that moment to help the person overcome their fear and resist to the thief. On the other hand, deciding to run as fast as they can away from the thief and avoid being robbed is the flight mechanism, which again requires for adrenaline levels in our body to be high. Or In the case of my trip, a flight reaction would be to decline the offer and not travel to New York because of my fear of airplanes.

 It’s one way or another, you either choose to stay and fight against your fears and overcome it with other emotions or… run away from it. Again, it all depends on the circumstances and incidents but the kind of person face them as well. In other words, Personality differences are very important mainly because of appraisal of a situation (how they perceive it to be) and hence, how they respond to it. Fighting against your fears sometimes allows for freedom and opportunity to challenge and develop yourself further. Backing up in situations blocks us from gaining experiences and acquiring more knowledge about our own self and the world around us. On the other hand, choosing to distance ourselves from situations that are pathetic, depressing or simple dangerous is not a bad call. We don’t always need to challenge ourselves, sometimes it is just better to hold back and secure our emotions and life overall. Everyone is different. We all respond to stimuli differently and this is what makes us unique people, having different experiences and making different choices. So next time… Which path will you choose? Fight or flight?

Talk to you later! xx -Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Ashes and Dust 

People are defined by their choices. Right or wrong; decisions we make are the ones showing who we are. Career choices, hobbies, food, friends, relationships, everything. Nothing happens for a reason, we drive everything with our choices. Let’s be realists if you hadn’t got a cup of coffee without a lid the chances of it getting spilled on you would be less. If you hadn’t given your 100% to people who did not deserve it, perhaps you could have protected yourself. This is a story on motivation and decision-making. People often wonder what is it that drives us to choose specific paths. How do we control our thoughts? Emotions? Decisions? Can we? Lets find out.

 I was recently in a lecture in which our lecturer spoke about motivation and decision -making. During 2:30hours in the theater I was constantly thinking how true her claims were and how I’ve never thought before that there are so many factors leading us to make specific choices. Take a moment and think where does the motivation to act occur? Are there internal factors? Of course they are. Are there external factors? Damn sure they are. It all depends on the circumstances that make us choose and act. By motivation psychologists mean “a goal- oriented process that makes a person move toward a goal”. We all have personal goals in our lives let’s admit it. Whether this means to set a goal and lose weight or even finish mandatory readings for university. Yes the former is more realistic sometimes because the later is inextricably linked to procrastination raising a massive wall between our goal and us. Okay lets stick to one of the two examples, which will be… weight loss! (Yes it is my favorite).

 Weight loss it is! There are two types of motivation namely intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is based on internal reasons we personally believe that changing our body and reducing our weight, will lead to a positive change in our life. For instance, one may be internally motivated to lose weight in order to satisfy their need of belonging and love. However, pay attention because this is not true for everyone. Others may have an internal need to lose weight to boost their psychological well- being and self-esteem. On the contrary extrinsic motivation is any environmental/ external cause that leads us to express a particular behavior. For instance, example of weight loss, an example of extrinsic motivation would be losing weight because of lack of money leading to malnutrition and as a consequence weight loss. Although it is not motivation per se it is a factor obliging people to eat less in order to save up money. As a result their weight is reduced. Another external factor example, regards health issues and the need to feel secure. People lose weight in order to improve their health and survive. Hence, it is not only about aesthetics and looking good, some people have the need to lose weight in order to live more.

 So, why do we choose to do what we do? There is a number of factors leading our decisions including social factors, emotions, cognition and omission bias, which I will explain further on. Social factors are stereotypes, norms, values and ideas that are generally held from the society and unconsciously guide our decision. For example, people decide to remain silent when in public transport and not sing out loud or read out loud in the train. Why? Well… because unconsciously we know that this is not something that people do in the tube, so they decide to remain silent.

 Furthermore, emotions and cognition (brain areas) are crucial factors in our decision -making processes. Psychologists and neuroscientists have long been discussing what is it that makes some people change their decisions on the spot. Take the example of two people in an argument. One of them will decide to leave the room eventually whilst the other one will remain there crying. Individual A who is leaving the room may decided to do so in order to deal with his/her anger without showing it further. On the other hand, individual B bursts into tears because they decide that this is the best way to take their feelings out. Thus, we have two people in the same situation making different decisions. That ladies and gents is all the work of emotions! Bearing in mind that emotions differ from individual to individual (due to hormones), not all people react the same way. Hormones and emotions are all controlled and released through signals in specific brain areas. In other words, your brain is responsible for everything that takes part J .

 Finally, we have omission bias –that is not taking action when something is perceived to be dangerous or risky. With an evolutionary explanation, people make decisions that ensure their survival in the long run. Hence when an action is thought to challenge their survival, people avoid making decisions associated with it. If someone gave you a million dollars but you knew you there was 50% chance to die taking them, would you accept the offer? Sure as hell you won’t, or if you did you are a risky person and the exception to the rule. It’s good to be an exception, not going to lie but oh well let’s move on. To make this concept simple, omission bias kicks in an ambiguous situation showing us unconsciously what is a bad decision.

 To sum up my points, decision- making and motivation can really be a complex issue but we don’t take time to think about it? Do we? I guess we don’t have the time to trouble ourselves on why we are/ are not motivated about specific stuff. On another note though, whether motivation to do something is intrinsic or extrinsic we make decisions that sure will prove to be worth and eventually the gains overweight the losses. It is hard to make a decision but really… is it that hard or we just make it hard on our own? Because I think, if we take a step back and think of why we really take action, then we’ll find that the only problem is we don’t accept that we do what we do to get personally satisfied. Anyway, having said all these I might as well go work on my psychology essay, which is due soon!

 Talk to you later! Xx

  -Aggelina Tsilimpari

[chiliwriting]

Ripped and Stripped

Fixed and unbroken. Broken and unfixed. Reverse and combine the words as you wish; nothing changes in reality. We challenge ourselves; we break down, we get fixed and then stand up again. Do you have the strength? Stand up. Do you not have the strength? Bad news, you remain unfixed. Nothing but a pair of broken strings and you can’t really play on broken strings; can you? Toxic friendships; Toxic relationships; Toxic examinations devastating you; Create a line up and put yourself somewhere there too. The chances of getting slapped are relatively high every day because we can’t control everything. A favorite song’s lyrics read: What do you do when a chapter ends? Do you close the book and never read it again? The answer is no, especially when it comes to education and exams. As students of life we experience exams and tests everyday formally and informally. So, the following story is dedicated on the use of exams and challenges, which I feel troubles many people at my age (or younger people) from time to time.

[Warning: If you are not a student, I guess you just need to leave the page or read the story and reflect! I would go by the second one; reflections always reveal information about you.]

 Formal examinations

 Formal examinations come through the official assessment we face in school and university. When I was back in school doing the IB and preparing for my final exams, it was the most stressful experience I’ve had in my life. However, two years later I can see all the positive impacts this program has in my university preparation. Honestly, it has prepared me so well to enter university; I no longer face the same struggles in studying and writing exams as I did previously. Anyway, through formal exams by which I mean essays, presentations and actual exams we test ourselves on the knowledge and understanding we get through our education. You know as kids when we always complain about teachers giving us tests everyday and exams forcing us to study. Yes, along with more than a million kids in the world I was the grumpy one moaning all the time about how awful it is to study. One of the funniest lines I gave my mom was “ this math book is like a doughnut. Beautiful on the outside but it has a giant whole in the inside”. I never liked Maths hence, why I thought the book has nothing to offer me. But! Now I actually know that if I didn’t have this amazing math teacher in my IB course, I would never had learnt Maths. After every single chapter we wrote a test. Literally, I mean it, every single one of them (24 in total). At the end of the day I walked into my final exams and got a very decent grade because through the smaller tests we did in class, which helped me get used to the process and thinking of the exercises. Hey… at least now I know what calculus and vectors are, which I will never use in my life but anyway. Formal exams help us get familiar and understand concepts and knowledge that we need to develop our cognition. I may not use these concepts in my everyday life but at least I’ve got my brain developed. I smell a win-win situation here…

Informal examinations

Anyway, ladies and gents this section is about personal challenges we set to ourselves. And I mean all of the challenges such as… “Drink one shot of vodka and one of whiskey simultaneously” or even better “30-day squat challenge at the gym”. Oh please…  challenge accepted for both! I gave these two examples on purpose, because I want to show that although they may contradict each other they reveal a lot about someone’s personality. First one shows someone who genuinely loves to be challenged on every level and tries to reflect that by ruining both flavors of these drinks and have them simultaneously. Seriously? Vodka with whiskey? That is a bomb thrown straight in your stomach. 3-2-1: exploded and I can give you half an hour until you’ll be singing “all the single ladies”. You either do it to test if you can handle such a cocktail or because someone else challenged you and you want to show that you are not weak.  Or my friend, It’s just that you do it for fun because why not? You’re crazy enough. On the contrary, the second challenge shows determination and willingness of someone to compete with others. Take the challenge and in the end it’s only good for you, not the people you’re competing against. Under this scope, you test yourself on how much you get out of what you do. You joined the gym either way it’s just that those challenges give you even more motivation to prove to yourself the reason you joined the gym is because you are an athletic person. Can you complete a 30-day challenge or you’ll just give up somewhere in between?  Do you have the courage to end up doing 500 squats from 5 when you started? You test your strength, determination and mind power. See? I told you meditation is not the only way to prove you’ve got strength inside!

Summer Sanders said something very right and I would like to end my post with this quote: To be a champion, you have to see the big picture. It's not about winning and losing; it's about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It's about embracing the pain that you'll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge. Whether this is a formal examination make sure you get nervous about it, make sure you try your best and study as hard as you need to achieve your goal, make sure you get in the room and give your 100%. Even if you fail, you will know that at least you gave your everything and there was nothing else to be done because if you never try your full capacity you’ll always remain with that questionà what would be like if…? Even if it comes to an informal examination/ challenge then again, give your everything because every time you have something new to discover for yourself and make meaning from your acts. Analyse them, see what went right or wrong and improve them for your next challenge. My dear… It’s your choice! Choose your path and follow it with blind eyes. Only then you’ll be able to say that people are defined by their choices. Wherever these take you they’re yours and reflect who you are. 

Talk to you later! Xx

 -Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Have a good cry!

 Are you feeling blue today? Do you want to cry? Come on, tell the truth to yourself... what does your body whisper to you? Many people wonder why do we cry Or why don’t we cry when we should? Have you ever come across someone who did not cry in an important funeral? It has happened to me, (not going to lie) but I had my reasons. Or even better, have you ever come across someone who sees puppies down the street and bursts into tears? Well, that’s not me but I’ve seen people getting emotional the minute their eyes cross a dog’s (not going to lie either). Psychologists have been investigating for a long time why some people cry more than others and in general why it is beneficial for us to cry. Note however that there are multiple factors leading to us crying the hell out or remain with a blank face in a sensitive, emotional situation. I do hope you have understood up to now that this is more like a scientific explanation on why we cry and why it’s good to… have a good cry.

 Anyway, where should I start; I’ll bring up the classic but true assumption that “Women cry a lot more than men”. It’s a fact that all people cry let alone their gender so do me a favor and trust no one who ever says: I never cry, I’m tough as a rock, because it’s the biggest lie they can tell. Everyone cries at one point, it’s natural and it’s just that some people cry a lot more than others. In fact, women cry an average of 5.3 times a month comparing to 1.3 times men cry according to a research conducted in the University of Pittsburgh. If you are seeking for a biological explanation go ahead and search about hormones. For example, men have higher testosterone levels (which inhibits cry) whilst women have higher Prolactin levels (which promotes cry). As you know, women experience menstrual cycle as well, which automatically drives their hormone system insane, making them go “koo -koo” sometimes, being more sensitive and emotional. Hence, why they may cry more. By the way, we know men always argue about putting up with our sensitivities around this period and how high their patience is but hey… We are a key to reproduction, so back up. Plus, we put a lot more up when you guys experience your “period”, so back up again. But, hang on a sec! You’ll tell me (and you’ll be right), crying is one of the things that depend on circumstances. Just to ensure we are on the same page, I am not saying men that cry less, don’t have emotions. Also, this doesn’t mean that in a very tough and sensitive situation men don’t cry as much as women do. It means that according to the context, incident and other reasons, some people are more able to hold their feelings instead of crying or on the contrary, express them to feel better. This is linked to emotional intelligence and the capacity of someone to process such information.

 On another note, if you are seeking for a more sociocultural explanation go ahead and research on the role of culture on crying. Studies have shown that cultural norms on emotional expression are substantial factors as to why women cry more than men. For example, a study from the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research showed that people living in wealthier countries are prone to cry more (which is relatively strange because they don’t have much to cry about), than people in poor countries because cultural norms restrict their emotional expression. This is a very tricky part because culture is a complex concept to define. There are specific values in every country that promote or inhibit our expression. Countries with higher promotion of freedom of expression (i.e. US, Sweden) view cry as a natural reaction to emotional situations whilst more oppressed cultures view it as a strange reaction. If you step back and think for a second, cultural norms shed light to the way societies should work, indicating what is acceptable and what is not. It’s simple stuff; how we function as people, as entities, as nations majorly derives from the cultural values and norms taught to us.

 Great! Now that I have given you the heads up on why people cry more or less according to biological and cultural differences, I’ll explain to you why it is good to cry and there is nothing to be ashamed of. I’ll make the start and admit it, I cry a lot. Not because it’s my favorite hobby or I’ve got nothing else to do… just because I listen to my body and when I need to cry, I’d rather do it than punch someone. I strongly believe that as you listen to your body on what you crave eating, you should listen to your body on what to feel. If you feel sad, give it a go and cry because you might feel a hundred times better than before. If you feel like you are happy and want to go out, be my guest. Dress up yourself, call one or twelve friends and go for a drink. Alternatively, if no one is available, go for a walk.

 With all being said, tears function as catharsis in your soul. They have a very powerful, therapeutic role that assists in emotional healing; and I am not talking about sadness solely. Have you ever wondered why you cry when you are angry? We oppress so many feelings with anger such as “ I’ll keep my mouth shut because the argument won’t end nicely” or “ I either cry and shout or punch them in the face” that make us cry to get those feelings out. In other words, your body finds a natural way of letting go without regretting it. There has been a counter argument however with a 60% of people claiming that their mood was worsened after crying. Want to know why? Because it is not only about why you cry, it’s where you cry and in front of whom as well. When you cry in front of someone their opinion matters to you, it’s more likely afterwards you’ll feel ashamed of your reaction or that you feel bad for them watching you being a softie. On the other hand, when you just sit and cry on your own with music and a cup of hot coffee, you get everything out in silence and feel better afterwards. Well, best place to cry is in bed watching Netflix with hot chocolate. It’s warm, Netflix doesn’t judge and cheers you up, plus hot chocolate is always good for your soul. Problem solved ladies and gents!

 To make my point clear, you see… the trouble with us people is that we care so much about what other people think and say about us that we forget who we are. If you want to cry, go ahead. People judge all the time so at least give them something good to comment on. Have a good cry and be shameless about it. Don’t cry a river, flood the room or fill a bucket up with tears. Keep it simple get your feelings out and then go for a run. You’ll feel much better physically and mentally.

  Talk to you later! Xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Trainspotting Career

To all workers out there, do you ever wake up thinking, “this is not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life”? To all university students out there, do you ever wake up thinking, “why on earth did I choose this degree”? To all school students out there, do you ever wake up thinking, “ Is this career pathway I’m choosing the right one”? All sorts of questions cross our minds when it’s high time to choose our career pathway. So, I figured it would be a good call to post a story on why I chose to study Education aiming to become a Psychology teacher in the future. If you are already working, read it for fun, I won’t explain the story of my life; I’m only 19. If you are a university student read it to identify with my struggles, it will make you feel better. If you are a school student read it because it might change your mind about your application. Ready? Set? Leggo!

 I am currently a second year student in London. My degree is called Education Studies and is basically a broad degree on teaching. It includes philosophy, sociology, explanations of educational issues troubling the world and psychology (my favorite to be honest). How did I end up choosing my degree? I was a student of the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) back in school, which was a revelation for me. I entered the program wanting to do an Art degree. I moved on to wanting to become a psychologist and look where I stand now, doing an education degree on how to teach. Why am I telling you this? Because I think you can choose whatever you want to be. You are free to be whatever you choose as long as it satisfies you, as long as you wake up in the morning willing and happy to work. For instance, an art degree was not enough for me; I had the talent but not the passion. A clear psychology degree was not enough for me; I loved analyzing problems and giving advice but couldn’t figure out why I really wanted to do it. That is why I chose to do an education degree.  You see… I am one of those people who believe that education changes people. My goal is to become a psychology teacher in an IB school (an ambitious career prospect indeed). I chose it because I knew in that way I was able to combine my passion for psychology and analysis whilst teaching others about it and showing them what it really is to study psychology (something my teacher didn’t do back in school. Sad times).

 So after my mini-introduction of my studies, the big question is “how do you choose your career pathway”? We all know it’s hard at your 16 or 18 years old to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. But one thing you know is what you are good at. Sometimes, we tend to like what we are good at. Literally, I hated Maths because I wasn’t good at it, hence why I am not studying something relevant. However, some other times we may be good at something but don’t really see ourselves in following it as a career path. Start with a broader idea like: are you good in reading, writing, analyzing and researching? Hmm... more likely to follow a humanities degree. Are you good in Math, physics and sciences? Well, check your science degree options. Are you good in arts and media? Art degrees, animation, design are all waiting for you to explore them. Are you bad at all these, but have a high language comprehension competence? Teaching a language is important and needed too. All sorts of degrees are needed in the world we live, simply because of globalization. It is this rapid innovation and advancement leading to political, social and economic changes all around the world that stresses students on how to enter the workforce. Everything is up to question now. What skills do I need to succeed? What credentials do I need? We have people teaching children for the economy, for the satisfaction of politicians and for the competition existing in the society. Students are called to decide on their career prospects ten years ahead. Either way, what I am trying to say is whatever you choose to do take pride in it and don’t forget it’s not the end of the world. You will join the workforce sooner than you think, just make sure you choose something you are happy with. You may end up doing something else after ten or twenty years. Choose something you like and you have potentials of being good at otherwise you what’s the point of not enjoying what you do?

 By the way, even if you are forced to do something try to see the bright side of it. I acknowledge that some people study or follow a career as a continuation of their parents work in previous years like doctors or lawyers for example. In that case friends, you need to choose. You either see the bright side of the story and research more on what it makes this job fascinating for you or… distance yourself from the idea of following your parents’ footsteps. I know your thinking “what If I disappoint them though”? No. Parents are happy when you are happy so by telling them “dear mom, dad… I don’t want to take over your career” there is absolutely nothing wrong and you are free. The degree you choose is one you’ll be studying for three or more consecutive years and it is important that you like it and are motivated in reading and writing exams on it. I repeat, writing exams on it! Put some thought on it, it only takes a few minutes. Go off Facebook for a while and think of your future.

 Anyway because I have a degree to work on as well (fun times hehe!) I need to draw my conclusions.  I wish to conclude with an explanation of my title at that point. I named this article trainspotting career for the reason it leaves marks on your life. Trainspotting is a term used for heroin addicts indicating the dark spots left from the needles on their hands often in the form of a train line. This… is what your degree and your career will leave on you. A mark. Therefore quoting from a famous movie, “Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a big television; choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose your future. Choose life”.

Talk to you later! xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Dancer? Puppet? Or Human?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZdjT1472Y

Are you a human? Are you a dancer? Or are you a puppet? I know you can’t really answer this question if you don’t know what is entailed within each category. Perhaps you are all three; perhaps you are neither of three. Perhaps you’ve once been something of these; perhaps you’ve ever been any of these. What defines a human is a pretty complex issue troubling philosophers for a long time, but yet I am not here to argue on philosophical matters. Instead I am here to tell just another story. Excuse me at this point but I will stop mumbling and questioning and I will layout what each category suggests. In the previous blog, I said I would talk about human relationships. I promised you’d see everything in this blog so here we go.

[Caution! Feel free to identify or disagree with any of the following statements, it will be my pleasure].

 The dancer category

All right, lets see… I named this category “The dancer category” for one simple reason: To my mind, as a sport dance involves passion, strength, commitment, willingness, creativity, independence and consciousness. Quoting Albert Einstein he said that, “ Dancers are the athletes of God”. Wonder why? You shouldn’t. I’m open to interpretations on this quote however; I believe that they are considered the athletes of God because they need a combination of personality traits allowing them to deal with any challenge they face. Don’t they say, “face the music”? Well see… with any problem dancers put music on and simply dance to it. People in this category are passionate about work, about others, about life and anything that it involves. They pull up their whole mental and physical strength to solve any issue they face. They are committed and willing to keep trying and never give up when a move is not on. They express their selves creatively because they fail to express it better with words. This of course doesn’t mean that they cannot communicate verbally. Oh no no! even better, they have the ability to do both, simply because they have already achieved to do it with body language. They are independent in their communication, in their life and in their dancing. But most importantly dancers are conscious. They know what they want, they know how to express it. The nerve they pull when dancing, their vibe and energy coming out is exactly what they want it to be. Now is the time you need to stop and think, are you a dancer? Have you ever been a dancer? Or do you let other people dance you around?

The puppet category

If you let other people dance you around then you belong right here, in the puppet category. I am not going to be savage because we’ve all been in the shoes of a puppet. The characteristics of people in this category are kindness, trusting others relatively quickly, and sensitivity at most times. Oh and almost forgot, caring for others even if they’re not worth. There is no person who hasn’t been played as a puppet at one point in their life. It’s just that some of us are played up to a certain extent until we realize it and end it whilst, others don’t really care if they’re played or not. Not going to lie, most of people who are sensitive (including me) don’t realize it fast but it happens! Happens when you fall for someone, happens when a friend of yours is just sneaky, happens when you over-care and over-trust people around you. It happens when you only try to see the good pieces of the puzzle. I do believe that people are puzzles; you just need to find the right piece for you. We all belong in this category at some point in our life and you want to know why? Because we are humans. So read the next paragraph to find out the real category I’m referring to in this post.

The Human category

Humans. Such a heavy word. So much meaning hidden behind it that we don’t often (or never) think about what it is to be a human. I think the only feature that can really distinguish humans from other animals (because lets accept it people, we are animals after all) is emotional intelligence. I define humans to belong in this category if they have emotions, if they have the capacity to feel. Are you one of them? Can you feel anything? Or are you just another passive object wandering around in this world. To define emotion, psychologists claim that is “an integrated feeling state involving physiological changes, motor- preparedness, cognitions about action and inner experiences that emerge from an appraisal about the self or a situation”. In other words, if you are able to react to any internal or external stimuli, then my friend you do have emotions! Congratulations, you are one of the few! I am not saying that this is the only characteristic defining humans but to my argument, in order to be a complete human you must overcome any fear and be able to let yourself feel something now and then. You want to be kind and see the good side in people? That’s fine, as long as you can cope with them turning out the other way. You want to fight against all of them and show your strength? That’s fine just don’t be surprised when you break down at one point. You are a human and shit happens all the time. It’s when you are called to cope with your emotions and balance them in the right way but this process takes time and only through experience we learn how to deal with each situation. Look at me 19 years old speaking about experience, I got nothing…yet. We just keep learning as we grow older.

However, in any case lets not forget that it all depends on the circumstances and the timing. As a general theoretical framework it does work but what happens when we are called to decide what to do? I’ll give an example to make my point clear. For instance, we give advice to others because as a third eye on their situation, we understand the theory and know what they need to be told to feel better and possibly solve their problem. Thus, we know what theoretically could work (which is all the above) while, in practical terms anything could change (which is none of the above). We are driven by our emotions, our rationality and other cognitions influencing how we act in all situations. It is a mix of everything that makes us humans. It is the weight of the problem we’re facing, it is the willingness we have to try harder, it is the available time and psychological strength we have. It is a complex procedure involving everything. So, just hold on there and wait until you see what happens. Go with the flow because there is no other option.

If you’re a dancer you are a human. If you are a puppet you are a human. If you are a human, you can be both a dancer and a puppet. You can be whatever you want. But anyway, do you know what you want to be? I am not yet sure what I want to be but I am 100% sure what I don’t want to be; that is a passive object and a coward being afraid of my feelings and expression. Because this would then mean, that I wouldn’t be a complete human. You call the shots, you could belong to any category you want, depending on the circumstances, you could be the exception to everything. It is your own path you need to choose and even if it’s wrong, you’ll always find the way back. We live in a world where a variety of pathways is offered to us every day. Follow the one you have the guts to follow and always remember; Pathways cross one another at some point.

Talk to you later! xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

Sound on? World off.

This is a post I’ve been thinking about for a long time. I cannot imagine a day without listening to music. Is that pathetic? There must be a syndrome explaining that… which oh well… I haven’t yet come across somewhere in my books unfortunately. Sad times and no, I refuse to Google it now. Anyway, one of my favorite songs recently is from Lord Huron entitled- The night we met. This song has given me the inspiration for this post as I fail to stop letting it play on repeat dusk to dawn. Why I love it? Who knows, keep reading and you may find out why. However, at this point let me tell you that the following story explains the impact of music in our life and why we should choose to listen to everything.

Could we live without sounds? Yes. Deaf people prove this every day. Could we live without rhythm? No. Before you become aggressive on my argument, I’ll only accept a counter when you find a person who despises music and bring them to me. Good luck with that, it’s going to be a long journey. Either way, I personally choose to listen to everything, and I am not restricted to one type of music. The reason is because it depends on my mood. Psychology studies have shown that music influences mood and vice versa it can be influenced by our mood. In the first case we listen to music according to the psychological state we are whilst the second assumption relies on the fact we create music according to it. Sometimes, I wake up and as I get ready I just get hyper with the song playing. Some other times, I listen to songs and burst to tears. But my favorite times are the ones I listen to songs and think “what the hell was the one writing it thinking”? Haven’t any of these ever occurred to you? I bet one of them for sure.

Additionally as I said before, music depends heavily on our mood. For instance, I listen to jazz or instrumental when I want to study because there are no lyrics and help me reduce my procrastination (like a lot!). On the contrary, I listen to hip-hop and techno music when I run in the gym because it keeps me going and I train by the beat. It basically is my choice. I listen to anything I want, I might switch from English music to Greek in just one second! It’s so easy to choose. There is so much power in music. Any form of music is a way of personal expression, creativity and experimentation. We just don’t need to expect everyone to like it but at least respect it. Come on, it’s like human relationships. You should express yourself on your own, unique, beautiful way and not everyone needs to like you. Too bad…for them. What a beautiful discussion is that of human relationships but I am afraid there’s no room in that paper… sorry. You can come back next week :)

So yeah, back to music! I believe that the reason we cannot live without rhythm and music is mainly because as human beings we have the need to identify with situations, events, and people around us. We identify with the lyrics, with the pain or the joy of the creator. And this is why “the night we met” is one of my favorite songs. It just speaks straight to me. Hence, next time you listen to a musical composition take a step back and think… what is hidden behind this musical piece? Why was it created? Is it because someone has something to say? Is it written for someone else? Is it just an instrumental composition implying an idea? What is it? I know I’m touching upon philosophy with all these questions; clearly my degree has influenced me in an annoying way I would say. 

Most common thought passing by most of us, “I need to listen to that song again”. We listen to music because we want to forget about the world, because the room is so empty when there’s nothing there playing. We listen to music because we need to identify with others and their situation. We listen to music because we want to express ourselves. We choose music because it doesn’t make us feel lonely. We choose music according to what we have the need to hear from people that don’t have the guts to come upfront and say it, or we choose music to tell them something. Sound on…world off. You have the time, those 3 to 5 minutes or hours the music is playing that make you daydream and travel to your own world. Music heals your soul and is one of the best ways to relax and think. You alleviate the pain through music and you enhance your joy as well. Again, pick a side, it’s your choice. It always have been.

Talk to you later, xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-

[chiliwriting]

The Tick- Tock power

I’ve recently come to think, what is one thing every single person on earth hates? And as I put thought on this, I figured out it’s all about deadlines. It’s the deadline of a challenging assignment at school. It’s the deadline for a university application followed by more assignments. It’s the deadline banks place to us for the rest of our life. It’s the deadline of life. I personally hate deadlines for one specific reason. They cause me unnecessary distress and constantly remind me of time pressure. It’s like I’ve got Big -Ben ticking on my mind every time I think of deadlines. Tick-tock on the clock and every second might be wasted or held. Again… the choice is yours. So, on a more serious note, today you will read a story about time pressure and deadlines.

 Paulo Coelho said that “people are defined by their choices” and the most serious deadline is that of the choice. Clock is ticking and you need to choose: Do I stop reading here or do I go further? I hope you’ll go further. Deadlines exist in our lives to place some limits, which is a fairly rational thing to claim. The main reason we need deadlines is because as humans we need to learn to cope with time. We need to learn how to deal with the stress tied to the concepts of time and limits. We leave in a world of rapid and massive changes and I like to think that time is the most powerful system humans invented to count the duration of these changes. Anyway, clock is ticking as I said already. There are types of deadlines and types of stress that come with them:

Type one: The Personal deadline

Yeah, we all know the feeling when we set some personal time limits to stuff we are about to procrastinate. Like cleaning the house for example or even complete an assignment for university. You begin by setting a deadline to your own self like “today, by 4pm I will finish my Philosophy assignment”. Oh dear! It’s so much easier when you say it rather than actually doing it. We all know that in between you’ll think of a dozen reasons to avoid writing the essay because a) the cat is hungry and we need to feed it, b) out of the blue you remember that video game you got the other day but most importantly… c) your friend has called having a bottle of JD and you need to go. Seriously, who would not procrastinate after all? Third reason triggers a lot. Anyway, personal deadlines are there to help us deal with bigger ones. Yes, the essay is due the 22nd but your personal deadline should be due to the 21st to make sure you procrastinate enough and pass the course too. You avoid stressing out so much and get the work done. Snap! Two in one. In case you didn’t get that right, I just described my whole studying life in a sentence. To sum this up however, personal deadlines are linked to any and all goals you set to yourself and in order to achieve them, you need to place a limit on the available time.

 Type two: The obligatory deadline

That’s my favorite category. Let me be clear from the start, I refer to deadlines we cannot really control and if not meeting them, they have a serious impact on our lives. Deadlines you cannot walk away from, like for example the bank statement demonstrating the bill on your credit card. I know your face expression; don’t be scared, it’s just a number. Tell that your mom and she’ll have a stroke straight away. Obligatory deadlines exist because as humans, we need guidance on what we definitely need to do to keep the system working. If we don’t pay the bill on the credit card, we are in serious debt. If we don’t pay the electricity on time, power will be cut off. These are examples of such deadlines and their consequences. Not everyone dreams of them when they wake up, right? Tick- tock, wake up, seize the day and do what you can do… i.e. pay this bill on time please.

Type 3: The unknown deadline

 This, ladies and gents, is the deadline of life. It’s the most important and unknown deadline we face every single day. Nobody knows the way it’s going to be and when it ends. We are surprised every single day with what is happening around us but one thing for sure; don’t live in that utopia thinking this deadline does not exist. It does, and it goes faster than we believe. Do you remember the time you were in primary school and somehow now, you jumped miles away from that without even realizing it? Yeah well, I think of it sometimes on the tube because it has become the place I am scared the most. The deadline and the concept of the unknown come with the feeling of anxiety and scare. We are scared of what is happening, scared of the change, scared of the consequences. You decide whether you prefer wasting seconds of the clock on a chair playing that video game the whole day or get out and hold seconds from different things you try. There is a deadline, but we don’t know when it ends, so be grateful of what you get and try for the best.

 Nothing makes a person more productive than the last minute. The last minute you run on that treadmill to change your body, the last minute you have to upload that assignment, the last minute you need to take a choice for yourself. It is the last minute ticking in your head that brings the “fight or flight” effect with all hormones bursting. Do you stay and fight the deadline? Or do you walk away from it? Time is pressing, make a choice.

 Talk to you later! xx

-Aggelina Tsilimpari-