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#should i start doing studying advice slash tips ?
bluecrusadearcade · 2 years
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How do you get the motivation to study 😩
I don't-
Okay that's not necessarily true. I've had a shitty two weeks and finally decided to put at end to it today. No more 'I'll do it tomorrow', tomorrow starts today.
I always remember why and for what I am studying for. like grades are absolutely necessary but I never study with the aim of getting the highest score. Its always 'this information is important because this is going to help me save someone's life or help someone one day. It is absolutely a must that I understand and learn this with my best abilities'.
But that applies to Biology and Chemistry, not Physics which I COMPLETELY understand. Even though i sort of dislike physics, I try to think that 'hey, this principle, this thing, is ALL around me, this laptop I'm watching my lectures on is a baby of physics, the reason I get water from a tap on the 3rd floor of a building is a baby of physics' and so forth. I try to make the subject interesting by applying it in day to day life, which also calls for a great method of active recall btw!
another thing I do is I try to make my notes aesthetic/pretty, so that I actually pay attention when the information is being given. I also write little jokes in the margins related to that topic so that Its fun for me later on when I revise the topic. For example - I wrote 'Kabhi Khushi kabhi GUMS' in a big font in my notes so that I would remember to learn the dentition formulas and types, or i sometimes used words like -
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to spice things up a bit [ casual-ification of the concept helps me in memorisation, also please ignore my handwriting ik its not even average lol]
Here's a sample of how i take my notes- Pick a generic ink pen + Colour scheme, and then stick to that colour scheme throughout
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again, this is just my style, in no way I'm telling anyone to do this * just like me*, I have listed the ways that work for ME.
At the end of the day anon, Its not motivation but discipline that should keep you going. Motivation is fleeting and inconsistent, discipline is permanent, so I would suggest you/ or anyone to develop discipline to study rather than search for motivation, It has worked out great for me so far <3
I hope you take care of yourself too, because sometimes, what you are lacking isn't motivation, its just a lack of change. All of us have been in a pandemic for almost 3 YEARS now, and many of us didn't have the privilege of escaping somewhere or even taking a vacation ( I certainly haven't) so its okay to feel stuck.
try doing the things you love say painting, or staring at the sunset while listening to music to get you in a fresh mindset.
I hope this helped in any way! apologies for this being so long! Have a good day and happy studying<3
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orcadigitals · 2 years
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lalalizzy16fitness · 5 years
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The Worst Weight-Loss Tips and Fad Diets Experts Wish Would Go Away for Good
You hear a new get-thin-quick promise on social media nearly every day. Do this work out! Give up that snack! Only eat grapefruit! But this is all BS. These are the silliest, unhealthiest, and just plain wrong weight-loss tips diet experts have ever heard.
1.       Bad Advice: Always Choose Low-Fat Instead of Full-Fat
Why it’s wrong: The low-fat craze of the ‘90s and 2000s has left a lot of people thinking that they have to eat low-fat everything in order to lose weight. In reality, when you take the fat out, you have to replace it with something else to keep the taste, and that usually means adding a lot more sugar or salt. Not to mention fat could actually help you lose weight. A low-carb diet trumps a low-fat diet when it comes to weight loss. The low-carb dieters in a study lost an extra 8 pounds over the course of 12 months even though the two groups stuck to a similar number of calories.
2.       Bad Advice: Indulge In a Cheat Day Once a Week
Why it’s wrong: Eating healthy six days a week and then digging into what you’ve been missing on day seven is a pretty common dieting practice. But in reality, the plan could undermine your weight-loss efforts altogether. This idea sets up negative feelings about food and health in one’s mind. This way of thinking also suggests the diet is temporary rather than a lifestyle you can stick to for the long haul; instead treat yourself in moderation each day.
3.       Bad Advice: Everyone Should Go Vegan or Vegetarian
Why it’s wrong: Many people assume that switching to a vegan or vegetarian diet means they will automatically lose weight. It’s true vegan and vegetarian diets are heavy on fruits and vegetables, but not all the approved foods are virtuous. There are plenty of vegan junk foods-Oreos, potato chips, Cracker Jacks, to name a few. Plus, vegans and vegetarians may be prone to loading up on unhealthy carbs, like bread and pasta, to satisfy their hunger when nixing animal protein.
4.       Bad Advice: Avoid Fruit-Its Loaded with Sugar
Why it’s wrong: Eating a cup of grapes isn’t the same as grabbing a handful of Nerds. Yes, fruit contains sugar, but it also contains fiber and vitamins and minerals, nutrients that your body needs to support weight loss. Certain fruits can even help with weight management like apples, pears, and berries.
5.       Bad Advice: Eat 6 Meals a Day
Why it’s wrong: This weight loss strategy challenges the three-meals-a-day concept, but it turns out its more about what and how much you’re eating rather than whether you prefer big meals or small ones. While you probably will feel better and more energized if you spread three meals throughout the day and sprinkle in a couple snacks to curb a growling stomach, for normal, healthy individuals without medical conditions, there is no need to force yourself to eat six meals per day.
6.       Bad Advice: Do a Juice Cleanse
Why it’s wrong: You don’t need to drink disgusting juice for a week and suffer through headaches and hunger to detox. Our bodies are innately designed to detox-that’s what the liver is for. Plus, sipping your meals for a week means you’ll miss out on protein, and your body will start to break down muscle tissue.
7.       Bad Advice: Eat Whatever You Want-So Long As You Exercise
Why it’s wrong: We all want a free pass to indulge, but spending 45 minutes on the elliptical isn’t going to cut it. When it comes to weight loss, diet is king. When looked at, diet, exercise, or diet plus exercise had the greatest long-term effect on your health. Turns out, diet was a much more effective way to lose weight and fat than exercise alone, though diet plus exercise was even better. Unfortunately, most people and exercise machines overestimate the number of calories burned during a workout, which gives people a false sense of ‘I can eat anything’ which can actually lead to weight gain.
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8.       Bad Advice: Go Paleo
Why it’s wrong: Any diet that eliminates entire food groups should be a no-no. There is nothing wrong with eating legumes and 100 percent whole grains. In fact, they are quite healthy and can aid in cholesterol and weight management. Eating beans, lentils, chickpeas, and dried peas can actually aid in weight-loss efforts.
9.       Bad Advice: Don’t Eat After 8 P.M.
Why it’s wrong: It comes down to simple math. Eating more calories than you are burning will lead to weight gain, not the time of day when those calories are consumed. Just try to make the last meal of the day a balanced one with healthy proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
10.   Bad Advice: Swear Off Gluten
Why it’s wrong: You’ll likely lose weight when you eliminate gluten-laden cakes, cookies, and bread, but it’s probably the result of slashing calories rather than gluten. If you don’t have a real gluten intolerance or celiac disease, you’re teaching your body to forget how to process gluten. The reality is the human body has been processing gluten for centuries and if you stop eating it, you could be missing out on whole grains that have been shown to benefit your health.
11.   Bad Advice: Don’t Snack Between Meals
Why it’s wrong: Snacking can actually keep you on track and prevent blood sugar roller coasters that leave you hangry. When you don’t snack, your body learns to live in ‘starvation mode’ and your metabolism slows down as your body adjusts and compensates. Your body then hangs onto extra energy at meals by turning it into fat because it’s expecting that it will need that fat in case you don’t eat for a while. Just choose your snacks wisely: A mix of protein, healthy fat, and vegetable and fruit carbohydrates every few hours will keep your metabolism running.
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nicolewrites · 4 years
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something cold and something new
Needed to write something soft and not school related so here you go folks. This takes place in a universe where they spend more time in Fhirdiad (the winter) before heading to Derdriu. For example, assume that Edelgard needs more time to reorganize her forces after Gronder.
Rating: K+/G Genre: Friendship, Romance Characters: [Byleth/My Unit, Dimitri B.], the Blue Lions Words: 3,866
AO3 | FFN
Fhirdiad is cold.
Byleth hates the cold. She hates the permeating chill of the stone walls of the palace and the frost that creeps across the inside and outside of the window panes. She hops from mantle to mantle, trying to keep warm in front of the fire subtly enough that she does not draw attention to herself.
She takes the chair closest to the hearth in the dining room and the chair furthest from the long row of windows in the war room. She closes curtains and wears as many layers as she can afford to without looking bulky. And she's still cold.
Of course, the Blue Lions don't seem to react to the cold. Sylvain is from the furthest north and if his stories are anything to go by, he once spent a night in the cold with no protection so Byleth is not surprised to see him wandering about the palace in his usual wear. Felix and Ingrid also seem unphased as they simply trade their thinner layers for more insulated cloaks they appear to carry at all times.
Annette complains a bit, but Felix lends her a coat and afterward, she clams up for almost three days straight, red to the tip of her ears. Mercedes has her own coat, but she hovers around fires as well, a habit leftover from her time growing up in the Empire. Dedue doesn't seem to be affected beyond the occasional shiver due to a gust of wind and Ashe seems to enjoy the chill, appreciating the drifting of snowflakes and the puffs of air from their breaths.
If Dedue and Sylvain are unaffected by the cold, Dimitri thrives in it. The chill seems to bolster his mood and give him more energy. He's animated as he contributes in war meetings and his chin is held high throughout the whole day. He looks more like the prince Byleth knew before the war started and she knows it is partly due to their success in taking back Fhirdiad from Cornelia.
She only wishes she could enjoy Dimitri's good mood, but she can't because she's so damn cold.
- ~ -
Observant as ever, Mercedes is the first to notice.
"Hello Professor," the healer greets softly as she walks into the study Byleth has been using.
Byleth glances up as she enters and cringes. She's currently wearing a jacket and has a blanket draped over her lap and she's still shivering. Mercedes just smiles sweetly and drifts across the room. She places the tray she had been holding on Byleth's desk and pours her a cup of tea.
"Can I help you, Mercedes?" Byleth asks.
Mercedes laughs lightly. "This is a cinnamon ginger tea. It warms you up fairly well and I thought a cup of it might help you stay warmer."
Byleth feels her ears burn a little as she takes the teacup from her former student. "Am I that obvious?"
Mercedes shakes her head and pours herself a cup of tea, settling into the chair across from Byleth. "Not at all, Professor, I'm just good at noticing things like that. It's my job, after all."
Byleth laughs a bit as she sips the tea. The water is scalding, but the spice bites through and floods her with warmth. She pulls it back and blows across the surface, appreciating its aroma for a little bit. "I feel a bit foolish, to be honest," she confesses. "We had done work in Faerghus before, but never in the winter so I never realized how cold it truly got here."
Mercedes nods. "Growing up in House Bartels, it was never this cold. It was only after I came to the School of Sorcery I really learned what winter was like. I'm still not great with the cold, but layers and tea can do wonders for you when you're not moving about."
Byleth sips her tea again. The spice blend is sharp but pleasant and she does feel a bit warmer already. "I've already gone through so much firewood in my room I fear the servants think I'm some kind of hot-blooded demon."
Mercedes giggles lightly. "Of course they don't, Professor. But, if you're really suffering from the chill in your room, you might want to ask Felix for some advice. He cold-proofed Annie's room and he did quite a good job, I might add."
Byleth raises an eyebrow. "Felix and Annette? What's going on there?"
Mercedes hums lightly into her own tea with a smile. "More than either of them care to admit, but Annie's terribly shy and we all know how Felix is with emotions."
Byleth smiles. "You are probably too perceptive for your own good, Mercedes. But, on the other hand, I don't know where we'd be without you either."
- ~ -
She finds Felix in the training hall, slashing away at a training dummy. He's right where she expects him to be. She pauses in the entrance and watches his lightning-fast sword work. He knocks the dummy flat on its back and finishes by frying it with a snap of his fingers and a bolt of lightning from a Thunder spell. He's breathing quite heavily when he turns and finds her watching him.
"What do you want?" he demands. Felix jabs his sword back into its sheath and folds his arms.
Byleth picks up a training sword from the rack and tests its balance. "I have a favour to ask of you, but I figured we could spar first."
He narrows his eyes but draws his sword again. "A favour?"
They begin to circle each other, swords at the ready. Byleth jabs quickly and he parries, matching her for speed. He slashes and she sidesteps and counterattacks, forcing him to step back.
"If I beat you, I'll ask you," Byleth says. She doesn't see the reason to be humiliated by Felix twice–once in defeat and once for admitting weakness–when it could be for one or the other.
"What kind of duel were you thinking?" he questions as he tests a jab against her defences.
Byleth spins and summons a bolt of white energy above her palm, flashing it forward. Felix rolls out of the way of her Nosferatu and a grin edges up his face. He charges at her quickly and Byleth dodges the blows of his sword and then all the hair on her arms stands on end. On instinct, she rolls to the right and his Thoron spell scorches the ground where she had been standing before.
The sparks catch on her cloak and Byleth curses as the hem of it bursts into flame. She rips it from her shoulders and stamps it into the dirt, smothering the flames. The fire disappears quickly and Byleth grumbles as she scoops it up from the ground. She tries to stop the goosebumps from rising on her arms, but the loss of her cloak's warmth along with the sudden lack of warmth due to exertion has her shivering unintentionally.
A few feet away, Felix watches her, his sword lowered. He looks more amused than annoyed as he assesses her. "You'll never be able to fight well with a cloak like that, Professor," he points out.
Byleth sighs and pulls it back on, lifting her blade. "I'm aware," she replies coolly.
Felix doesn't make a move to fight her again and Byleth drops her sword back to her side and frowns.
"You're not much for our winters, are you?" he asks after a moment.
"No," Byleth admits. "I had actually come here hoping to ask you to help me like you did Annette."
Felix's ears turn pink at the mention of Annette and he pivots, heading for the weapon rack. "Cover the base of your windows, keep coals smouldering in your hearth, and keep your curtains drawn as much as you can. There are probably heavier curtains too if you ask around."
His advice is curt and simple enough and Byleth's lips twitch at the simple and Felix-like response.
"Thank you," she says to him and he just grunts in reply, still very interested in the rack of weapons.
- ~ -
Byleth volunteers for a routine scouting mission with Ashe and Ingrid a week later. She's been basically holed up inside the castle for the last week and a bit and she had been going slightly stir-crazy inside. Ingrid flies ahead on her pegasus while Byleth and Ashe ride along more leisurely on horseback.
Ashe has a scarf wrapped around his neck with the bottom half of his face obscured as he hunches a bit to shield his pink cheeks. Byleth is wearing a borrowed scarf from Dedue that Mercedes had procured for her when Byleth had asked to borrow something warm. Ingrid, above them, is dressed in a few more layers, but despite the frigid air while in flight, she seems perfectly at home.
Byleth shakes her head as she watches the Falcon Knight fly gracefully ahead of them.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Ashe asks, following her gaze. He chuckles lightly. "I don't know how they carry on like they're not even a little cold. I'd be totally frozen up there."
Byleth glances at him and Ashe lifts his chin so she can see the shy smile on his face. "When I was on the streets I got used to being cold, but I've been away from the north at the monastery for a while so I almost forgot what it was like, honestly," he admits.
Byleth turns her gaze back to Ingrid. "You've noticed I don't take the cold too well too, then?"
"Well, Professor, it did take me up to the moment that Mercedes gave you that scarf. I had almost completely forgotten you weren't even originally from Faerghus lands. The climate at the monastery is much warmer than most of the Kingdom."
Byleth fights off a chill as a stronger wind blows by, ruffling her hair. She tucks her chin further into her borrowed scarf and frowns. "I should be more used to this by now," she mumbles. "We've been here for a while and I know that Gilbert wants us to stay until this latest storm is over before we head back to the monastery."
"Don't feel bad, Professor. Just because some of us are more used to the cold, doesn't mean we like it any more than you do," Ashe reminds gently.
Byleth chuckles. "No, I suppose that's true enough."
"Professor! Ashe!"
Their attention is quickly caught by Ingrid as she swoops down, a frown marring her pretty features. Byleth and Ashe pull their mounts to a stop and stare at the Falcon Knight curiously. Ingrid pulls to a stop a few feet away, staying off the snow-covered ground.
"Looks like that bandit troupe we caught word of is camped up ahead. There's only a few of them, but we can go back for reinforcements if we need to."
Byleth exhales and slides off her horse. She ties her reins to a nearby bush and starts unlatching some of her gear. "We came out here to find them and they may be long gone by the time we return with reinforcements."
The snow is ankle-deep and cold as it soaks through her boots and her pants. Byleth refuses to let her discomfort show as she slings her bow over her back and attaches her sword to her hip. Ashe also dismounts, pulling his quiver, bow and lance free. Ingrid stays mounted and her frown deepens.
"The snow won't be an issue?" she asks.
Byleth shakes her head. It's cold, sure, but she refuses to let that get in the way of her duty. "Let's get this over with quickly. It's one less thing to worry about before we have to head back to Garreg Mach."
She heads out in the direction Ingrid had returned from and both of her former students follow her after a moment. She sees the bandits' fire before she sees them. She pulls her bow out and strings an arrow, taking aim at one of the silhouettes she spies in beside the flame. Beside her, Ashe does the same.
They let their arrows fly in unison and two of the figures fall without a sound. There's a flurry of chaos in the camp as they seem to realize they are under attack. Opponents scramble for weapons and Byleth vaults over the fallen log in front of her, breaking for their camp. Ingrid swoops down, her lance gleaming as she strikes. Ashe lets another arrow fly and Byleth throws herself into the battle.
She cuts down two more bandits quite easily. As she pulls her sword free, she turns, assessing the remaining few. Ingrid is handling herself fine and Ashe has moved in closer but is still using his bow and his agility to counter close-ranged opponents effectively. Byleth's gaze continues and she notices a figure breaking the outside of the circle, heading into the forest. Without hesitating, she follows the figure quickly, her hand curled tightly around her blade.
The snow slows her down, but she still manages to gain some ground on her opponent. When she has a clear line of sight on him, she sends a sharp burst of flame outwards, sending him sprawling. She has effectively chased him out of the woods into a snow-covered clearing. Byleth approaches the downed figure slowly, just in case he's staying down as a trick.
She hears rustling in the trees behind her and risks a glance back to see Ingrid and Ashe have followed her. Ashe scans the clearing warily and his green eyes widen suddenly.
"Professor!" he yells. "Get off the ice!"
Byleth barely has a second to register the warning. Confusion flares through her at the word 'ice' because she's standing on the snow-covered ground. Before she can take another step there's an ominous groaning sound and her chest tightens.
She hadn't chased her foe into a clearing. She had chased him straight onto a frozen lake.
Byleth steps back towards the trees and hears another low creaking sound so she stops. Ashe is standing at the edge of the clearing where he has apparently discerned where the lake begins. Ingrid is flying toward her on her pegasus, brow knit in concentration. Byleth slowly lowers herself to the ground, trying to disperse her weight as her father had once taught her.
Ingrid is above her now and reaching out with her hand. Byleth shifts, moving to grab her former student's hand. There's a louder crack below her and just as Byleth's ungloved fingers grasp at Ingrid's gloved hands, the ice gives out.
The water is freezing as it envelops her and Byleth nearly screams at the shock of the cold. The water is dark and consuming and she flails furiously in the direction she thinks is up. She can see a muddle glimpse of light above her and can faintly hear yelling. Finally, after a furiously long second, her head breaks the surface and the cool air stings against her soaked skin.
Byleth lifts a hand and Ingrid grasps it immediately, pulling her quickly the rest of the way out of the water. Her clothes stick to her body immediately and she can feel them biting at the remaining warmth she has. Byleth coughs and gasps and Ingrid flies them precariously over to the edge of the lake.
The two women stumble off the pegasus and Ingrid immediately rips off Byleth's drenched cloak. Ashe immediately replaces it with his own dry, fur-lined cloak. Byleth can barely feel the change in warmth. She's shivering so hard she can barely see and the cold is still clinging to her every limb. She feels sluggish and half-dead and her chest aches.
"If I fly her back, I'm afraid that the winds will freeze her solid," Ingrid says to Ashe. Byleth can barely hear her. It feels like there is cotton pressed in her ears, muffling all sound.
She sways on her feet as the world blurs around her. She feels a set of arms wrap around her and she can barely make out Ashe's voice asking her something, but the words are lost in her haze. Her vision tunnels and she collapses, the sound fading out completely.
- ~ -
When she wakes up, she feels weighed down. Byleth stares at the warm pink of her eyelids for a moment before she musters the strength to open her eyes. She finds herself staring at the ceiling of the infirmary back inside the castle. She blinks slowly before allowing her eyes to take in the rest of her situation.
She's lying on a hospital bed covered in at least three heavy quilts. The curtains in the room are drawn shut and there's a fire crackling in the hearth. There's a large silhouette standing in front of the fire and it takes Byleth an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize that it is Dimitri.
She shifts in the bed and tries to sit up. Dimitri wheels towards her, hearing her movement and his good eye widens when they make eye contact. He crosses the room to her side in three steps and reaches for her with large, warm hands.
"Professor, please! Stay lying down," he instructs.
Byleth frowns and tries to sit up anyways. Dimitri sighs and recognizes the futility of his request. He slides his hands to her arms and gently lifts her into a sitting position. He reaches behind her and adjusts her pillow so she can be leaning against it.
Byleth purses her lips at the overwhelming concern in Dimitri's expression. His hands linger on her pillow and he scans her face nervously.
"Dimitri," she says gently. "I'm okay."
He frowns. "You almost weren't, Professor, so you'll have to forgive me for my concern."
Byleth pulls one of her hands free from the mountain of blankets she's under. She reaches for his hand and curls her fingers through his. "I'm okay," she repeats.
"Your hands are still cold," he murmurs softly. Dimitri withdraws his hands and detaches the heavy mantle draped over his shoulders. He leans in close and pulls it around her shoulders.
Byleth instinctively shivers as the warm fabric wraps around her, chasing away the lingering chills of her body. Dimitri sits on the edge of the bed and runs his hands over his cloak over her shoulders. He stares into her face, still looking frustratingly worried.
Byleth reaches up and gently touches his hands where they lie on her shoulder. "Thank you, Dimitri," she says quietly.
His gaze softens. "Of course, Professor," he replies.
He leans away after a moment, his ears pink, and drops his gaze down to her lap. Byleth drops her hands to his and grips them, relishing in their warmth.
"If the cold had truly been bothering you, you could have returned to Garreg Mach," he says after a moment of silence.
Byleth laughs. "And leave you here alone? That sounds like a recipe for disaster."
"Mercedes mentioned she noticed it had been affecting you," Dimitri points out.
Byleth shrugs. "I guess we never spent much of the winter in the Kingdom when I was growing up. My father never liked the cold either."
Dimitri shakes his head. "I suppose I missed the signs even when they were right there. The cold reminds me of home," he admits. He glances toward the window where the curtains are drawn tightly shut to keep the chill out. "My father used to play in the snow with me." He closes his eyes as he reminisces. "It was the most relaxed I ever saw him when we were out there. My mother thought we were ridiculous, but I loved it."
Byleth smiles and squeezes his hands. "You've been happy here and I'm glad to see it. I'll go back to the monastery with everyone else after the storm," she says firmly.
Dimitri sighs. "I suppose that makes the most sense now, but please, Professor, don't go standing on anymore frozen lakes."
Byleth huffs a breath. "If I had known it was there, I wouldn't have done it."
Dimitri laughs lightly and Byleth's chest tightens at the sound. "Even so, you had us all very worried." His smile drops as he remembers. "Professor, do you know that you don't have a heartbeat? You have a pulse but there's no heartbeat. When Mercedes couldn't find your heartbeat we were all so worried until she found a pulse." Dimitri shakes his head again. "How is this even possible?"
Byleth bites her lower lip. She wishes she could answer him and take away the worry that is still wreathed around him. "I don't know," she admits. "But, I've always been like this. Maybe it's the reason the cold affected me so quickly with the water."
Dimitri ponders that. "I suppose. Mercedes was saying that hypothermia can be worsened by poor blood flow and if your lack of heartbeat limits that, it would make sense."
The clock above the mantle chimes and they both look toward it, startled. Dimitri tenses as he notices the time and he sighs deeply.
"You have work to continue," Byleth guesses. By the rueful glance he gives her, she knows she's right. She squeezes his hands again before reaching to remove his cloak.
Dimitri catches her hands before she can remove it. "Keep it, please. I'll feel less worried about the cold affecting you if you have it."
Byleth smiles. "Alright," she agrees. "You should go."
Dimitri shifts his weight off the bed, standing, and glances at the clock once more. "Please take care, Professor. I can come back later tonight, if you would like some company."
Byleth reaches up, pulling herself further out of her blanket cocoon, and grabs Dimitri's arm. She pulls him down far enough so that she can gently press a kiss to his cheek. His face flushes almost immediately, but he doesn't immediately spring away from her. Instead, his gaze turns impossibly gentle and he leans forward to press his lips to the top of her forehead. He pulls back after that and Byleth notes the subtle flush to his cheeks.
She hides a small smile. "Don't work too hard, Dimitri, there's plenty of things we have left to accomplish."
He is partway to the door when he hears her and he pauses, looking back over his shoulder at her bundled in blankets and his cloak. "I'll have to look into cold-proofing the castle more so that we can come back here because, as you said, we have a whole future ahead of us."
The words are more optimistic than anything that Dimitri has said for months and they warm Byleth much more effectively than any blanket could. The gentle affection in his eyes and the scent of him that clings to his cloak cause her own cheeks to warm as the words die on her lips and Dimitri slips out of the room, leaving her alone with the crackling fire.
"I wonder what future you see for us," Byleth whispers to the quiet room, pulling Dimitri's cloak tight around her shoulders. It is still warm and for the first time since arriving in Fhirdiad, Byleth doesn't feel cold.
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whillsofstars · 6 years
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Chapter 6
Please let me know what you think! I’d love some feedback on my story.
REY ----------------------------------------------
With more and more recruits arriving weekly to join the Resistance, it was becoming more difficult for the survivors of Crait to familiarize themselves with anyone who wasn’t directly assigned to their unit. Veterans were always busy training in waves of new recruits, growing new friendships, and catching up on news from other systems. Overall, the whole atmosphere of the base became more lively and hopeful than it had been in a long while. And the good mood was infectious.
For many, the hope that the Resistance could stand a fighting chance against the First Order was getting stronger. It’s all anyone talked about. People were ready to have their lives back.
It’s that same mood that led Finn and Rey to one of their first chats in a long while that didn’t touch on the current war effort.
“You got to help me out,” he pleaded.
“No!” Rey retorted, barely able to stifle a laugh.
“Rey, do me a favor here. I have no idea how to do this sort of thing. It’s not like we were given training in the Stormtrooper program. Far from it.”
“Finn, did you even take a look at Jakku while you were there? It’s not like that was a top priority for anybody, particularly scavengers,” now she really couldn’t contain her laughter. “We barely had enough time to take care of ourselves.”
“Oh come on Rey. You’re a woman. Don’t you have some idea of how this is supposed to go?”
Rey let out a sigh and gave him a small smile, “Look Finn. I am the wrong person to ask for dating advice. My experience in that only comes from what I’ve watched on the holonet. That’s hardly useful.”
“For real, Rey?” Finn questioned with disbelief. “You honestly expect me to believe that no one even asked you out on a date on Jakku?”
“Yes,” she said shortly. “That kind of thing rarely happened. Everyone was just trying to get by so relationships were not a top priority.” She cast her eyes down and preoccupied herself by kicking pebbles as they continued walking on the trail.
Jakku wasn’t a place you went to grow families. Many ended up there because they had run into trouble with the law and needed a place to lie low or they were abandoned there like she was. It was not a place for romance and that left Rey with very little experience in that arena, not that she cared at the time.
“Right. Sure, Rey,” was all Finn managed to say and then added, “I’m sorry.” He always tried his best to avoid talking about Jakku. While Rey never told him that she harbored bitterness towards her time there, she could tell that he figured it out. Finn, like Rose, was very perceptive that way.
Maybe those two really should be together, she thought.
“Finn, I may not know a lot about this, but if you like her, you should just tell her the truth,” she said encouragingly. “We’re in a war and life is too short to drop hints and hope she just gets it.”
At that, his face softened and a large smile of appreciation spread across his face. He reached down and took her hand in his, the size difference was quite stark. “Thanks Rey. I knew you would be the perfect person to ask.”
The warmth of his gratitude filled her chest. “You’re welcome, Finn. Truly, I hope it goes well.”
They continued to walk in silence, still holding hands as they made their way back to the base. For both of them, it was a comforting reminder of the day they met on Jakku. It was the day both of their lives changed forever. It was also the day both of them gained a lifelong friend in each other.
As the Resistance received more funding thanks to supporters like Lavidean Borin, they were able to purchase larger ships, but that also required more people to maintain them. Being one of the most skilled mechanics from the destroyed cruiser Raddus, Rose was called to conduct an inspection of all the new cruisers orbiting Kashyyyk. Unfortunately, the daunting process of inspecting every mechanical component took weeks to complete, which meant that Finn and Rose couldn’t see each other until the job was finished. So Finn sought out Rey to keep him company while he waited and she was all too happy to oblige.
Evening was beginning to settle in by the time they arrived on the base. Those whose shifts were done for the day gathered to catch up with friends, play a game of Dejarik - a two-player game in which holographic creatures battle each other on a circular board-, or listen to the daily news streaming across the holonet.
Every so often, Rey would catch a recruit or two just watching her walk by. Most quickly averted their eyes, clearly embarrassed that she had noticed them. This didn’t bother her so much, but the ones who continued to stare made her skin crawl every time.
Rey didn’t give this a second thought when she first joined the Resistance. Their group had been a lot smaller then and everyone knew her before her powers awakened. But as more recruits arrived on the base, it started happening more frequently. All of them were in awe to finally see a Jedi, having grown up listening to the stories of the famous Luke Skywalker. Some, like her, believed the Jedi were a myth. It was when they arrived on the Resistance base that they were able to see a real Jedi and have their stories confirmed and their hope restored.
It took a while before she got used to the attention. On Jakku no one paid her any mind. After all, scavengers were nobodies.
But as Rey and Finn made their way toward the mess hall, Rey became acutely aware of one man watching her go by. He was standing off in the distance to with a group of about six other recruits gathered around a Dejarik board. He, nearly triple her size. Scars were painted across his exposed skin. One of the most prominent ones was angled diagonally across his neck, as if someone had attempted to decapitate him. His muscular arms displayed a patchwork of slash marks criss crossing over the next. She could tell he was from a rough planet, and the roughest planets are always in the Outer Rim.
Rey didn’t like the feeling she perceived from this man. There was a voice deep inside her just begging her to run.
“Where do they find these guys?” she whispered to Finn, slightly tipping her head in her onlookers direction. “That man’s been watching us walk by for a few minutes now.”
Finn took a few seconds to study the man she pointed out trying the best he could not to draw attention to the fact that he was doing so. “He’s probably new to the Resistance and heard the stories of a Jedi fighting with us. More than half the people in my squadron thought they were a myth,” he said offering little reassurance.
“Yeah?” she questioned, still unsure if she believed his answer. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this man felt off.
“Rey, I wouldn’t worry about it,” he said and then offered, “If he’s bothering you, I can have a talk with him.”
“No. You’re probably right,” she decided. “I’m just not used to all the attention.”
“Okay. If you’re sure, then let’s hurry on to the mess hall and catch up with Poe,” he said and added, “He may know the guy.”
She decided to let it go. After all, the last time she relied on her instincts, they compelled her to bring Kylo Ren back to the light side. What a mess that turned out to be. This time, she’ll reason with her head.
xx
It didn’t take long to reach the mess hall and find Poe. He was surrounded by a large group of newcomers, all of which were captivated by his story recounting the attack on Starkiller Base. He loved sharing this story and did so every chance he got. It was a reminder of the incredible battles that could be won when the Resistance was at full strength.
When he finished, Poe waved Finn and Rey over, inviting them to share their take on the story. By now, word was getting around that Finn and Rey had faced Kylo Ren in a lightsaber duel and won. Everyone wanted to hear about that part.
Finn was all too happy to share the details of how he landed a blow on Kylo Ren’s shoulder, definitely a source a pride for him. Rey, however, no longer felt the same enthusiasm recalling her role in the fight. She had maimed Kylo badly, creating a scar that he will carry for the rest of his life. When they had become bonded, Rey caught a rare glimpse into the secret man behind the foreboding mask. She’d come to realize that there was so much more to who Kylo Ren was than just Snoke’s enforcer and his aspiring replacement for Darth Vader. This left Rey feeling guilty for marking him, though he may have deserved it at the time.
By the time they had finished recalling the story and had their fill of dinner, it was already moving late into the evening and they decided to call it a night. Finn, Poe, and Rey left the nearly vacant mess hall and made their way to their living quarters, which was across the open air square Finn and Rey passed through earlier.
Given the hour of the night, the activity that once filled the square had quieted down, leaving only a small handful of groups still catching up with one another. As the trio made their way through the center, something within Rey told her that they were being watched once more and cold shivers began crawling across her arms.
Slowly, Rey stole a sidelong glance at the remaining groups lingering in the square. From what she could tell, nothing seemed out of the ordinary as she studied one lively group after the next. Still, the feeling didn’t leave her and Rey began to tense. Remembering what Master Luke had taught her, she cast her eyes down, deeply inhaled and called upon the Force. The Light swirled around her, wrapping itself like armor against her skin.
She exhaled and reached out to perceive her surroundings. Surely, something was amiss.
After tuning out Finn and Poe’s conversation about when Rose would return, she felt a familiar presence looming not that far away.
Her eyes snapped open when she realized who it was.
As if understanding that he had been discovered, the man she’d noticed earlier that day - the one with the scars - moved slowly out of the shadows into the brighter light of the square. The light of the moon made the scars on his skin shine more prominently.
Fear made its way into her chest and Rey halted as she caught a gasp in her throat. Poe and Finn only took a few steps ahead of her before realizing she had stopped walking.
It was Poe who spoke first, taking one step closer to her, “Rey? Is everything alright?”
Still rooted to where she stood, Rey answered Poe not daring to take her eyes off the man with the scars, “It’s that man from before. Finn and I saw him as we were walking to the mess hall earlier. Do you recognize him?”
Poe followed her gaze until he too saw the man Rey referred to. “He’s not in any of my commands,” he said shaking his head and then inquired, “Why do you ask?”
“Because he’s been staring Rey down,” Finn interjected. “He was doing the same thing earlier today.” Finn took a step to flank Rey and she could see his hand slowly settle on the handle of his blaster. Taking note of Finn’s actions, Poe did the same.
The two exchanged a look. Nodding, Poe took a few steps forward and addressed the man, his hand never leaving the blaster secured at his hip. “Recruit, tell us your name and what you are doing out here so late.” Poe sounded every bit a commander, his voice strong and clear.
Rey reached to her side and found the hilt of her lightsaber. Something inside her gave a clear warning that something was wrong. Finn seemed to sense it too, for he took one step forward, placing himself slightly in between Rey and the unknown man.
With a low chuckle, the man took a few steps forward and answered Poe, “I am no recruit of the Resistance. The name’s Daxar Than, and that Jedi you have with you has quite the bounty on her head that we’d like to collect on,” he added while continuing to make his way closer to where the trio stood.
“What do you mean by ‘we’?” Poe demanded. Now the blaster had moved into his hand. His finger was close to the trigger, ready to strike if needed.
Daxar’s lips parted into a menacing smile and he gave another low chuckle before releasing a high trill of a whistle. “How rude of me. I haven’t introduced you to my crew.”
From every corner of the square, people emerged to circle Finn, Rey, and Poe. Some emerged from the shadows like Daxar, others were waiting in plain sight by the Dejarik boards. Rey took a quick count of the bounty hunters now entering the square and totaled fifteen fighters. They were outnumbered five to one.
Quick on his feet, Poe brought a comlink to his lips and called for backup before taking aim at Daxar and firing the first shot. But Daxar was ready for an assault and he moved quickly.
All at once, everyone opened fire. It was chaos.
As a few of Daxar’s men drew their weapons and began advancing, Rey ignited her saber and prepared for an attack. The Force was alive with energy, ready for her to command. She was ready for this. 
With a crack, her lightsaber crashed down on an electrostaff, but to Rey’s surprise, it didn’t break like she expected. In fact, it barely looked like it received a scratch. She broke the hold and continued to engage its owner with a series of quick parries before trying a more powerful blow again. When her downward slash met the staff, still nothing changed.
Its wielder gave a hearty laugh and mocked her, “Sorry to disappoint you sweetheart, but this staff is made of Mandalorian iron. Your lightsaber will do you no good.”
Kriff. Kriff! There was nothing in the galaxy stronger than Mandalorian iron. Not even a lightsaber from what she had read in the Jedi texts.
She broke away and retreated a few paces to give herself more ground and dared to steal a glance at Poe and Finn. Both of them were engaged in a shootout with five other people, including Daxar. In the dim light, she couldn’t tell if either of them had been injured, and that made her nervous. They needed help and they needed it fast.
The sound of a blaster firing brought her back to the fight and it was quickly followed by a pain in her thigh that was hot and angry. She took a few clumsy steps back to widen the distance between Daxar’s man and herself. Her concern for her friends had cost her.
Kriff, she thought.
Testing it, her leg felt heavy and the pain was sharp. A pool of crimson began to grow through her pants, but despite the pain Rey knew that she could still fight. She had to.
Another bolt was fired and Rey was ready this time. Her saber flew down to block the bolt and sent it flying off into the darkness.
“Nice try,” she goaded.
At her taunt, one of her assailants began firing more rapidly, hoping to break down her defenses, but Rey had the Force and was ready. She deflected bolt after bolt. When one bolt raced toward her, Rey took aim and deflected it back at her opponent, striking fast and fatally.
His shots ceased immediately and the man fell in a heap to the ground.
Unfortunately, her victory did not last long.
The man with the electrostaff returned and quickly took the place of his fallen accomplice, not even taking a moment to acknowledge the life lost. His other partner remained a few steps behind him. This time, the man with the staff was holding nothing back. Rey managed to block strike after strike, but her body burned with exhaustion of the effort she was putting it through. Her movements were slowing as her muscles grew tired and after a few more rounds, he finally got a hit on her.
Not only was the stab to her shoulder severe, but the stinging electrical current that surged through her entire body was crippling. Rey let out a cry of pain feeling as though thousands of sharp needles were pushing through her skin all at once.
With great effort, she clumsily retreated back a few yards, but her wounds were taking their toll. Crimson droplets dotted the ground around where she stood slowly staining the earth red. Her limbs didn’t respond the way she needed them to. Her wounds ached in protest begging her for rest. All the while, her assailants continued to advance. The closer they came the louder her heartbeat echoed in her ears.
“Segeedo. Stop playing around and finish it,” called Daxar, from across the square still engaging with Finn and Poe. “The longer we’re here, the more fighters will come.”
Heeding the command of their leader, another man pulled out a blaster and fired.
There was no bolt to deflect like before and Rey was caught off guard. In a mere second after the shot fired, Rey felt a small sting as something made contact with her skin. She reached for her neck and her finger tips grazed a small dart. Kriff.
At that moment, all of her strength and focus was quickly replaced by panic.
Daxar’s men just stood before her, waiting for whatever the dart contained to take its hold. If Rey was going to end this, it had to be now.
With the last ounce of strength remaining within her, Rey lunged at both the men with a series of melee attacks. With the increased surge of adrenaline, she was finally able to land a blow on the man with the electrostaff. Her saber was rewarded with the taste of blood and now hers wasn’t the only source of crimson marking the ground around them.
In the moment, she was proud to have landed a hit, but she couldn’t keep this up much longer. Rey could sense the strain fighting had on her body. Her senses were dulling, her body growing numb, and every sound around her was muffled.
Before she knew what was happening, Rey felt another round of pain and realized that it was her knees crashing into the ground unable to hold her weight.
No. This can’t be it. No!
The poison contained in the dart was working its way through her body and now started attacking her vision. Little by little, her world was being swallowed up into darkness.
Just when it seemed all hope was lost, a deafening and familiar silence surrounded her. She knew what this meant and that it may be her last chance.
“Ben!” she yelled as loud as her lungs would let her.
It was the last word to leave her lips before her world went black.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4  | Chapter 5 | Chapter 7
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hughshannon1994 · 4 years
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theinvisiblespoon · 6 years
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So here’s the thing:
(Just personal dilemma and my thoughts; trigger warning for mental illness including ADHD, anxiety, and especially depression; gun mention, school shooting mention, suicide mention (it’s pretty brief).)
I’m beginning to choose my classes for my next year of high school. 
Context:
I have three mental illnesses: ADHD, depression, and anxiety. I have only been taking ADHD meds since late 2017 and started antidepressants at the lowest dose about five-ish weeks ago. It was just bumped up recently. 
I’ve been living with mental illness for a while. It’s alright, last year was really tough, but I’m managing and getting the help I need. I now have a therapist and a psychiatrist.
A week or so ago, I talked with my dad. We’ve started to grow closer than we ever have been; communication has always been an issue. I said something along the lines of “it’s hard when I’m not feeling well to do simple things, like getting out of bed.” My dad and I talked about that for a little, but I could tell he didn’t quite get what it is like to have this. One rarely knows about anything unless they have gone through it themselves, and even then it is debatable. He was trying to understand, though, and that meant a lot. 
I am very lucky to be in such a diverse and accepting area where race, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc. is understood. If not understood, respected. If not respected, accepted. I can go by the name and pronouns I choose, not the ones I’m born with. It’s awesome. 
My parents were divorced...wow, a while ago. I was young enough to vaguely remember and old enough to understand what it meant. My parents, while still disagreeing on many things, both care for me and respect that the other cares for me. The divorce was good; I didn’t have to go to court or have to decide which parent to live with. I have split time, switching on Mondays, and my parents have begun to date others again but still work through issues with each other because they know it is the right thing for all of us. 
My mom particularly has found an awesome guy. They are stupidly in love and probably won’t get married. When they argue, it is only arguing, and usually about something stupid. Before the end of the night, they are saying that it is their fault to the other. They grow and learn from each other, and work to improve. They are both there for each other, and it’s awesome to see that stupid smile on both of their faces when talking about the other. They most likely won’t get married because they don’t feel they need to. 
Getting a psychiatrist (someone who prescribes meds for mental illness) took a long time, and I didn’t understand why until a couple days ago. My mom and I were talking, and when we talk, my mom tends to ramble and it leads to other and sometimes deeper conversations. I asked if my mother’s boyfriend had a mental illness, and she answered that he has depression. But, because of bad psychiatrists and bad doctors in general, he has lost faith in doctors. 
I was surprised to hear this; the psychiatrist I have is awesome. She doesn’t just ask if I’m okay, she asks how I’ve been feeling, how the meds are affecting me, what is common in people with these mental illnesses, how the meds work, how the mental illnesses work, and has given advice on how to deal with anxiety and depression when it gets bad. She recommended the 504 plan, which is a plan at the school that helps people with mental illness succeed in school. For example: longer test times, extended due dates, being able to walk out of class if it is too much. She even takes my blood pressure at the beginning of each meeting we have. 
My dad has ADHD, and my mom has ADHD, PTSD, and one or more things, I think. They both have experiences with many types of psychiatrists. During this conversation, she talked about how many psychiatrists will just ask if you are okay and prescribe meds. 
Now I know why getting a psychiatrist took a long time; they were looking for a good one. 
This struck me as odd. It shouldn’t be so difficult to get a good doctor to help you with mental health, but it is. 
With people I know well enough, I am very open about mental illness. When I first got on antidepressants, I told my friends the news happily. The reason why I don’t tell everyone (because I totally would) is because of this whole stigma against mental illness. I honestly don’t understand it; according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 350 million people worldwide suffer from depression. It is a leading cause of disability. One in six U.S. adults lives with a mental illness (44.7 million in 2016), and an estimated 49.5% of adolescents [have] any mental disorder. We should be having discussions about this. It should not be one of those topics most people feel uncomfortable talking about at Thanksgiving, like politics or sex. 
However, even in the rather open community where I live, it is still very difficult to talk about. 
Trying to explain this to my dad, for instance, took a lot of effort and deep-thinking, and then the message didn’t quite get across. All the while, even I felt a little uncomfortable. 
Society in its entirety has this view of mental illness that damages a lot of people to the point where many don’t seek help.
Theo Bennet says, “If we don’t recognize mental illnesses as physical health issues, then we will never get people the treatment that they need. One of the few certainties that I have learned from living with a father with bipolar disorder is that mental health is just as important as physical health. In fact, mental health is physical health; the two are inseparable. It baffles me that many people continue to make a distinction between the two.” I have had to stay out of school some days because my mental state was so bad, but you can’t easily get a doctor’s note for that, so it was rarely excused. 
Especially with the tragedy in Florida, many people are focusing on the fact that many shooters have mental illnesses. While the Trump Administration is giving money to certain departments-- 8.6 billion to the Department of Veteran Affairs and one million to the Children’s Mental Health Services program-- the budget blueprint also slashes spending for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration by $665 million. Additionally, the National Institute of Mental Health would see a 30 percent reduction in funding — a half a billion dollar decrease — in 2019. In a statement Trump gave soon after the Florida shooting, he talked about mental illness but made no mention of guns. Earlier in his presidency, he repealed a regulation that made it so people with mental illnesses could buy guns more easily. 
This is not what we should be focusing on. Many school shooters have mental illnesses, but most people struggling with mental illness are not school shooters. 
Even in things like domestic abuse, people think first of physical abuse. But, the research indicates that [psychological abuse] is just as bad and, in some cases, may be worse. 
What I’m trying to say is; mental illness is very real. It can be a monster to the people who have one, but the people who have one are not monsters. 
It is important to talk about this. It is important to talk about everything we don’t talk about just because it is uncomfortable to do so; especially because it is uncomfortable to do so. Whether it be mental illness, sex, rape, abuse, or anything else. 
ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), in my case, makes it incredibly difficult to concentrate on anything. When one multitasks with a lot of things, the brain jumps around from thing to thing, making it difficult to focus and remember; this is the best example I can give for what it is like to have ADHD. My thoughts are incredibly scattered. Doing things like homework is a nightmare. At the same time, I can get hyperfocused. The best example of this is reading. I’ll start reading a book and realize that I finished it, and when I look up it has been several hours since I’ve moved. My teachers often say that I am bright and intelligent, but I need to “apply myself.” I haven’t studied for anything for years but still get As on quizzes and tests. It’s a myth that ADHD drugs make you smarter; what they do is help compensate for the lack of certain hormones one has and brings it up to a normal level. It helps people with ADHD with concentration, not intelligence. I am on ADHD meds now; it is going pretty well. 
Anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder or GAD). That anxiousness you feel before you take a test is the type of anxiety I feel a lot of the time, for seemingly no reason. It has spiked in class a lot of times, and that panic just becomes overwhelming. Quick tip: a good breathing exercise that helps me is in for four, hold for seven, out for eight. I don’t rely solely on it, but it does tend to ground me. When it does spike, my throat feels weird and it is difficult to breathe (hence the breathing exercises) because my whole body is actually tensing up, and it is literally difficult to breathe because my throat is tighter. I play music or do something to distract myself because for now, that is all I know how to do. This disorder sometimes leads to panic attacks, and it has a lot in the past. 
Depression is one of those big ones, where the media often portrays it as someone looking out the window on a rainy day. This, particularly, is difficult to talk about for me, because last year it was really bad. The details I will keep to myself, but I will, of course, still discuss it. Depression isn’t just feeling sad, it’s more of an absence of emotion over a long period of time. I didn’t see the point in getting up in the morning, and my lates rose dramatically. In this absence of emotion, at least for me, it becomes an ache and a constant longing for something I can’t reach. Last year, I began to isolate myself. I didn’t take care of myself because I did not see the point in it. It wasn’t healthy in any capacity. (I’m a lot better than I was then, don’t worry.)
So, now that you have context: I’m beginning to choose my classes for my next year of high school. 
I’m smart enough to take AP courses, but because of the way my brain works, I know I absolutely cannot handle the workload. I understand all the material for this year, I pick up on it immediately, but the workload is always what kills me. 
While yes, I hate school, it sucks, I want to learn about math and science in higher level courses, and I want to do more with my electives in performing arts. The school district I am in has a lot of opportunities; I want to take music theory, creating music with technology, acting studio, choir, band, be in improv club and the play in the fall and the musical in the spring but I just can’t handle all of it. And it sucks that I can’t do what I love. 
I only have one elective this year, and will only have one next year. I also am required to take only two years of history and three years of math and science. If I can not take history and/or math next year and push it over to Junior/Senior year, I might be able to have two or three electives, but this is only if this is allowed. 
I want to be able to come to a compromise. Doing what I like for homework is easier than doing what I don’t like for homework, even with mental health issues. I would still fulfill all of my requirements and do what I love while accomplishing more at school if they allow me to push back a class or two a year. 
I feel like this is a fitting analogy for how society should deal with mental illness-- understanding and compromise. Helping people with their mental health to succeed at what they want to do instead of pointing at mental illness as “the problem.” If we can come to this as a society, a lot more people can succeed, the suicide rate would go down because more people would feel like they have somewhere to turn-- overall, those with mental health issues would be helped instead of being blamed for something they cannot control and have no one to help them with. 
Please, stop the stigma against mental illness. It’s not helping anything.
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newtshirtcom · 4 years
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ncmagroup · 6 years
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BY SUSAN WARD
Imagine closing each workday with a satisfied sigh, knowing that you had been so productive that you accomplished everything you wanted to get done that day. And knowing, too, that you were at the top of your creative game getting your tasks done both efficiently and well. See yourself walking away from work whistling.
Yes! You can be the star in this movie about productivity, rather than the alternate version where you hit the end of the day slumped behind a desk stacked with unfinished projects, so tired you can barely drag yourself away. If you don’t like the way your usual work day goes, change it.
Most of us aren’t as productive as we would like for two reasons: We have bad habits that interfere with our workplace productivity, and were reactive rather than proactive and spend much of our workday responding to and trying to put out fires.
The solution is simple. We can replace our bad habits and reactive patterns with good habits that will make us proactive instead and take charge of our own work days. Follow the tips on how to increase productivity on the following slides to be your best work “you” – the go-getter get-it-done you’ve always wanted to be.
01
 Do Your Heavy Lifting When You’re at Your Best
There’s endless advice out there for people not to do mental sludge tasks like answering email or routine chores in the morning but to start out instead doing whatever tasks are most demanding creatively – which is great if you’re a morning person. If you’re more of a night owl, like me, obviously this isn’t going to work well for you.
Productivity expert Tony Wong advises: “Use your morning to focus on yourself… Start your day out right by ignoring your emails in the morning and getting in a good breakfast, reading the news, meditating, or working out. This will ensure you’ve got the necessary fuel for a productive day.” The point is, do your most demanding tasks in your personal peak productivity time, whenever that is.
02
 Stop Multitasking
It’s a productivity killer. Research shows that productivity can be reduced by as much as 40 percent by the mental blocks created when people switch tasks and lowers your IQ. In a University of London study, IQ drops of 15 points for multitasking men lowered their scores to the average range of 8-year-old children!
Need more evidence? A study out of the University of Sussex in the UK indicates that multitasking may actually be physically harming your brain. The study found that participants addicted to using multiple devices simultaneously have lower gray matter density in a brain area called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is linked to emotional control and plays a role in decision-making, empathy and how we respond to rewards.
So stop it right now! Instead, dramatically increase productivity by focusing on one task at a time and give it your full attention before moving on to something else. And as soon as your eyes and hands start drifting towards something else, such as another screen, think about how important it is to keep all your little grey cells and resist temptation.
03
 Prepare a To-do List for the Next Day Each Night
To-do lists are invaluable productivity aids. They get you organized, provide you with focus and reward you with feelings of satisfaction when you’re able to check off things that you’ve accomplished. In my opinion, everyone should use them!
And making (or updating) a to-do list each night means that you won’t waste time at the start of the workday looking for your task. But using to-do lists is just getting out of the starter’s blocks when it comes to increasing productivity. If you want to really ramp up your production, there are two productivity hacks that will speed you to the finish line.
The first is to talk through your to-do list the night before with someone. Leo Wildrich explains the power of this technique in What Multitasking Does To Our Brains:
“When we sat down for just 10 minutes every evening, to briefly walk through the tasks of the next day, everything changed in terms of productivity. The reason was that instead of just writing tasks down, I was forced to also think through the tasks and explain them… The to-do list I jotted down didn’t change, but it felt as if I had done half the work of it all in my head already. The next day, all I had to do is look at the task and get it done.”
04
 Cut Down Your To-do List
How many items are on your typical to-do list? Eight? Twenty-eight? However many, you’ll feel good when you finish each of them and cross them off. But you’ll never join the ranks of the productivity superstars unless you cross off some of them before you even bother to do them – because productivity demands focus.
In The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs, relates how Jobs’s insistence that Apple produces just four computers saved the company. He also relates how Jobs used to-do lists to engender focus:
“After he righted the company, Jobs began taking his “top 100” people on a retreat each year. On the last day, he would stand in front of a whiteboard… and ask, “What are the 10 things we should be doing next?” People would fight to get their suggestions on the list.
“Jobs would write them down—and then cross off the ones he decreed dumb. After much jockeying, the group would come up with a list of 10. Then Jobs would slash the bottom seven and announce, “We can only do three.””
See? Increasing productivity demands focus. And focus means narrowing your options. So each night when you’re reviewing your to-do list, ask yourself two questions;
What are the important tasks on this list?
How many of these important tasks can I realistically accomplish or make significant progress on tomorrow?
05
 Delegate Properly
Delegation is to productivity as using a nail gun is to driving nails. Once you’ve started using it, you’ll be amazed at just how much faster and easier your job is. If you do it right. For many managers and business people, delegating is like a polar bear swim; they plunge in enthusiastically and then even more enthusiastically quickly leap out.
Why? The most common complaint is that delegating work gives the manager or business person even more to do; now they have to supervise someone else’s work as well as doing their own. Wrong, wrong, wrong. If you assign a task to someone and then supervise them closely while they’re doing it, you’re micromanaging, not delegating.
When you delegate properly, you have more time to spend on your own work. The key is to assign the right task to the right person, a person you know has the skills to do the job and that you can trust to get it done – and then leave them to it.
Yes, if you’re not used to delegating and (worse) a hands-on, control freak type, it will take a while for you to get used to delegating. But once you’ve mastered the trick, you’ll be astonished at how much more productive you are, freed to focus on what you need and want to do.
Learn how to delegate. Don’t have staff that you can delegate tasks to? Remember that outsourcing is just as good. As I say in Tips on How to Delegate Successfully,
“Look at your “whole life” when you’re choosing tasks to delegate. Sometimes delegating tasks in your personal life makes more sense economically or personally than delegating a particular business task. For instance, it may be much more inexpensive for you to hire someone to mind your children than hire someone to design a marketing plan.”
  06
 Eliminate Distractions
Nilofer Merchant, HBR Writer and founder of Rubicon Consulting, shares some of the most memorable advice I’ve ever read in 42 successful people share the best advice they ever received (Financial Post):
When she was starting out, her boss told her to feed the eagles and starve the turkeys.
“Feed the Eagles. There are only a few things that matter. Know what they are. And place your energy into them. They aren’t always right in front of you so you need to look up and out more. Starve the Turkeys – lots of things are right in front of you … pecking around, making noise, and demanding attention. Because they are right in front of you, it’s easy to pay attention to them most and first. Ignore them. They will actually do fine without you.”
I’ve already talked about the importance of focus. But the flip side is that you need to identify and ignore those turkeys too.
And for many of us, those turkeys demanding attention are social media and email.
To be productive, you need to shut down their noise and shoo them away. Turn off your email notifications – and even your phone notifications if you need full concentration.
Limit your time on social media and email. Are you a Facebook or Twitter addict? Use social media as a carrot. Allow yourself x number of minutes browsing after you accomplish a major task.
  07
 Plan Phone Calls
Wouldn’t it be nice to have your own personal secretary so you could say “Hold my calls!” while you were working on something?
Well, guess what? You don’t need one! You can manage your phone calls yourself and the payoff will be huge gains in productivity.
First, unless you are expecting a super-important call, turn off your phone when you’re about to work on a project that needs your full attention.
Then set aside a block of time to make all your outgoing calls and follow these Management Tips For Outgoing Telephone Calls so you waste less time trying to reach people and more time talking to the people you actually want to talk to.
If you’re working on something that doesn’t need your full attention, feel free to leave your phone on and answer calls; it saves you from having a batch of phone calls to return at some point during your day. These Management Tips for Inbound Phone Calls will teach you how to turn the calls you get into time savers rather than time wasters.
08
 Break up Work Periods With Exercise
Physical activity enhances brain function – and who’s not going to be more productive with a better functioning brain?
And while you might assume (rightly) that that enhanced brain power will give you improved concentration, more creativity, and faster learning, you might not realize that exercise increases your brain’s effective skills, too, meaning that you’ll find it easier to get along with others.
If you want the most bang for the buck, exercise during work hours. A Leeds Metropolitan University study found that 65 percent of workers who used their company gym at lunchtime were more productive and had better personal interactions with their colleagues than those who didn’t use the gym at lunch.
And a Stockholm University study found that devoting work time to physical activity led to higher productivity. What I really love about this study is that participants were just as productive (or even more so) in less work time.
In sum, it’s time to take these words to heart and get into a regular exercise regime:
“Instead of viewing exercise as something we do for ourselves—a personal indulgence that takes us away from our work—it’s time we started considering physical activity as part of the work itself. The alternative, which involves processing information more slowly, forgetting more often, and getting easily frustrated, makes us less effective at our jobs and harder to get along with for our colleagues” (Regular Exercise Is Part of Your Job, Harvard Business Review).
Don’t have a company gym? You can still exercise at work.
  09
 Be Optimistic
Happy people are more productive.
A series of four studies at The University of Warwick found that participants that were made happier had 12 percent greater productivity than those that had not.
A Maastricht University study of optimism and performance in call centers found that optimists in the tested group made more sales and achieved more bonuses.
Now in this last study, it was only dispositional optimists who showed an increased success. The study authors define dispositional optimism as generalized expectations of good versus bad outcomes in life.
So if you’re not a naturally optimistic person, this is the kind of optimism you want to cultivate – and the good news is that you can.
Research by Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage and Before Happiness, where tax managers at KMPG were asked to perform one of five activities a day for three weeks found that the experimental group still showed significantly higher scores in optimism and life satisfaction – not only right after the experiment concluded but four months later when they were retested.
The most effective of the five tasks the managers were asked to choose from was engaging positively with people in their social support network.
And the most direct route to happiness, Achor found in later research, was the result of providing social support to others.
“Social support providers—people who picked up slack for others, invited coworkers to lunch, and organized office activities—were not only 10 times more likely to be engaged at work than those who kept to themselves; they were 40% more likely to get a promotion.”
You can be that person!
  10
 Get Enough Sleep
Seventy percent of 1,000 randomly chosen Americans admitted to sleeping on the job in a survey done by William A. Anthony, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, and director of Boston University’s Center for Psychological Rehabilitation – because they need to, he says.
Early-morning commutes, long work hours, and too many responsibilities at home mean that increasing numbers of people aren’t getting the shuteye they need.
We all know that not getting enough sleep has negative effects on our performance.  Lack of sleep decreases our concentration, working memory, mathematical capacity, and logical reasoning. And because the pre-frontal cortex is particularly vulnerable to a lack of sleep, tasks that require logical reasoning or complex thought will be the most impaired.
What you may not realize is that it only takes one night of sleep deprivation for us to suffer big deficits in our abilities.
And take special note, those of you who persistently work more than 40 hours a week – we are productive up to about 40 hours a week but after that our productivity drops because when we get tired we make mistakes so the extra hours we put in are absorbed by correcting our errors. The fifty to sixty hour work week, then, is rather pointless.
So how much sleep do you need? Seven to nine hours a night if you’re an adult aged 26 to 64 years according to the National Sleep Foundation. (View an infographics showing the sleep needs of all ages.)
If you’re not getting that much, then taking a nap during the day could be really beneficial to your productivity.
  11
 One Last Tip
But certainly not the least; take care of yourself.
Getting enough sleep and making exercise part of your routine are just two of the things you need to do every day to be at your best and most productive.
You know the rest already I bet.
Eat a healthy diet.
Drink lots of water.
Get rid of your bad habits, whether they are smoking or hanging around toxic people.
And be nice to yourself as well as to other people. Take time for yourself and do whatever (healthy) thing recharges and refreshes you.
The healthier you are, the more productive you’ll be – and the more productive you are with your work, the more time you’ll have to spend however you like.
  Go to our website:   www.ncmalliance.com
How to Increase Workplace Productivity BY SUSAN WARD Imagine closing each workday with a satisfied sigh, knowing that you had been so productive that you accomplished everything you wanted to get done that day.
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pirotenge-blog · 6 years
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For those who have tried a few times to reduce weight, you are aware how much of an emotionally challenging battle this can be. We are discussing behavior modification in this particular scenario with weight loss, and that is what we will examine further. Not everyone wishes to shed weight just to look good, though for many this is their main motivation, especially before a holiday in the sun!
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A further fat you'll want in your own weight loss plans will be the Omega3 fats. The worst diet plans will just let you lose weight for a temporary time and then you will gain it all back anyway. All you are really doing if you're not following these steps already is changing your daily habits. HOWEVER, the second-to-none health and weight loss benefits it delivers make oats a fine addition to this brief list. When you cook meals of your own you will find that you are a lot more invested in the foods you eat as well as having total control over exactly how those foods are prepared.
Kyto Trim
Also, the amino acids would have been destroyed after even a few days of intense freezing. While everybody else is wandering around enjoying the spring weather, are you hiding out in your hermetically-sealed house? It can be really difficult to break the bad habits. This method relies on the motion of the body to burn off calories and as weight loss a result reduce body fat. Puppies, seniors, dogs in ill health, on prolonged antibiotic treatments, and those suffering from compromised immune systems have a higher risk factor.
Good advice is to refrain from struggling with too much, too fast, because doing so can easily grow to be too much to deal with. Fat loss weight as soon as you utilize a few minor known secrets, o maximize ones own strength and cutting right through the fat the body begins to take its natural shape instantly. But then Food, Inc has the same elements: food industry giants who slash food quality to boost profits and like vampires suck the health from America's food sources.
They only think of it as work, but it doesn't have to be if you select activities that you enjoy. You can cut down on carbohydrates and sweets as the first step. You also learned what these supplements are made from, why they are safe to use and how they can assist you to regain your youthfulness.
You can also improve your Google page rank through the links back to your site from the directories where you have submitted your articles. You should ask yourself questions like these when you set your goals. These patches work in the same way that stop smoking and pregnancy patches work.
I believe that dancing would be the easiest and most fun way to lose weight, this is due to the simple fact that you can do it anywhere and anytime and it just will not feel like work. Another factor that makes it difficult for women to get bulky is they simply don't produce enough testosterone hormones, thus there are absolutely no reasons to avoid resistance training, which play great part in getting rid of body fat and maintain lean body. That is the answer to either substantially decreasing or removing your eating weight loss response habits. There are many books and websites that advertise diets where you can supposedly lose lots of weight in a short time, and you may be tempted by these.
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10 Tips for Solo Female Travellers
While our area of interest leans more towards business travel from a business travel agency point of view, solo travelling when you are on business is probably more the norm than the exception and if you have some free time, taking in the local tourist spots would then usually also be done solo. Therefor we thought it apt to share this excellent article. Enjoy the read!
Solo travel is on the rise these days, and single female travelers may face some particular threats and obstacles while on the road—so France-based (and female) TPG International Contributor Lane Nieset highlights 10 tips and tricks to help women take a safe and savvy solo getaway:
I’ve had my fair share of experiences—both good and bad—while traveling by myself, from post-college backpacking through Europe to exploring far-flung locales around the globe. There are certainly hazards out there, and at times, being alone might feel more lonely than exciting. But while you can’t avoid every danger or setback, there are ways to be more aware, cautious, prepared and empowered while you’re out there exploring the world Marco Polo-style, as a modern-day woman.
Here are my 10 tips for other solo female travelers:
Try to blend in.
When I studied abroad in Paris during college, my professor said that wherever you go, you should learn how to say these six phrases and you’ll be golden: Hello, Goodbye, Thank You, How Much Does that Cost?, Where are the Toilets?, and I love You. I couldn’t agree with him more; these simple gestures make all the difference when it comes to respecting a culture. The same goes for dress code and clothing: a scarf can double as winter wear, as well as something to cover your hair or shoulders if you are in a Muslim country. This also goes for revealing or flashy clothing—save it for the nightclub. Even in sexy cities like Miami, you’re going to draw attention, and it may not always be the kind you want.
Talk to Strangers.
As a child, parents and teachers always taught us to shy away from strangers, but one of the best ways to explore a city is by striking up a conversation with someone you don’t know. For instance, I’ve met new friends on trains who’ve started sharing their tips about particular destinations, and by the time we arrive at our final stop, they’ve become my travel partners. Look up from your smartphone, step outside of your comfort zone and go on a new adventure, whether it leads you to a hidden (and delicious) restaurant recommended by the bartender who just served you, or to a speakeasy club that’s filled with locals. In high-end hostels like Europe’s Generator, you could even book a private room, but still enjoy the social setting hostels are known for—and make a friend to go out with that night. Just remember to use common sense and never disclose too much information about yourself.
Be Prepared for a Plan B.
Travel doesn’t always go smoothly. Planes are late or cancelled; trains get delayed; you might miss your ferry and have to wait a day or two for the next one. While airport information desks and airline attendants make it easier to handle these types of situations, it’s not always the case for other modes of transportation. My boyfriend is notorious for missing flights and has no fear of finding a last-minute spot to sleep in anywhere from Kazakhstan to Bangkok, but I’m the opposite—situations like this stress me out while I scramble for a solution.
I was once stranded at a train station outside of Venice in the middle of the night because my overnight connection was delayed three hours. For a woman on her own, a situation like this can be disconcerting, since many open-air train stations in Europe lack security, attendants, and any type of social setting like a café or restaurant. If you find yourself in a similar situation, try to find a well-lit spot that’s not deserted. Not an option? Train stations are typically near hotels, so try walking to a nearby spot and explaining your situation to the concierge. Most hotels are fine with allowing a woman on her own to sit in the lobby or hotel restaurant and wait for a few hours until her train arrives.
Use Social Media & Smartphone Apps. While you shouldn’t flash your new iPhone 6 around, prepare for your next journey by glancing at maps and recommendations on your phone. This way you have a general idea of where you’re heading and can avoid standing out too much like a tourist with a giant paper map. Social media is also a great way to find out about local events and attractions, as well as connect with locals. Book a room at a hotel, hostel or Airbnb while on the road, maybe even snagging a last-minute deal.
While I was exploring the coast of Croatia, I booked my B&B for the next night via iPad and not only found an incredible rate on a sea-view room, but also had a lovely welcome drink with the Croatian owner and daughter, who gave me great recommendations for things to do. Think Tinder is just for meeting your next boyfriend (or rendez-vous)? The app is also a way to get ideas for things to do from locals, and maybe even meet in a public group setting. Just be careful and once again use your common sense and female intuition.
Dine Alone—And Love It.
One of the main concerns most travelers have is dining alone. Telling the hostess (who may not even speak English) you want a table for one may seem intimidating, but there are ways around the awkwardness.
Breakfast and lunch are the easiest meals for eating solo. I can’t even talk before coffee, so a table with me and a newspaper is the perfect plan for breakfast at a café. Same goes for lunchtime: bring a book if you need to feel entertained during your meal, or take advantage of some free WiFi. Often when I find myself sitting solo at a café or park, I’ll jot down my trip-notes and personal thoughts in a small, stylish notebook that can fit in my purse.
At dinnertime, when it seems like everyone else is out with friends, on dates, laughing and conversing, I’ve found that tables seem too stuffy, so I opt to dine at the bar. Bartenders have a gift for gab, and can make great dinner companions. But remember, you took this voyage alone for a reason—whether it’s your own Eat Pray Love moment or a work trip—so consider simply savoring some alone time, free of distractions. (That is, aside from taking food pics for Instagram.)
Don’t Announce Your Room Number.
Most hotels have gotten savvy when it comes to keeping guests’ room numbers private at check-in. It’s better to have the check-in person write down the room number instead of announcing it out loud for others to know where you’re staying. When getting into an elevator or walking to your room, stay mindful of unwanted company; if a person makes you feel uncomfortable, as soon as possible, get off, pick up your pace, or switch directions. Share your itinerary with a close friend, parent, roommate, so that someone knows where to find you in case of an emergency. And a last word of advice when staying at hotels or going out on the town alone: don’t drink past your own limit. We know those craft cocktails at the hotel bar look cute and all, but when you’re on your own, you put yourself at risk when you can’t stay aware of yourself and your surroundings.
Guard Your Bags & Valuables.
A TSA-approved lock not only helps keep your bags (relatively) safe at the airport, but can also be used while staying in hostels and napping on trains. The same goes for keeping an eye on your purse, backpack and smartphone. I know a few women who have set their phones on a table while having lunch or a coffee, and the minute they looked away, it was gone.
Keep your passport safely stored at your hotel and stay aware of your bag in crowded places and on public transport. The Paris metro, for instance, is notorious for pickpockets who slash bags open and steal what’s inside. You should even be careful at clubs, especially when dancing with a handsome stranger. One second my friends were kissing a dark-eyed beauty, the next they realized their wallet was no longer in their cross-body purse. Always have spare copies of your passport and identification, just in case those go missing, too.
Carry Local Currency.
Whether you withdraw money at an ATM or convert your dollars at the airport, always carry local currency in case of an emergency—and never pack it in a checked-in bag while flying. Depending on the country, some restaurants and taxi drivers may only take cash, or your credit card may not work with certain vendors (even with the international EMV chip). Having cash is also useful at local markets, or when your Uber driver fails to show and you need to hail a taxi. I also like to keep spare cash and an emergency credit card in a separate bag (usually stored safely at the hotel) in case something happens to my wallet or purse. For those in a real rut, Western Union is a great resource for friends or family to wire you money. (This has saved friends of mine who “lost” their purses at nightclubs in Paris.)
Wander, but Use Caution. I love learning my way around a new city—wandering through different neighborhoods during the day, figuring out how to navigate local transport, and finding great restaurants, cafes, bars and shops, but I always try to discover where not to go, especially at night.
When I first moved to Nice on the Cote d’Azur of France, I was told by locals that walking alone in the Old Town at night wasn’t the safest bet; women had been mugged, beaten up and grabbed in the street. As I result, I avoided unlit areas, tried to walk on busier streets, and kept my phone close at hand in case I needed to call for help.
But I also quickly learned to avoid speaking loudly on the phone or to a friend when walking at night, as my French isn’t always perfect. If you’re not fluent or can’t get a hang of an accent, speaking loudly will draw attention to the fact that you’re a tourist, and potentially an easy target.
The lesson? Do your exploring in daylight, and be prepared to get back to your lodging safe and sound at night, even if that means a direct taxi ride versus braving the subway. And always keep a card with your hotel’s name and address on it (especially for that moment when your trusty phone battery dies) that you can give to the driver to ease communication.
Take a Tour or Try a Local Activity.
Free walking tours exist in most major international cities, and are a haven for solo travelers, because not only can they help you get your bearings and learn more about the culture, you’re with a crowd of people for a few hours and may find someone to meet up with for the next few days, or even make a new friend.
Other local activities can provide the same perks. If you’re in Bordeaux, sign up for a wine tasting. In Tulum, try a yoga class or week-long retreat. Go on a kayaking trip in Norway. Making connections with people who have similar interests can make the world feel smaller—and inspire you to keep traveling.
Treat solo travel as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and the world. Let loose, but take simple precautions like these to stay safe without worrying too much. You’re on vacation, after all.
Ask your corporate travel agent to work in some ‘bleisuring’ into your next business trip! Need some good advice? Why not connect with TravelManor today.
Source: http://businesstravel.postach.io/post/10-tips-for-solo-female-travellers
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strmyweather · 7 years
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“There’s always gonna be another mountain / I’m always gonna wanna make it move”
(This is Part III of a multi-part post. Read about the back story and the most recent tipping point here.) 
I’ve fought the body composition fight on many levels over the years, from Paleo to Whole30 to intermittent fasting to gluten-free to a ketogenic diet. I had varying degrees of success with each one, and plenty of ‘non-scale victories’ and learning experiences, but none of these methods were proving to do the trick this time. I even tried training for a half marathon (since my lowest adult weight had been just prior to PA school, when I was participating in a workplace weight loss challenge, exclusively running for exercise, and had never heard of CrossFit). The race was fun, but even all that extra cardio training really didn’t impact my body composition at all.
I happened to make a PCP change around this time, and I knew my new provider was a fan of phentermine. We talked about it at length, and after reading a couple of studies and hearing her thoughts, I decided I wanted to give it a try. I won’t say that I wish I hadn’t done it, because the quick progress—which was reflected in the gym; it was suddenly much easier to hold a handstand, to kip a couple more reps on the pull-up bar, etc.—definitely helped with the motivation to stick this out over the long haul. However, I eventually stopped the medication of my own accord after eight or nine weeks; it was severely impacting my sleep and I was noticing heart rate issues in the gym. By that point, I had lost roughly 17 lb and was back at my ‘Philly weight’ of about 156, which is what I’d maintained easily throughout my two years in the city and which I’d always thought of as a healthy/functional size for me. However, it ‘felt different’ this time—in hindsight, probably because my body fat percentage was still significantly higher than it had been when I’d been this weight before. The fit of my clothes hadn’t changed as much as I would have expected, and nobody in my life was ‘noticing’ that I had lost weight; despite the pretty significant numerical difference on the scale, my outward physical appearance didn’t seem to have changed much. I wasn’t sure what to do next.
And then, the universe offered me a gift in the form of a dear friend from Philly, who texted me that she and her husband were starting Renaissance Periodization—often abbreviated as simply ‘RP’ or ‘RP Strength’—and she thought I might be interested in ‘playing along’ with them from afar.
RP consists of two major tracks: ‘cut’ (fat loss) or ‘mass’ (muscle gain). At its core, the approach is just regular macro-counting—carbs, protein, and fat—but with emphasis on nutrient timing as it relates to workouts. In this way, it’s different from other ‘diet plans’, because it’s athlete-specific. Another wrinkle is that RP bases its ‘workouts’ on the amount of strength being demanded of a muscle��pure cardio sessions are generally not ‘counted’ by RP. CrossFit is considered a ‘light’ training day under the RP plan (whaaaaat?), and straight endurance exercise, like running or biking, doesn’t count at all. (This is one reason that the RP plan may not be the best approach for the average Joe or Jane who isn’t strength-training.)
I’m the first to admit that RP’s core tenets are pretty dramatically different from anything I’d been doing before—and as someone who came into this approach with a pretty solid base of nutritional knowledge and experience, that truly shocked me. I definitely had a healthy degree of skepticism at the outset; ultimately, it was reading the 100+page RP e-book—which delves deeply into the science of the rationales behind each of the guidelines, and explains why it all makes physiological sense—that convinced me to go all in. To summarize (in decidedly less than 100 pages), RP is based on the following premises:
(1) WEIGHT loss requires a caloric deficit… This one is pretty obvious. Physiologically, you’ve got to take in less than you burn off.
(2) …but to avoid MUSCLE loss, a certain amount of protein, spread throughout the day, is required. RP calls for five or six ‘meals’ in a day, with total daily protein split evenly among them, and with two of the ‘meals’ being shakes—a whey shake (quick-release protein) during training and a casein shake (slow-release) at bedtime. This advice isn’t guided by the old school of thought that we need to eat every couple hours “to keep our metabolism from slowing down”—science has long disproven that one; rather, RP asserts that frequent protein intake specifically prevents muscle catabolism during fat loss.
(3) Carbs should be taken in predominantly around the workout—including DURING the workout itself… As a 6am CrossFitter, I trained fasted (on an empty stomach, just drinking BCAAs dissolved in water) for four-plus years. Now, I drink a shake made with orange juice and vanilla whey protein—about 1/3 prior to arrival at the gym and the other 2/3 throughout the session. After an initial couple days of belly discomfort, my body adjusted, and now I eagerly look forward to my ‘liquid Creamsicle’ every morning. (And I had to admit: certain movements, particularly wallballs and thrusters, started to feel just slightly less horrific once there were some high-GI carbs floating around to provide some extra power.) For me as an early-morning exerciser, this whey shake and the immediate post-workout meal are the two ‘meals’ where I get the largest amount of carbs; my carb number then tapers off throughout the day as I get further out from the training session. (This pattern will obviously be different for someone who trains at noon vs at 5pm vs at 9pm; one of the things you get when you buy the ‘official’ RP plan is a multi-page Excel spreadsheet that specifies exactly what the numbers would be for your gender, bodyweight, and training schedule.)
(4) …and, therefore, on a non-training day, an athlete requires far fewer carbs. On a day without a workout, the total amount of daily carbs is slashed approximately in half (partly accomplished by the omission of the whey shake). The permitted amount of fat goes up a bit (depending on how ‘deep’ into the plan you are), and stays more steady throughout the day.
(5) As you move through the phases of the plan, carbs and protein remain essentially the same; it’s the FAT that changes. I dare you to find me an athlete on a low-carb diet. (I’ve tried it, more than once, and, to be frank, it made me feel like absolute shit.) Just as protein preserves muscle, carbohydrates (a) serve as the body’s preferred fuel for workouts, and (b) prompt the insulin response that ‘opens up’ muscle cells to allow protein to enter. Since both these macros serve a purpose in terms of performance and muscle-building, it doesn’t make sense to cut them. The purpose of fat, on the other hand, is primarily for taste and satiety. (Of course we all need a little fat for hormonal purposes, especially women, but the necessary amount isn’t hard to get when your diet includes meat and nuts.) So the RP plan starts with a ‘base’ (maintenance) plan, then moves through three progressive phases (either ‘cuts’ or ‘masses’ depending on your goals), each of which changes the overall calorie balance primarily by adjusting the amount of FAT that’s taken in. The progressive adjustment is necessary in order to continue seeing changes, because our bodies are smart and can alter their metabolism to ‘get used to’ anything after a little while; this is one reason why RP doesn’t recommend sticking to ANY plan for longer than 12 weeks without taking a solid couple months at maintenance. Personally, while I did do the full 12 weeks, I had great results from just cuts 1 and 2; I didn’t ever go all the way to cut 3, because that’s where the plan starts slashing carbs, which didn’t make sense for my purposes (I’m trying to be a better CrossFitter, not win figure competitions).
Things I Like:
It’s straightforward. RP counts a food item as just one macro, rather than making you count everything. Nuts are ‘just’ fat, meat is ‘just’ protein (assuming you’re sticking to stuff that’s 90/10 or leaner), and non-starchy veggies are altogether ‘free’. There are certain exceptions (like beans or dairy), but in general, you don’t have to count all three macros for each food.
It’s not possible to ‘run out’ of macros. Since RP mandates that the meals are spaced out throughout the day, with specific numbers based on what time of day you’re training, you can’t take an IIFYM-style approach. I clearly recall previous macro-counting days where I would happily eat pizza for lunch… then realize it was 3pm and my carb/fat macros were mostly used up, so all I had ‘left’ for the rest of the day was (say) 40 grams of protein. Not only is that an annoying and stressful situation, but it’s also difficult to plan for in terms of what kinds of food you need in the house to fill in the gaps. Which brings me to my next point…
RP is predictable. Most of us stick to more or less the same gym schedule—a 6am athlete is pretty much always a 6am athlete. So, after the first couple of weeks, you’ve learned what your macros are on training days vs rest days (and at what times of day), and have figured out a few options for meals you can build around those macros. Once you’ve learned what foods correspond to the numbers, you don’t have to think about the actual numbers so much. (By this point, I don’t even remember the specifics of what my AM and PM shakes actually consist of; I just know how much of each ingredient to dump in.) Food is mentally simplified to just ‘fuel’, rather than ‘fun’.
It’s cheap. Once you do what I affectionately call ‘the protein load-in’ (frozen meats in bulk, giant containers of whey + casein proteins, a big jar of nut butter, and a stock of any shakes/bars you’re going to incorporate), then you’re pretty well set for a while. The only extra things I’ve had to buy on any kind of consistent basis are bananas, orange juice, deli meat, egg whites, and Trader Joe’s frozen carrot noodles (one of my staples—only 16g carbs in half a box!). I also happened to start getting a weekly CSA box right around the time I started this adventure, so one of the ways I keep things from getting boring is by finding ways to use whatever fresh veggies happen to show up that week.
Things I Don’t Like:
It’s a lot of math. Especially in the beginning when you’re first figuring it out, and especially if you’re batch-cooking things with a lot of ingredients that you have to add all together. There’s definitely an ‘overwhelm’ phase in the beginning, partly because…
It never feels like enough food. If you’re like most of us, you’re accustomed to two or three large-ish meals throughout the course of a day, and also to the concept of being able to eat until you feel generally satiated. With RP, you get a set quantity and that’s it, and the quantity you get is going to feel a LOT smaller than a ‘normal meal’. (Which is a good reason to load up on veggies…!)
It can be stressful. Trying to scan a restaurant menu for something you can eat is an awful feeling. If your schedule is unpredictable, you have no time to meal prep, and/or you have a bustling social life, RP may be more trouble than it’s worth.
YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS MUCH TUPPERWARE. Seriously. When meal-prepping on RP, I am regularly reduced to using Ziploc bags and empty gelato containers to store my portions.
Egg whites. I dislike them on principle because all the nutrients are in the yolks! But on an RP cutting template, one whole egg will push you perilously close to the threshold of your allotted fat at any given meal, while still leaving a lot to be desired in terms of the protein count. So, yeah. Egg whites. (Sigh.)
However, overall, learning and incorporating this complex plan—and seeing how well it has worked—has been an absolute light bulb moment for me, partly because it draws on my medical education in terms of just how much sense it all makes. In hindsight, I can’t believe how much I’d been unconsciously working against myself. Apart from the fact that I was consistently training in a fasted state (the very point at which muscles most need nutrients and, physiologically, are most primed to absorb them), my standard post-workout breakfast for years had been chicken sausage with two hard-boiled eggs (which is obviously high-protein, but contains (a) almost zero carbs to help that protein be absorbed, and (b) a fair amount of fat, which slows digestion and therefore causes the protein to be absorbed that much more slowly). And we won’t even discuss my attempts at intermittent fasting or a ketogenic diet. This also explains why I saw comparatively minor visible results with the phentermine despite a 17-lb numerical loss—because I wasn’t paying attention to macros and therefore probably lost a significant amount of muscle during that time period (which kills me!). In short, I’d been shooting myself in the foot—with multiple weapons—for literally my entire CrossFit career… and never realized it.
I’m in week 12 as we speak, and am definitely ready to be done with this cut, because I’ve reached a point where I can tell I need a break, both physically and mentally. I’ve been feeling under-recovered in the gym for the past few weeks due to the persistent calorie deficit, and I definitely miss having a social life and the occasional cocktail or restaurant meal. An RP cut isn’t intended to be sustainable over the long haul (again: no more than 12 weeks—it’s not a ‘diet’ that you stick to for the rest of your life; it’s a plan to help you to eat for a specific performance goal), so these are all completely ‘expected’ complaints at this stage. By contrast, the RP base plan really did feel easy and sustainable (and actually encourages a couple of cheats each week), so I’m excited to soon be able to return to that.
Stay tuned for Part Four / the transformation (everyone’s favorite!).
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