Positivity VS negativity

What really annoys me is when people deliberately create a bad situation for themselves. I do not know what their motive is, but to me it is as annoying as when someone on the tube sneezes and then places their hand back on the handrail. 

The thing is, being happy is so much easier. Whether I wake up in a good mood or a bad mood, I try to slap a smile on my face. It has actually been shown that smiling makes you happy, rather than being happy makes you smile.

"It would appear that the way we feel emotions isn’t just restricted to our brain—there are parts of our bodies that help and reinforce the feelings we’re having,” says Michael Lewis, a co-author of the study. “It’s like a feedback loop. No one yet knows why our facial expressions influence our emotions as they seem to. The associations in our mind between how we feel and how we react may be so strong that our expressions simply end up rein­forc­ing our emotions—there may be no evolutionary reason for the con­nec­tion. Even so, our faces do seem to communicate our states of mind not only to others but also to our­selves. “I smile, so I must be happy,” Grob says.

Source- Scientific American.7

This is also another thing that completely baffles me. I didn't enjoy all of my school life but there were aspects that I absolutely loved. When people asked me how I doing in London, I would always reply, 'Great thanks, I'm really enjoying it!'. I didn't say what I was enjoying about it, just that it was a great experience. Moaning about the state of the toilets or the fact I didn't like my maths teacher wouldn't change anything, would it? Focusing on the positives got me through it! However, there are a lot of people in life who will take any chance they get to pin point all of the negatives and tell everyone how awful it is. They don't mention or even acknowledge the good bits, the 9 times out of 10 it was okay. Because it didn't reach their standards, all of the 'horrible' bits stand out and overpower the entire situation. To me, that is pointless. It doesn't achieve anything and is definitely not constructive.

So the lesson of my rant today is think positive and smile; It'll make the day seem so much easier!

Where is home?

As a young child (well I am still technically young, so let's say 'younger') I had the air of confidence that most toddlers have on their first day of school. I thought it was going to be amazing, and at first, it was! I mean, I could go to the sandbox whenever I wanted. I was learning how to read and do some kind of writing. I remember when I was about 5, you had to learn a certain amount of spellings before you got your 'breakthrough'. Every week I would try and try, yet I always failed at it. Then, one week, I finally managed to learn all of my spellings and my teacher looked at me with the biggest smile I could imagine. Then, as the ritual followed, you would go around each classroom and the teacher of that class would give you a sticker. It may be a false memory, but I would class that as one of the best days of my life.

Being a creature of habit, I absolutely detested change. My mum describes my childhood as me being 'either on the floor mid tantrum, red and sweaty from a tantrum or screaming hysterically'. Charming! However, when the time came to tell me that I would be leaving my little home in Essex and moving to Yorkshire, I think my main question was 'will I get a packed lunch now?'! I always had hot dinners at school and I think I was getting a little sick of them...

I think my brother found it the hardest to move away, though. Me being 6, I had no real memories of the place and moving to a new school and area in Year 1 would not really impact my life. Yes, I had friends in Essex, but I could make new ones (and thankfully I did!). My parents had grown up in that area, but I think they were more focused on creating a new and happier life for their kids and did not worry too much about the consequences. They had phones and transport, so it wasn't such a big deal. My brother, however, was 10 going on 11. He had already made friends for life and was in the dodgy pre-pubescent stage where your voice cracks if you got too alarmed. He would only be in Year 6 for a year before he moved on to the local secondary school. I never really took into account how scary that must have been.

Now, I'm leaving school. I've lived in 4 boarding accommodations in the space of 3 years. My accent was never really Northern, but now I can say it certainly isn't! It's weird, but I never feel like I fit in because I move around too much. I still have friends up here and down there, but I feel like I'm some creature with two personalities because I change around different people. It's not a crime, so don't feel ashamed of it. Would you judge a chameleon for changing colours so it fits its background? No, you'd say that it's doing it to survive. Maybe we all are to. 

Procrastination

Procrastination is a funny thing. I never really realise that I'm procrastinating until I remember that I have one hundred and one things to do! Like right now; I'm meant to be revising my biology but I somehow ended up writing a new entry to my blog... Very, very sneaky, brain.

However, I don't beat myself up over it. Some days I just accept that it's going to be a 'distracted' day and that I'll have to do my best at the next moment I get. My friends and family came over to have a BBQ today, but I wasn't going to hibernate in my room, agonising over the difference between plasma and cytoplasm when I could be downstairs having a burger, could I? NO! At the end of the day, you have to put into perspective how important exams are. I mainly need a C in Maths and English in order to secure my place in college, so I will revise and do my absolute best to do so. Not socialising and stressing over the outcome of my test will do me no good whatsoever. No, I won't be lazy and just wing it, as if I fail my exam I will definitely know why! There's a happy medium of 'studying enough' and having fun.

Even if I do fail, I won't be absolutely distraught. I mean, they're GCSE's! I will go in, do my best and if I fail, I FAIL. It's not the end of the WORLD. It doesn't tell anyone how much of a hard worker I am, or my intelligence. It doesn't say all of my achievements and the fact that I can get the job done. It just means that I might have to take a little time before I go to college to get the acquired grade and earn some more life experience. What use are GCSE's if you're too exhausted from revising that you physically cannot go to college anyway? It's never an absolute answer. There are always other options and solutions.

With my minor rant over, I'm off to go and revise. HAPPY SUNDAY!

Leaving the past in the past

Yesterday, I took a giant leap in my short life and left high school. It wasn't my choice, as such, as it is the time of the year when Year 11's have their study leave in order to prepare for their GCSE's. If I'd had the choice, I think I would have given up on my second day!

Most people get emotional and anxious about leaving education, as there is a huge misconception that once you are thrown into the real world, it all goes to pot (For some people, quite literally. Most came into school baked as a cake.). This is completely not the case, though! Leaving school is meant to be something amazing and wonderful, finally getting to 'leave the nest' and feel the wind known as responsibility and bigots beneath your wings. What is life without a little challenge in every day? I don't know where I would be without having to face prejudice and the arrogance of some people on a daily basis. I doubt that my patience would be as strong without them!

Leaving your familiar surroundings helps you to adjust to newer and sometimes even better ones. When I was 13, my mum found an advert about getting a scholarship to Barbara Speake Stage School. I begged her to let me go. I mean, three years in London, attending a school which caters to my vocational needs? Surely I was missing something! So, we travelled down and I auditioned for my chance to be trained up to face the theatrical world. Unfortunately, I didn't get the full scholarship, but the school was kind enough to offer me a part paid one. Jumping at the chance, I soon started my first day; May the 3rd, 2011. 3 years, many bills and one hell of an experience later, I've said my farewells and I am soon to be starting college to gain as much knowledge about music there is to offer. 

The one unfortunate thing about stage school is the lack of attention to the academic needs of the students. With it being mainly focused on the vocational part, it wasn't ideal for someone wanting to do something other than performing. Also, with it being extremely small (110 students from the age of 3-16), those who struggled often got left behind and those who excelled were in the wrong school. However, I cannot deny that it has given me life experience which will stick with me forever, combined with stories of passionate art teachers and catty students. It's been one Hell of a run ('Hell' being the operative word!), but I wouldn't exchange it for the world. The person I am today has been created by this school, and I can't wait to go to college where I put my knowledge to use.

This is my entire senior school. I told you it was small!