Positive Thinking

I haven't posted a blog post in a while. I, like many other teenagers, have been revising for exams (yay). 

I've never really been one of those people that can put in hours and hours of revision. A lot of my friends are in top set for most subjects and so they spend their day with their head in a textbook, revising solid. They're not really sure why. They follow the crowd. They'll probably get good results but won't those results become useless in 10 years time. When you've finished school you compete with a lot of others for one job. Each of the candidates have the same grades. There's one person there that has average grades but they've had a lot of experience working in the same industry. Who would you choose? Someone who knows how to read a textbook or someone who knows how to work?

Despite this, I'd still like to do okay in my exams. Which I think is understandable. I believe that positive thinking helps so much. If you go into an exam convincing yourself that you're going to fail, likelihood is that you probably will. I tend to go into exams thinking I've done the best that I could do. I've worked, I've tried and what will be will be. 

Most importantly I remember that there is life after exams. Some of the most successful people in business don't have degrees but that doesn't mean they haven't had to work hard. They knew what they wanted to do and they devoted their time to that one passion, that one end goal. 

I hope that all of you who are sitting exams over the next month do well, as I'm sure you will and I wish you the best of luck!

x~Jess~x 

Aims and goals

As I am currently preparing for my GCSE exams that are coming up in the next couple months. I decided to take a break from drowning in a sea of revision and talk about aims and goals. 

I admit, I've never been someone that can spend hours and hours with my head in a textbook memorising every word from the page, I get distracted far to easily. 

However, I have been doing at least an hour a day making mind maps for subjects which is proving to be helpful. 

The problem is, a lot of people that do get the good grades just don't know what they want to do. They don't really have any ambitions or hopes for the future and so they leave school with no real career path. 

I could talk to you about all my aims for the future but that could end up slightly boring. In shorter terms, I'd like to go into event planning and continue with charity work.

When I talk about aims, I don't just mean education wise. Some people may want to travel around the world, be rich or pass their driving test. Aims can be anything but it's important to know how to achieve them. 

I'd definitely suggest making a bucket list. It's a great way to know exactly what you want out of life and make everyday count. 

Also, don't just stay indoors when it's warm, make sure you go outside, walk the dog, go to the park, go shopping. These all count as experiences, sure, they might not be the most exciting experiences but it's still better than sitting at home on the internet. 

Also a little update to add on. My friend Jenny has started a blog (www.jennyspaceblog.blogspot.com) so go and have a little look. I'll be taking on a similar thing to what she's doing at the moment with advice and will also be doing product reviews so if you have any questions or ideas. Please get in touch. 

x~Jess~x

Asking for help

So after being away from this blog for quite a substantial length of time (let's just ignore the date of my last post) I have been persuaded by one of my good friends to return to the blogging world - yippee!

I may seem like a confident person behind this blog, but in reality, that's not the case. My close friends know me to be quite outgoing and confident. However, looking back at school reports I was the shy girl that "lacked confidence". 

I never really put my hand up in class, I don't know whether that's because I'm scared I'll get the answer wrong and be embarrassed that I even dared to answer or whether it's because putting your hand up involves using my much needed energy because you actually have to physically move a part of your body, probably the first option in all seriousness. 

Because of this lack of involvement in class I also found it difficult to ask for help. When the rest of your class understand something and the teacher resumes to her desk to do marking or check emails (what do teachers do at desks!?) you feel awkward and the rest of the class are silent, you can't disturb that. Well I can't anyway. 

Sometimes teachers look over your shoulder and ask you if you're alright, they're already expecting you to say "yes thank you" like the other 90% of the class has so if you had a problem, you'd be the odd one out. 

I've learnt that actually it is okay to ask for help, the fact that you broke the silence and became the odd one out your classmates won't even remember the next day. Yet, you have learnt something that could potentially save you in an exam. So, what's it worth? 

x~Jess~x

The gift of giving

When I'm older I want to look back on my life and feel as if I've achieved something, as if I've made someone's life a tiny bit better and as if I've made a difference. 

So often we are so caught up in our busy lifestyle that we neglect simple acts of kindness. I'm not saying that everyone should go and set up a charity but even just being nice, putting that extra bit of effort into making someone smile.

For those of you that don't know, I send out gifts to children with serious conditions and illnesses through my charity. I have been asked a lot of times "why do you do it? It must take up so much time". 

It's hard work, there's no denying that but it's the feeling that you get knowing that you've made a child that is going through a difficult time smile, even just for that moment. 

Through my charity I've met so many inspiring families and to know that I've helped them even in a really small way is something that I will be able to look back on in 10, 20, 30 years time and think "yeah, I did that".

Smiles are contagious :) 

x~Jess~x

Unsocial networks

Being a teenager, I spend a lot of time on websites such as Facebook and Twitter, checking them frequently through my phone as they are so easily accessible and a quick and simple way to talk to friends no matter where they are. In that sense, these social media sites are great. 

However, it does make us lazy, it is easier to send a simple message than to actually pick up the phone and talk to people (like who does that anymore) it may also mean that we don't see as much of our friends and family as we feel that we don't need to, because we can talk to them through these sites. 

It is only once they are no longer there to talk to that we realise how much we miss them. My advice would be to meet up with friends, with family. Yes, you may be able to talk to them through these sites which is great but don't rely on them. You're not going to make memories by sitting on a computer all day. 

Unfortunately we are the lazy generation, bought up surround by easy access technology, we do not write letters and very rarely phone anyone but I think we should pick up the phone occasionally (since it's constantly in our hands anyway) and at least hear the voice of those we care about. 

x~Jess~x 

^typed with my phone

Antiques and 80s music

So apologies for not writing a blog post in a while I've had 0% motivation and not had much to write about. 

So these are not two of my favourite things. My dad is obsessed with antiques and when I was young my mum had her own antique shop. I probably know more about antiques because of this than the average 16 year old girl. My parents were keen for me to develop an interest in antiques, this wasn't the case. I looked at antique jewellery and thought "nobody my age wears that" and I couldn't find anything that appealed to me. I did collect cars for a short amount of time and have acquired a box of them in the garage but it didn't last. 

I do however like 80s music which may seem odd, my parents are keen on all types of music and have played 80s music to me since I was born probably, it used to be the only music I knew until about the age of 10. However, 80s music is something I do seem to like.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that has had to put up with doing something they weren't interested in, if you have a similar story why not share it? 

x~Jess~x

Self Esteem

I wanted to do this blog post today because there's a lot of people that aren't confident and aren't happy with the way they look and don't belive in themselves etc.

Recently, a lot of my friends have been talking about dieting and going to the gym etc. 

I've really never been interested in dieting or going to the gym and things like that. I'm not fat and neither are my friends but I really don't eat healthily. I'd like to be able to eat healthier and eat more fruit but I really don't have that much motivation to do that.

I think there's a lot of reasons why people suffer with self esteem issues. There's obviously models that are incredibly thin in the media, some are unhealthily thin and some girls have a desire to be like them. It could be because of being bullied, if someone has been bullied then they're confidence is going to be massively knocked. If you say to someone "you're ugly" a lot of people won't just let it pass, you may even forget that you've said it but they'll still believe that they are ugly.

Another reason is that some people can find it difficult to make friends, which is linked with the confidence issues. I do find it difficult to make friends and find it hard to trust people, I talk to a lot of people on a regular basis but there's only a few of them that I can 100% trust.

You may also have aspirations, for example, you might want to be a lawyer but there's people around you that tell you that you never will be. The right attitude there I believe is to prove them wrong but some of the time people give up to easily and think "yeah, they were right, I can't do it". I know I've certainly done that before.

I think self esteem is a big issue and once you do start to feel bad about yourself or a situation then that can be a very hard cycle to get out of. I'd like to start being more positive and believing in myself a little bit more. I think that anybody can achieve their goals if they are determined to do so and aren't being held back by the people around them.

x~Jess~x