Let the Holidays Begin!

Photo Credit: All Credit goes to rightful owner(s)
of photo. Retrieved from weibo.com

I can't express how happy I am to be done Final exams and on holidays! After weeks and weeks of constant studying, battling with a nasty cold, and sleepless nights, I can now actually enjoy my time and take a break.
There are just so many things I want to do this holiday, from meeting and catching up with friends to shopping, putting up my Christmas Tree to full blasting Christmas carols on my iPod and CD player at home. Finally, there is a sense of joy and happiness within the air. No longer am I bombarded with stress of having to review human anatomy and physiology everyday--well at least up until next semester which starts in January!

Tomorrow, I will be going Christmas shopping, I am seriously running late on schedule for this, but well it really is not my fault since I never got a chance to enjoy the beginning/ start of the Holiday month since in the Post Secondary education world is a time where EXAMS creep your life and take away your opporutnity to sleep well.

Well, here I come Christmas holidays, and man I am just so relieved to be FREE from stress! Seriously, I prefer holiday stress over exam stress big time.

Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone will have a fun, safe, and warm Christmas!
Little Stars

Stress in the Air

Photo credit: All credit to rightful owners. Image retrieved from tumblr.

My most favorite time of the year is finally here! Once December 1st hits, everything outside including people's houses, the malls, and just the atmosphere in general becomes all festive and bright. The malls are filled with Christmas decorations and merchandises. In fact, people are busy here and there trying to get gift shopping done and buy materials for their parties etc. It's all the fun stuff. However, behind all this happy and jolly atmosphere, I think a ton of stress builds up. Students in post secondary like me are bombarded with finals as the Fall semester comes to an end. In fact, with all the planning and buying, people tend to get overwhelmed and financially distressed. So, what can we do to cut ourselves some slack through this busy time of year? Here are some tips I'd like to share...

1. Turn off your phone! Yes, as a smartphone user, with all those apps and things we have saved within the phone such as emails and texts, it can be very tempting to have it on. However, reserve 15-30 minutes a day to just yourself! You may not notice, however, with our phones on 24/7 and having us constantly texting during the day/night, we really are not at rest alone. When an email or text arrives, we become alert and it decreases our chance to really relax our busy minds.
2. SLEEP! Oh yes, as a student, I love this term, yet my life lacks of this so much. When you have the opportunity to sleep early or maybe sleep in a day or two, do so! Psychologically and physically let our minds and bodies take a break. Seriously, you'd be surprise, even when we're asleep, our brains don't stop working. But at least, when we're asleep, we don't really stress about upcoming plans etc.
3. Exercise. Oh man I feel guilty saying this, since school started, I haven't really had the chance to squeeze in some exercise. Oh yeah, and xbox kinect games don't count. If possible, try to give 30 minutes a day (if not once a week) some exercise. Many studies have shown that if we exercise, our brains work a lot better. Hey it's a win win situation here, you exercise and become physically fit and well it helps fuel your brain too!
4.  Watch a movie. Gather some friends, take some time off and just go watch a movie. Trust me, meeting some friends and talking about the stress you're experiencing helps! Don't be surprise how your friends might be going through the same thing as you!
5. Just smile. Yes, with stress, we become weary and grumpy. However, if we keep a positive mood, we won't feel too beaten up after a long day's work. After all, smiling makes everyone look 100 times more beautiful. :)

Have a great day!
Little Stars

Being a "snow angel" For Once...

My snowy neighborhood... was on my way to
school and I took this pic! WINTER WONDERLAND!

It is a little embarrassing to say, but honestly speaking, out of the whole family, I am really the only one who seldom goes out to shovel the snow off our driveway, sidewalk, and stairs. I mean well, I think I have a valid reason to say why I am not a fan of shoveling snow. It is not that I am lazy, but way back when I was younger... probably in my elementary/ junior high (middle school) years, I was always eager to help out. However, being a kid, shoveling snow was not a "chore/duty" rather, it was "fun time" so when my parents went out to shovel our home's driveway I would tag along and use my mini shovel to "help". By meaning "help" I mean scooping all the snow that was shoveled off to the side back on to the driveway. Of course, my parents were enraged since their hard work was being destroyed by my little hands.


The city that  I live in, the way we as citizens term its weather conditions....we call it "PMSing" it changes frequently so it can be really warm one week and crappy cold the next. This is what happened last week, it warmed up from the cold and was as high as plus 7 degrees Celsius, but this week it got really cold again all the way to minus 15 degrees Celsius. GREAT. Heavy SNOWFALL. Yup, and which means our driveway is covered with snow again. I am rather picky with regards to safety with sidewalks etc since my accident back in 2009 (slipping and dislocating my tailbone). So, out of the blue, I decided I would shovel the driveway and walkway. Funny thing is, no one was home when I got home this evening so it meant that I had to do it all by myself. I dressed up super warm and was extremely eager to be a "snow angel" and be nice to my parents and help them out a bit.. after all I am older now and I am pretty sure I won't scoop more snow back onto the driveway anyways. Well, conclusion? Let's just say I am really glad I helped out, at least I know when I leave tomorrow morning for my weekend activities, I'll have a clean driveway to walk on--one less worry of slipping. In fact, it just means that my awesome dad won't have to shovel the snow by himself again. At least, he got to sit and relax and watch T.V. for once! There is always that saying of how we should all be "one good Samaritan". With the winter months laying ahead, let's all warm each others' hearts through acts of kindness!

Little Stars