Maddison's Musings

This is a story in three parts: Florida, finals, and the kidney stone. All of these things happened within one week. I was in Florida from December 7th-11th, Took my finals on the 7th before my flight and the day after I got back on the 12th, then I passed a kidney stone in the ER on December 13th. A very busy week indeed.

I guess this story starts with a final, since I had to take my geology final at 11 am before my flight to Florida at 6 pm, but that was boring, so we don't care about that final. My first day in Florida was pretty uneventful, since my flight got in at 10 pm or so, so I really just got picked up from the airport by my friends Cam and Shash (and Cam's mom, a true hero) and then dropped off at our Airbnb a little bit before midnight. This trip included a few firsts for me that my mom thought for sure would get me murdered: I flew on Spirit Airlines, went to Florida, and stayed in an Airbnb. My mom also thought my friends would murder me, since we all met on Twitter, but since I'm here to write this post, I can confirm that I am still alive. The Airbnb we stayed in was so nice, and we each got our own rooms, which was also nice. We didn't do a lot of touristy stuff in Florida, since we really were just there to hang out with each other, so I probably won't make a whole post about Florida for that reason. We spent a lot of time at various malls and thrift stores and just hanging out with each other and I had so much fun.

Look at how cute we all are. I miss them so much.

This was actually my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean!

My flight home from Florida landed back at DFW around 10:30 pm on December 11th, and my first final for the 12th was scheduled at 8 am. Sure, this wasn't great planning on my part, but in my defense, I really didn't want an early flight home. By the time I got back home and back to my room, I was exhausted, and the last thing I wanted to do was study. Plus, it was nearing midnight and I still had to shower and make sure I had everything ready for the next day. Since I took Spirit Airlines and I was only in Florida for a few days, I decided that I didn't want to pay extra for a carry on, so I just packed everything in my backpack since it fit the requirements for the free personal item. When I got home, I simply dumped out everything from Florida and put back some of the school things I needed for my finals like my wallet, my Chromebook, the textbooks I had to return, and the notes for my French and English classes. At this point, I was so tired and I knew that I had to wake up in just a few hours, so I decided not to study and to get some rest. I passed out and got like four and a half hours of sleep.

I dragged myself out of bed on the 12th by 6:30 am and left my house a little bit before 7 am. Usually, the drive to school is only 30-40 minutes depending on the traffic, but at 7 am, everyone seems to be going where I needed to go. The traffic was awful, which totally messed up my morning. By the time I pulled into the parking garage, it was 7:40 am and I still had a fifteen minute walk to class. I figured that would be fine, since it would leave me a few minutes to study (something I still hadn't done). As I rounded my final turn before heading into the building, I stop dead in my tracks as I remembered that I didn't move my pencil back into my backpack. I looked at my phone to check the time: 7:55 am. With five minutes until my final was supposed to start, I panic. Thankfully, I remembered that the University Center has a vending machine filled with test supplies. I also remembered a speedier way to get there, so I walked as fast as my short legs would take me, and I make it to the UC in just a minute or two. I went through a different door a little farther from the vending machine and I passed a little store that I've been in a few times to get a snack or some lunch. Somehow, I vaguely remembered that they sell some test supplies, so I steered myself inside and towards the office supplies. I saw a box of pencils that appeared to be sharpened, paid $2 for them, and rushed back to the geology building to take my final. By the grace of every single deity out there, I made it to my final by 8:03. This of course though meant that I walked into my final without having studied at all. Either way, I didn't care. I slung my backpack down, grabbed a test, and opened my box of pencils. What I thought would be four pre-sharpened pencils turned out to be one pre-sharpened pencil and three unsharpened ones. Just my luck. Either way, I shook it off, took a deep breath, and took my final. Thankfully, I finished in like 45 minutes and it wasn't that bad. I just messed up a few things, but it wasn't a big deal.

Between my English and French finals, I had about two hours to kill, so I went to the bookstore and returned my textbooks, then I went and studied for my French final. I had actually taken the review with me to Florida and worked on it a little bit one of the days, so I didn't have much I had to do to finish it. Once I finished the review, I "tried" to study older materials, but really, I just sat with my notes open for an hour as I listened to my queer bops playlist. So like, I tried to study, because my notes were out and open, but I didn't try hard enough to actually study. Also, my pencil was getting less sharp by the minute, and I didn't have a pencil sharpener, so I wasn't about to waste what little lead I had left before my final. 

By the time I had to go take my final, I was praying yet again to every deity to take pity on me and not let my pencil get too dull to write, or to at least let me find a pencil sharpener. The universe must have really found that funny because I got to my French class and noticed one of those really old pencil sharpeners on the wall, but it didn't have the container on it to catch the shavings. I then looked around for the trashcan that is usually right under the sharpener, but alas, it wasn't there. Of course it wasn't. It had been there all semester, but today, the one day I needed it, it was gone. I wasn't going to have a handful of pencil shavings and nowhere to put them, so I readied myself to use the dulling pencil. Thankfully, the test was pretty easy and my pencil didn't get too dull, but I think I was more stressed about that factor more than the actual exam. Either way, I handed in my test, successfully ending the semester. I went home and relaxed, grateful to be done with school for a few weeks.

((I wanted to post a little warning before this part if you don't like hospitals/ERs or being sick/throwing up, which I mention once.))

I was doped out of my mind on morphine here and feeling pretty good tbh.

Done with school for the semester, I spent my first day of freedom in the ER. Okay, well actually I spent most of my first day of freedom sleeping in and making cookies, but it ended at the ER. I was happily making cookies for my dad's office party the next day when my side started hurting, and at first, I thought it was just a regular old cramp. I shrugged it off and finished baking the first type of cookie, determined to get them done. By the time I moved on to mixing the dough for the next batch of cookies, the pain got exponentially worse. I was also starting to feel nauseous and I started sweating. I went to my room and grabbed a barf bag and my peppermint essential oil, then went back out to the family room. I was in a lot of pain, so instead of going back to finish the cookies, I went and sat on the couch. I told my dad I wasn't feeling well, and he was just like "okay, just sit down and relax a bit" so I tried to do that, but the pain and nausea kept getting worse. I was texting my mom, since she's a nurse, and told her my symptoms and she told me to check my temperature, so I sent my dad to find a thermometer and once he left, I threw up in my handy dandy barf bag. At this point, I started sobbing. I hate getting sick, and I haven't been sick in a while, so that was the final thing that tipped the scales and made me lose it. By this point, I knew that something was seriously wrong. I've had kidney stones before, so I thought that was definitely a possibility, but since the pain was on my right side, I also thought it could be appendicitis. I just started crying uncontrollably and my dad walked back into the living room and was just kind of like "oh shit she's crying what do I do uhhhh emotions" you know, dad stuff, but he actually got really calm and tried to calm me down. After a few minutes, my little brother and his girlfriend come into the room and I was still crying and hunched over in pain. At this point I was in too much pain to be embarrassed, but rewriting it now is making me embarrassed lmfao. You see, I'm not one that cries in front of other people or lets anyone know my general emotional well-being, so me sobbing uncontrollably in front of various people isn't something I like to do. Anyways, they come in the room and my brother was being really kind and holding back my hair as I continued sobbing and being sick, while my dad was on the phone with my mom trying to see if we should go to the ER or not. We decided to go. My brother grabbed me a coat and some shoes while my dad grabbed a few things and led me to the car. My brother and his girlfriend stayed home, which I'm grateful for, since like I've said, crying in front of people isn't something I like to do. Thankfully, we went to the hospital my mom works at, which is only 10 minutes away and we got in really quickly. My mom was working that day, and her shift was almost over, so she met us in the ER.

The details are a little fuzzy once I make it to the ER, since I was in so much pain and so nauseous that I couldn't really focus on anything for too long. I got back into a room and got attached to all the machines and wires and stuff, and soon enough my mom met us down in the room. I do remember the bed being really comfortable, which was nice. I also remember the nurse giving me some morphine for the pain, and let me just tell you, I really loved that shit. I got wheeled down the hall in the bed and took a CT scan, then got wheeled back to the room on the bed again. I joked that a movable bed was something I needed at home and made another joke about how nice the morphine was. Some time went by, and soon the pain had faded completely. I was able to open my eyes and relax, and I even watched some baking show on the TV in the corner of the room. By this point, it had been a few hours, and I was starting to feel bad about going to the ER. I thought that maybe it was all fake, since I now felt no pain whatsoever, and I thought that I might have been over exaggerating. I was just about to apologize to my parents for making them take me to the ER when the doctor came in and told us that I had passed a kidney stone. My mom thinks that the morphine allowed me to relax enough to pass the stone completely, since I apparently got really calm and even took a nap after they gave it to me. Either way, the stone had been passed, and that's what all of the pain was. The doctor also said I had a UTI since the stone was a little bitch and fucked up my insides, but that had a simple fix with some antibiotics. They said that I didn't have any more stones, which was a relief, so the hard part was over. I was released from the ER pretty quickly after that, and my mom and I went to a 24 hour CVS and filled my prescription and got some cranberry juice. Then we went home and I went to bed as if nothing had happened. I felt back to normal, albeit a little sore.

I think the hardest part about having the kidney stones/the UTI was the fact that I couldn't drink coffee for ten days while I took my antibiotics. I ended up finishing them the day before Christmas Eve, so it was a true Christmas miracle that allowed me to have caffeine on Christmas. I haven't gone back to regular coffee yet, as I started small with one of those cans of V8 energy juice, since it has caffeine from green tea, plus a serving of fruits and veggies. After drinking a can, I was definitely aware of the caffeine getting to work. I tried a cup of decaf today, since it's been two weeks without any coffee and I've missed the taste, and while it was good, I also noticed that I didn't drink as much water today. Since passing the stone, I have been drinking so much water to flush out my system, and I noticed today that I didn't drink quite as much as usual, so that's something I'm going to look at. Also, I'm going to try to drink only one cup of coffee (preferably decaf) every few days for the next few weeks or so because I don't need coffee as much while on break, but also because now that I can have coffee again, I don't necessarily want it as much as I did when I couldn't have it.

I really haven't done much else this month, except Christmas a few days ago, but even then, we had a pretty chill holiday. I honestly don't plan on leaving my house until next year (ha I'm getting ahead of the New Year's jokes) and I'm good with that. December has been busy enough, and my bank account will thank me for not spending all my money. I hope your month has been good and if I don't see you again before 2019, happy new years.

~Maddison

Listen up bitches the planet is dying and it's all our fault. Humans are the the worst, but don't despair!! There are still ways we can try and help the environment. Seeing as we only have 12 years until the effects of climate change are irreversible, (read more about that HERE) we better step the fuck up.

Also, before we get started I want to let you know that none of this is sponsored in any way, and I'm not even using affiliate links. I really just want to showcase things that work for me and items that I personally use!

Now, I'm not saying that you have to go straight up vegan right off the bat, but even having one day a week where you don't eat meat is super beneficial! I've been trying to eat less meat, and it's not that bad so far. Although I still have yet to find a tofu recipe I actually like, I have found a few staple vegan/vegetarian meals that I absolutely love. My all time favorite recipe that I've tried is this Simple Veggie Curry by Tasty. Not only is it super simple, but it's delicious as well. Another favorite vegetarian recipe I've been loving is my Quick and Easy Vegetarian Chili that you can just throw in the slow cooker and enjoy a cheap af but tasty meal. There's so many great meals out there that don't require meat, and they're pretty delicious. See why this is the biggest thing you can do to reduce your environmental impact HERE.


I found out about these back when school started this last semester, and I absolutely love them. Not only do you feel good knowing that you're using less plastic, but they're so fucking cute. I bought THESE two mini snack sized bags on Etsy for just under $10, and I also found a set of three London themed bags on Etsy as well for around $15. I've been using them for about a month or two and they work so well. I was really surprised when they held up to being water resistant on the inside, as when I wash them out, I'll fill the inside with water and it doesn't soak through. I have no idea how it works, but I love it. I think it's definitely worth the investment.

When I started trying to become more environmentally friendly, I felt so bad about how I would clean up my cat's litter box. I would clean it out and put the waste in a full sized plastic grocery bag. Not anymore! I bought a pack of THESE eco-friendly pet waste bags back in July, and I'm still not out yet. They're great because the handles tie together easily to close up the bag. No messes here.

Not only are bamboo toothbrushes cute, but they're fully biodegradable! I bought THIS pack back in July and my brothers even started to use them. Thankfully for everyone, each brush is numbered 1-4, so everyone knows which brush is theirs.

This is such an easy hack because not only are you saving money when you don't buy plastic water bottles, but it's also so much more convenient to have a reusable one. If you have a water filter, one of those fancy bottles that keep your drinks warm or cold for like 12+ hours are great. I got one at my campus bookstore nearly two years ago, and it still works great. It's definitely worth the price (I think mine was around $30 when I got it, but I still use it every single day) in my opinion. If you don't want to shell out the money on a fancy water bottle, any reusable bottle is great. Also, if you don't have a water filtration system, or if you're travelling and don't know if you'll have access to filtered water, I bought THIS Brita water bottle before I went to California last summer, and I loved it. I used it the whole time I was in California and then I used it the next month when I visited family in Seattle.

This is something I only started doing once I got to college and realized that I didn't want to buy new notebooks each semester when they were hardly full. Not only does it save money, but it also can save the environment. I go more into detail on how I reuse my notebooks in my back to school post HERE.

Similarly to using reusable shopping bags, reusable produce bags help cut down on all the plastic that ends up in landfills. More information can be found in this blog post by "Treading My Own Path" HERE.

Products that are local didn't have to travel too far to get to you which means that they didn't use as much gas/fuel, thus making them greener. Plus, I love farmers markets. They're just so much fun and they have a magical energy to them. Read THIS post about what happens when you shop local by Independent We Stand.

Gardening is fun, and if you can keep a plant alive that grows food, then who wouldn't want to do that? Plus, growing plants help bring oxygen back into the atmosphere, which is important if you want to be able to breathe and fight off pollution. Read THIS blog post by The Green City for more information on why gardening is important.

The less cars on the road the better. I know this isn't an option for a lot of people, especially if you live in a suburban neighborhood, but if you live in a city with good public transportation options, or you can carpool to school/work/an event with someone, then try it out. I know I definitely can't use this option, since I live in a suburban neighborhood, have to commute to school, and there isn't any public transportation around me, but I know that once I live in a big city like London, New York, or Seattle, I'm going to try my hardest to use public transport (plus it means no driving for me, which is great because I hate driving lol). You can read THIS article by the National Transit Express on nine benefits of public transport.

Keep things out of landfills and instead fill the land with nutrients (do you like what I did there please say yes I thought it was clever). Check out THIS HuffPost article about composting and why we should try it.

These are just a few simple starter tips to becoming more environmentally friendly, and definitely not an extensive list, but a start is a start. Let me know in the comments below if you have any eco-friendly tips, and/or if you already do some of the things mentioned in this post!

I'm trying something new on the blog today by introducing a new section: recipes! I've been cooking/baking a lot the last few years, but I never really had a recipe of my own to share, so I never talked about it, but it all changes today with this simple chili recipe. This is the first time I've ever really altered different recipes to get something similar, but different, so bear with me as I get the hang of it. 

Ingredients: 

• One medium yellow onion
• One can diced tomatoes (even better if it already comes with chili seasoning)
• Two cans chili beans
• One can black beans
• One can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• One can red kidney beans
• McCormick chili seasoning packet

Making the Chili:

This recipe is great for college students, not only because it doesn't take too much effort, but it's also cheap! The beans, tomatoes, and the onion, are all less than one dollar each.

Give the chili a quick stir before letting it cook for the day.

I set mine on low since I would be gone the whole day and back around eight hours later, ready to eat some simple chili.

The finished masterpiece.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and let me know if you try out this recipe!

~Maddison

Next up we have what I call my little emergency kit. I have a mini first aid kit I bought at Target for around $2, and inside that I added a travel sized bottle of Tylenol and some Pepto Bismol tablets. I also have two packets of Emergen-C, which are powdered vitamins that you dissolve in water and they actually taste good. I keep the full sized box at home and just carry around a pack or two in case I feel like I need a vitamin boost/feel a cold coming on. I also have a small pack of tissues, a tube of Chapstick, a Tide to Go stain stick pen, and some cleaning wipes for my glasses.

"If you stay in a hostel you will get murdered."

-My mother every time I mentioned staying in a hostel for the past year.

Well mom, I stayed in a hostel and I did not get murdered. I can now check that off my bucket list. Last month, I spent ten days in California. I spent half of my time in the Bay Area in Northern California, and the other half of my time in Orange County in Southern California. I absolutely loved my ten days away from Texas, but not everything turned out exactly how I thought it would. For one thing, this was my first attempt at a solo female travel trip. I did everything myself- bought my own transportation tickets (planes, Lyfts, and the BART in San Francisco), I spent my own money to stay in a hostel, and most importantly, I tried to explore a brand new city (San Francisco) all by myself without planning anything other than the fact that I wanted to go to San Francisco Pride. Needless to say, as someone who suffers from major anxiety in everyday situations, somehow it didn't occur to me that I might be overwhelmed once I actually made it to San Francisco. But alas, I'm getting ahead of myself.

My first day in California was just a travel day. My flight left Dallas around 2 pm and landed in San Francisco around 4 pm. Usually, I would fly out of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, but for this trip I flew out of Love Field because it was a cheaper flight and it left at a better time. I am not a morning person, so having a flight depart earlier than 11 am is a no from me, plus I read online that you should always try to get to a new city before sunset, so that meant no evening flights either. Leaving in the mid afternoon generally helped my anxiety, as waking up earlier than normal spikes my anxiety, so I got to the airport feeling fairly calm. I got a window seat on my flight (I always choose the window if I can), watched Big Hero 6 and Hidden figures on the plane, and soon I was landing in San Francisco. The first thing I noticed upon arriving in San Francisco was how nice the weather was. If I remember correctly, the high temperatures for the few days I was there was low to mid 70's (in Fahrenheit, about 20C), and being by the Bay equaled a cool breeze as well.

I took the BART from the airport to the closest station to my hostel, then I (stupidly) walked nearly a mile uphill to my hostel and got all checked in. Seeing as my out of shape dumb ass walked nearly a mile from the BART station to my hostel uphill, I was pretty tired, so I just went to my room and got settled in before hanging out in the main dining area in the hostel while drinking peppermint tea and watching The Office. My first day was pretty uneventful, as it was a travel day, but I had done it: I traveled to a brand new city all by myself.

Happy June and Happy Pride Month to all my fellow LGBTQ+ friends out there! This is just going to be a quick little post, since this month is pretty busy for me, but I just want to wish everyone a happy pride month and send out positive vibes. Here's to hoping 20gayteen pulls through for all us.

While we celebrate pride month, it's also important to stay safe and to remember that pride month is for everyone in the community, not just the white gays that are popular in the media. We should remember that Pride Month began with Marsha P Johnson, a black transwoman, who was a prominent member in the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and she was an advocate for trans people of color. Remember to stay safe, stay educated, and send love this pride month.

~Maddison

As May comes to an end, I'm left reflecting on my past year, my first in university. Somehow, I finished my freshman year without dying, and I consider this a plus right now. I stayed at home for university and attended a school I can drive to, which is nice on the bank since I don't have to pay for housing, but it left me feeling alienated at times. Only having classes two or three days a week didn't necessarily help either, although I think it kept me sane for the first year. I'm not in college to party or do anything extraordinary, I'm really just here to get my degree and then get the fuck out of Texas tbh. This post isn't going to be one of those "I did everything and made a shit ton of friends and hardly went to class I love college etc" bullshit, just a very real post about my first two semesters in college.

For my first semester at university, I decided to take it slow and ease into things, so I only took 13 credit hours (four classes) plus one class that didn't count for any credits or towards my GPA, but every freshman had to take it to "get acclimated to college" or some bullshit. I've made a very simple schedule and put it above so you can see how my days played out. I also took one online class which was writing for mass media because my major was journalism (which I have changed now to English). Overall, I had a really good first semester at UTA. I didn't find my classes that difficult, which was nice, and I really enjoyed learning French. The only thing I hated about my first semester, besides the traffic coming home on Mondays, was the bullshit first-year course they made me take. I could see how it could be useful to people who moved away from home and don't know what they're doing with their life or any basic life skills like time management, but I have been ready for college for years, and I found the class to be the most draining and awful thing I have ever had to sit through. The professor was really nice, which helped, but the topics we went over made me want to stab myself in the eye with my pen. To this day, that's still the only truly awful class I've taken so far.

Personally, I didn't find college to be some extremely difficult and stressful thing, but I think part of that is because I stayed at home and commuted to school. It was much like high school in the sense that I still came home each night and was surrounded by family, I got to hang out with my cat, sleep in my own room without a roommate, and continue doing normal things that I've been doing for years. And even though I didn't move out, I still felt myself growing as an adult. I started baking a lot starting in the fall semester, which led to cooking, and now I make dinner for my family most nights. Plus, seeing money in my bank account for the first time made me suddenly feel more adult-like, which is the weirdest feeling. Now, when I want something, I buy it. There's no begging for money, it's just me deciding if I want to spend my own money or not.

Although I do stay at home, which causes me to feel like I'm stuck in high school sometimes, college is definitely nothing like high school. I wrote a whole post on the reasons why college is better than high school last September, which you can read here if you want, and I still agree with each point. Even if you commute to school, you learn and grow as a human and you realize how pointless high school is. Especially now that I've finished my first two semesters at UTA, I look back at my time in high school and think about what a complete and utter waste of time it was. And I didn't hate or love high school, I just tolerated it, but now that I'm removed from it, the world seems so much different. You are treated as an adult in college and your professors actually know what they're talking about and you just realize how different the two educational systems are. So if you're still in high school and you're worried about college, I say don't fret it. Honestly, it's not that bad; you will survive it.

This month's post is brought to you by two of my favorite things: books and things regarding the LGBTQ+ community. I've found that finding books with LGBT+ characters is becoming easier now a days, but there's still a ton of room for improvement. For example, out of the eight books I have in today's post, only two have main characters that are queer and female. That being said, I have read all of these books and I do genuinely enjoy them. I would also like to state that these books aren't in any particular order, so they're not ranked by how much I like them.

My anxiety has spiked in the last week and I have no idea why. Needless to say, this past week has not been my favorite. When I get nervous, I get nauseous, which makes me nervous, so it's really just an endless cycle, which is never a fun time. I can't tell if it's that end-of-spring-semester-holy-shit-why-is-there-so-much-work-to-do stress, the fact that I probably want to stop piano lessons for a bit but I have no idea how to tell my piano teacher, the idea that in the next month I have to write a 15 page paper on Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and then give a 10 minute presentation on said paper, something else, or simply all of the above. Now that I type it out, yeah, it's probably all of the above. I think the worst part about this week is that everything I'm worried about is so far ahead in the future, I know I shouldn't been worrying about it, which just makes me feel even more shitty because my brain won't shut the fuck up, you know?

On Thursday, I was so anxious that I skipped all of my classes and sat in the library doing work all day. I did go and check out the Counselling and Psychological Services (I'll refer to it as CAPS because I'm lazy and don't want to type the whole thing out again) at my university and I scheduled a walk-in appointment instead of going to my English class, which did help a bit. Since it was my first time visiting CAPS, it was really just like a "get to know you"/"what's wrong" type of appointment, but it did help. I met with a psychologist and we discussed my options and she gave me a few references for cognitive therapy, which helps with anxiety disorders. I also got to play with a CAPS/UTA themed fidget spinner and stress ball for the hour, so that was another plus. But the one thing I really took away were how many resources that my university has to offer. Each semester, I get six free CAPS counselling sessions, since part of my tuition pays for it. They also have licensed, professional psychologists, so they know what they're doing. I also liked how confidential it all was. When I did therapy in the past, I wasn't as open and honest because I knew my mom could get the information if she needed to. But at school, I was completely honest with who I am and my mental health history, which was so relieving. I think I'm going to reach out to some of the resources she gave me and try to go to therapy again, because my anxiety is really getting on my nerves (pun intended). I highly suggest you check out what type of resources are available at your school/university/workplace, especially if they're free/you're already paying for it with your tuition.

Another thing we discussed on Thursday was how mindful meditation helps reduce anxiety, stress, and other mental health issues. I've actually been trying to meditate more this week, and I did find that it helped me calm down, even if it was only during the actual meditation session. I've been using the app called Headspace, and I really like it. I tried to meditate between 20-30 minutes each night before bed last week, and I found that it helped me fall asleep quicker as well. It lulled me into a calm state, and for a little bit, I felt alright again. I was given a list of free mental health/wellness apps, so I'll scan the handout and leave it down below for you to check out as well.

Overall, although this has been a tougher week for me, I am feeling better now, and I'm glad that I have these resources to fall back on. If you also suffer from anxiety or other mental health issues, how do you try to calm yourself down or cheer yourself up? Besides meditating, I like to watch sitcoms, such as The Office, or I watch Bob Ross painting. I also like to journal, and I have a whole journal dedicated to when I'm not feeling my best. Even talking to someone can be helpful. Above all else, I want to remind you that you're not alone in your struggles. Somewhere out there someone else might be feeling the same as you. Hopefully spring will bring positive growth in your life.

~Maddison

The first thing I did was make a huge master list of every assignment and test with Microsoft Excel. I got the idea from a blog post I originally found on Pinterest a few years ago. That post, which you can read HERE, goes through all the steps on how to create this master list/spreadsheet, but basically, all I did was use each syllabus and go month by month listing each assignment, test, and/or quiz, the due date, and what class it's for. It took a while, but it made the next steps so much simpler. You could stop there and just use this list as your main checklist, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, which leads us to our next step.