JustinTime

I'm sure we've all been there when a friend is in need. But how do we say the right thing? How do we properly comfort them without making things worse?? Today I talk about what I learned in an online seminar regarding just that, and my personal experience and opinion on the matter!!

I used to surround myself with "friends". I felt the need to constantly be around people, please people, and provide help to people. While I still believe in helping people, I have learned to help myself in that process. I didn't always bear my soul out to close friends, but I have learned the necessity of doing so. 

It gets so incredibly tiring trying to please the world and walk the journey of life alone, so I'm incredibly glad and grateful for the people who have encouraged me to rely on a strong and small group of people for support, and leading that encouragement with action. 

I hope for everyone that you'll show love and grace to yourself, and find a small group of trustworthy and genuine people who will love and support you :)

The past 2 months have been particularly challenging for me, and I found myself having NO motivation at all. I woke up feeling shitty, and just had NO drive to do anything.   

A friend got me out of the house and really shocked my entire system, and that was the shock I needed to get back on track. I hope I'll be able to shock you guys too ;)    

Music: Jay Someday - Mind Travel (Vlog No Copyright Music)

Applying for my masters in this pandemic has been such a different and eye-opening experience for me. 

My college Biology lecturer once told me: "If you're going to someone in the medical profession, wouldn't you want them to have been a straight A student?"  This stuck with me as I contemplated my future journey into counselling, because it held me to a different standard of excellence. 

Now as I apply for the next step in this journey I'm reminded of that same demand of excellence.   

Music: In My Clouds - LAKEY INSPIRED [Free Copyright-safe Music]

Reminder that personality traits are on a continuum!!! They're not black and white. We just tend to be more or less dominant for each trait :)

I've always believed that knowing more about your own personality empowers you to be more accountable for your actions and thoughts. You'll also be more empowered to change your behaviours, dispositions, and even subconscious judgements!!

What are your Big 5 Personality Traits???

Music: Chill sakura Hz (No Copyright Music) 

Have you ever wondered why a class of students won't ask questions when a lecturer asks if they have any, until that one brave student does?

Or how some people may see someone breaking the law and not do anything about it??

That's called the bystander effect!! The 3 main things contributing to this effect are: Diffusion of responsibility, evaluation apprehension, and pluralistic ignorance!!

While humans have the capacity to learn to become helpless, we also have the capacity to learn to be hopeful again!!

Using the 3 P's, we can actually build a resilience AGAINST depression and anxiety!! We can teach ourselves to be more optimistic by critically analyzing the bad things that happen in our lives. 

I recently completed a Positive Psychology course on Coursera, and it really shed some light onto this topic which I thought I was familiar with. 

It showed me a lot more about the HOW of this mental state. People actually project their past experiences onto their future possible experiences. They have decided for themselves that they can't escape whatever negative stimulus comes their way. 

Music: (no copyright music) chill type beat daily royalty free music prod. by lukrembo

I've always known that I wanted to do counselling, but I recently got swayed when I was told that counsellors can't diagnose patients. This affected me in a bigger way than it should've as I felt very much "second class".   

Speaking to people who were in the profession really helped me correct this thinking, but I couldn't help but wonder if there were other people struggling with similar distinctions in the field of psychology.   

Education and learning are life long journeys. I don't need to pressure myself to make "the perfect" decision right now.   

Music: Branch (Prod. by Lukrembo)

I will fight till the last point is scored. It's just how I was brought up and trained. No matter what sport I'm playing, it's not over till it's over.  

It got me wondering: "How come some people give up so quickly?" 

Turns out that you can train yourself to persevere!! Using the neurotransmitter called "Dopamine", you can actually "trick" your brain into focusing on more important things like goals and achievements, and not the pain of the process!!