The Stress of Decision-Making, and How to Trust Yourself

Making decisions is never easy, especially when those decisions affect your life in a substantial way, yet we are faced with big and little choices every day. What do I order at Dairy Queen? Which backpack should I buy? What school should I go to? Here is my story, and my advice for making it through those big life changes, making important decisions, and trusting you've chosen the right path.

When you're a kid your parents make the majority of those big decisions for you. But once you become an adult and enter the "real world" that responsibility falls into your hands. You get to pick which school to go to, if any. You can choose to move into your own place, or to a new city, or even a new country. For many, this new-found freedom is mostly exciting and liberating, but fear usually sets in at some point. Will my parents approve of my decisions? Am I in the right program? What if I end up hating this city I'm moving to? What if this doesn't work out? What if I've made the wrong choice?

The first thing you want to do is take a deep breath. Get out a pen and a piece of paper and write down what's on your mind. Make a list of the things you need to decide upon. Make a brainstorming sheet of ideas. If you're trying to pick a university to go to, make a Pros and Cons list. Get a glass of water, a box of chocolate, and start making some choices.

First, think about how the decision will directly affect you. If you choose University A over B, you will have to pay more tuition. If you take the nice apartment with the crazy high rent instead of the small apartment with the affordable rent you'll have to work more hours. If you move to a new city you'll have to find your way around, meet new people, and travel farther to see your family. Cause and effect. Are you willing to deal with the "If I do this, I will have to..."'s?

You also have to consider how these choices will affect others. For example, if you move to a new city will that upset your parents? Do their opinions mean so much to you that they could sway your opinion?

The next question you need to ask yourself is, have I looked at all of my options? Make sure you look at each situation from every possible angle. Talk to a friend and get their opinion, or talk to a family member. You can never get enough insight.

The biggest thing to remember is that no choice is permanent. You can always change your major. You can always move back home. You can always get your hair cut and died. You have to trust in your decisions, and take a chance. You can ponder for a long time, but the time will come when you must act and when you do, do so openly. You'll never find out what lies ahead if you never move forward.

There will come a time when you will break down and doubt yourself. For me, this time comes about once every three or four months, and it always happens when I'm in a perfectly good mood. All of a sudden I find myself lying face-down on my bed sobbing because I've "made all the wrong choices and nothing is going to work out and life just sucks!" The best thing to do in these situations is to let yourself have a good cry, call a friend or family member for some reassurance that everything will be all right (because it will all work out, trust me), pick yourself up, and move on. It's okay to feel like your world is falling apart sometimes. Just know that life will always find a way to work itself out, and that a pint of Haagen-Dazs is never far away.

Contact:

Twitter: @SororitySisKels

E-Mail: kelsieschlese@gmail.com

Standardized Testing is FUN!!!!!

Just kidding, it's not. But here's how to make it bearable.

Okay, so for my fellow United States students, the ACT and SAT might as well be a four letter word. (I'm not sure how the system is in other countries, so sorry!)

I'm a junior and I have yet to take the ACT or the SAT but I have taken prep classes and I've taken a SAT II Subject Test. I'm not an expert by any means, but I hope my steps to preparation can help others plan.

1. I enrolled in an ACT/SAT prep class that was held through my school district. Truth be told, I don't think the classes were worth what we paid for them and I honestly thought some of it was a waste of time- but that's my PERSONAL opinion. These classes (or at least the ones I took) came with a booklet of practice tests, drills and helpful tips for succeeding. This alone is a very helpful tool. The teachers for the class were mediocre at best (again, this depends on the district) and mostly went through problems without actually telling you tips or giving little "what to expect" tidbits. I was disappointed, but the booklets are going to be very useful.

2. I plan on taking the ACT twice, because in my state the ACT is favored. Taking a test is always a good option if you have the money/time/will for it because there is ALWAYS the chance to improve, even by a couple of points (which could make all the difference).

3. At my school, taking the PSAT and PLAN (pre- SAT and ACT, respectively) is required, and it's very good. The PSAT could possibly make you a merit scholar and give you loads of scholarship money. Taking the PLAN gives you a projected ACT score and also a career suggestion for college. Both of these pre-tests are very helpful, especially because you can see what you got wrong and how to improve. There is nothing better than taking a pre-test because it's very similar to the real test and doesn't count!

4. Buy prep books! Self explanatory, if reading material is a good way for you to learn then buying a prep book is key. There are a variety to choose from, so pick one you like and get to it!

5. I took a SAT II Subject Test in Biology last spring. It is very much like the SAT in the fact that guessing counts against you (-1/4 point for every WRONG answer, 0 points for every answer left blank) and is a good prep in itself. However, most colleges don't care about these tests, though it is a little added bonus on your application (though, you probably won't get any credits or special treatment for it if you do well). If you do take these tests, make sure to do so AFTER you have completed the course-- not before and definitely not more than 6 months later! Your memory will be too flushed by then to remember anything!

6. Relax. All these tests can be taken multiple times. And think about it-- many questions are asked every day and you are required to answer them. Standardized testing questions have answers. How often are the answers given to you in real life? Just pick one.

7. Watch "The Perfect Score" if you need a study break. For some reason, I really like that movie. :)

Hope this helps any worried juniors or seniors! If you're in college and have any advice to share, feel free to add anything in the comments!

-Natalie

Kelsie's Dorm Tour!

Hey girls! How's school going so far? I'm having a wonderful time at school! This is my second year of university but my first year living in a dorm. I'm honestly loving every second of living in residence! I can't believe I didn't do this last year. My roommates are all awesome, as are my floormates. Here is a quick tour of my dorm. I apologize for the terrible quality. My camera is broken right now, so I have to use my cell phone camera which is all scratched!

My university offers three kinds of on-campus housing: traditional dorms, apartments, and townhouses. I'm living in the "traditional dorms." In the dorms, I'm living in a four-bedroom suite. So off the hallway you enter a common area, and then our four bedrooms.

Our common area is not very big at all, especially for four girls, so we didn't take much time to decorate it as we don't hang out in there a lot. Our floor common room is much nicer anyway. We did, however, take time the first week after we moved in to add some things to the bathroom and the kitchenette.

In the "kitchenette" part of the suite we keep our dishes (the four of us share dishes) and some boxes of cereal that we share. Under the sink we keep our pots and pans, blenders, toasters and whatnot.

We're not allowed to have a microwave or stove, but we are allowed blenders, toasters, and kettles, and our suite also came with a fridge. We are all on a mandatory meal plan, but we still like to have our own snacks and whatnot in our suite. I keep my perishable items in the fridge, and my non-perishable items in my room.

We have a huge bathroom for the four of us. We have two drawers by the sinks, and I'm the only one who keeps stuff in there. I keep my face clothes, skin care items, and some cotton balls, and my toothbrush/toothpaste in there. In the shower we have a hanging organizer that goes over the showerhead, where we keep our shampoos/conditioners and body washes.

I have a captain-style bed. I got my duvet, pillows, and this gorgeous duvet cover at Bed, Bath and Beyond. In the drawers underneath I keep my scarves/gloves, and my "delicates" ;)

In my wardrobe I have this awesome hanging organizational thing, where I keep my pants, shorts, skirts, and then all my shoes. I hang up all of my tops and dresses. In the two plastic tupperware containers on the bottom I keep my bags and purses. I also keep my yoga mat at the back of my wardrobe, behind my laundry basket. I keep my laundry detergent and dryer sheets in my laundry basket, so that when I want to go do laundry I just have to pick up my basket and I have everything I need ready to go! Clearly it's time for me to take a trip to the laundry room... Haha.

On top of my wardrobe I have three blue baskets. Basket #1 has my towels, a shower cap, and some lotion. Basket #2 is for hair: flatirons, curling irons, brushes, hair accessories. Basket #3 is for jewelry, and cotton balls/Q-tips.

On the back of my door I have a full-length mirror (which was already on the door when I moved in), my bathrobe, and a drawstring bag which has my school garb in it (a t-shirt with our school's mascot on it, and a couple other items with our school's logo).

My desk is the most cluttered part of my whole room, it drives me nuts! But it's only because I have so many books and binders! On the very top shelf I keep my flute (yes, I'm a music major), my foldable music stand, and all of my flute music. That tall box that's standing up was a gift from my mother, and that's where I keep all of my sentimental items (pictures and whatnot). Then I have my printer. I like to keep it on the top shelf so it's up and out of the way.

On the second shelf I keep all of my textbooks, notebooks, and binders (I have one notebook and one 1inch binder for each class), and I keep them organized by class so I can grab all the items I need for a class at the same time (as opposed to organizing them by type: books, binders, notebooks). Then I have my reference materials, my novels, and my DVDs. Then I have my two pencil cases, my make-up bag with my everyday stuff in it, and then I have my perfume collection, my fish food, a bottle of thermal water, and a little mirror.

On the desk top I have my pens/pencils/sharpies/post-its in an organizational thingy that came with a make-up case. I also have some pictures taped up of my family. I try to keep my desk clean and free of clutter, so I can study better.

In the top drawer of my dresser I keep all of my little school supply things: a rule, a 3-hole punch, safety pins, etc. In drawer #2 I have all of my important documents for school and work. In the bottom drawer I keep extra lined paper, extra printer paper, and all of my cords (phone charger, iPod cord, etc.)

This little end table is my favourite part of my room. This is where I keep my fish (Martin), two Roses (I have fresh flowers in my room at all times!), a clock given to me by a close friend, and a Febreeze flameless candle. This table always looks classy and clean, free of school work and extra junk. In the top drawer I have my entire make-up collection and nail polish collection, and the bottom drawer holds some miscellaneous things (fish bowl cleaning stuff, some unused make-up bags, that kind of stuff. Stuff I don't need often).

Last but not least, we come to my tv. It's sitting on top of a Rubbermaid 3-drawer organizer, which is where I keep all of my food that doesn't need to be refrigerated.

And that's it, folks! I love my room so much. This is the one spot in the whole world that's mine and mine only! I can't wait to see everyone else's room tours :)

Roberta's Room Tour

Hey guys!

How's school been going so far?

Oh me? Well so far school's been going okay. It’s taking me a little bit of time getting used to being back into the motion of things. Well I finally finished setting up my room so I’m going to share that with you guys. Now I'm not done decorating and I'm most likely going to reorganize everything because I'm like that, but when I do, I'll make another blog with video, or I'll post it on Youtube and link you guys to it. Well anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimers: These are blurry. I don't have a camera currently so I had to take them with my phone. soon as I figure out how to work this, I will add pictures to my posts (if I have more than one), but for now, I’ll link you guys something

Link to album with descriptions

How to take notes (my way)

So I've been in college for a month now and the most important thing I've learned is how to take great notes so I decided to share my tips. You can take notes two ways on a computer or write them out I like taking my notes by hand because I feel like I learn better that way.


Head your paper
At the top of my paper I like to write the subject and section title for example: Biology Ch. 1 section 1 this way when I go back to review my notes I'll know what notes go with what section.

Colorful pens
Black pens bore me when I'm studying I find that if I write in a hot pink or purple pen I won't stray off and get distracted (I'm a sucker for colorful pens lol).

Color coordinate
I swear by color coordinating everything in my life keeps me organized what I do is write the title (Notes, places, people, & dates) in one color and write my actual notes in another color that coordinates (pink & purple or blue & green) this helps me study better instead of my notes being a one color if they're in different colors it'll be easier when it's time to highlight for a study guide.

Highlighters
I swear by highlighters without them I'd be lost use a highlighters that coordinates with your pen color and highlight any and everything you might think is going to be on a test.

I always used these tips in high school and now that I'm in college they've come in handy more than they did in high school, I hoped my tips helped some of you and that you use them and have a great school year!