This is only the second full week of my Junior year and I've already hit rock bottom twice. For the first two days, every night I pretty much cried myself to sleep because I felt like there was just no hope for me and that I didn't really have a purpose anymore.

Before in Freshman year through my Sophomore year, I always knew what I wanted to do. I knew EXACTLY where I am going to apply for college, what I am going to double major in, and what my future career is going to be, but when this year came along.... I realized that all of these "exactlys" were just another variables, like anything that I mess up on, there is a chance that this "exactly" might turn into a failure. Thankfully I have two best friends who helped me through those two days where I was so depressed that I couldn't even function without bursting into tears.
I just wanted to make this post for all of the rest of the students out there who are feeling depressed and feel like they might not have a purpose anymore, because I understand what you are going through. We are not going through "depression" we just need to establish ourselves differently. I told one of my friends about my feelings and she was completely lost because she didn't understand what I was going through. I want to be the person who understands you and I am here to help you. So here are some tips on how I pulled myself out of that deep hole of sadness (AKA Junior year):

1. Don't worry about what other people think, say, whatever about you.
Honestly, this idea is literally everywhere around social media but here is how this helped me. Ever since elementary school, I've been wanting to change the way I look so that I looked like my friends who were all (and are still) extremely skinny. These are the girls that you see on Tumblr with thigh gaps, long hair, and long legs. While here I was short, slightly chubby, and only knew how to write, and draw.
I didn't want to be the one who was different, and before I used to be gossiped about because I was not athletic. I honestly wanted to change myself, but I think through this summer I realized that it doesn't matter what others thought of me because what ever they think does not make a physical impact. Thoughts are even less powerful than words because they just dissipate into the air. I tried to be someone I wasn't. I tried to copy how my friends behaved, and as silly as it sounds, I thought that if I acted like them then I would be able to get the same guys who has crushed on them. BUT OF COURSE THAT IS SO NOT TRUE!! There has been many instances, where a guy only flirted with me, and didn't even look at my friends because although I am not a typical good looking girl, I was outgoing and I had more social skills. It matters what you think of yourself. If you continuously put yourself down and compare yourself to others, you are never going to improve. You will only make yourself feel worse. If you feel like you should lose a little bit of weight, go ahead and do it because until you lose that weight, you will feel bad about yourself.

2. Laugh out loud.
This idea corresponds to the last point that I made. I'm a really loud person, some people might call me obnoxious but I think of myself as outgoing. As I said before, I tried to be more "lady-like" and keep all of my emotions within me because I didn't want to exaggerate, but these feelings of happiness and sadness just builds and builds, but after missing that moment to express yourself, you will not get another chance. SO LAUGH OUT LOUD!! WHO CARES?? It's not like other people don't laugh and they have more friends.

3. Live in the moment.
Live life how you want to. If you choose to stay up until 1 every night (even though that's unhealthy) because you want to watch a movie, write a blog, text your friends, etc. GO AHEAD!! You will be the one paying the consequences anyways, so why not live life the way you want?? Do whatever makes you feel right. If you have a test the next day, but honestly you are just not in the mood for studying, then go do something else that you want to do then come back. You will be a lot more focused. If you want to go partying on Saturday, make a decision and go. While you're at that party, don't even think about what you have to do when you get home. We will cross that bridge when it comes right in front of us.

4. Try your best at everything.
I'm pretty sure that there is no medicine for regret, so try your absolute best at everything. If you try your best, you will notice that during that moment, you are thinking about nothing but accomplishing what you were set out to do. This will help you focus on the task at hand, and later when you get whatever the result you were looking for whether bad or good. You can tell yourself: "I tried my best." It's true that there are always things that you could improve on but at least you won't regret not giving 100%.

5. Balance your life.
Have a equal amount of learning with fun things you actually want to do. There is not a day that goes by where I'm like, "I WISH I WERE THOSE PEOPLE ONLINE WHO ARE TRAVELING THE WORLD!!" Let me tell you something... If you work hard now, that will be you in a couple of years. Ignore them and try to find something that is more practical. Obviously you can't just leave town on a plane and go to Brazil... So like find the second best thing that you want to do... Like... Reading, drawing, starting a podcast (like me... please go check out the link on my bio... sorry... I need to advertise) Anything that helps you relax is something that you should have. 

6. Try to find something to do everyday that helps you relieve the stress from your day.
This is not the same as balancing your life because that's finding a balance between the fun and the learning while this is actually finding something that you are interested in doing. Have some fun throughout your day. What I did was, I listened to podcasts on the way to school, then during passing period from one class to another, I would listen to music (this is where I get the Reaction Tuesdays) then when I get home, I just click open Just Kidding News on YouTube and just let it play in the background while I work.
I literally just squeezed everything I want to do into one day. Even though these things are small, music helps to wake you up, podcasts teaches you something new everyday, and news just fills you in on the world. I enjoy listening to all of these things so my day went by happily. Always have something you want to do to reward yourself and to have something to look forward to.
7. Make time for a nap.

Naps are wonderful. Naps are beautiful. I love naps. Naps seriously recharge you so you can stay up later during the night so you can do your homework. If you get five hours of sleep the night before, if you take a 1 hour nap then that means you slept for 6 hours. WOW... Much math. So in high school I think naps are very important. Once you feel recharged, you can continue going on with your day without feeling tired. 

8. Try to multi-task.
This is kind of a bonus tip because this is probably the only way that I get my fun and education in at the same time. It's not a good habit to have, but if you master it like I did, everyday will seriously feel like summer. 
I really hope that these tips helped you out. Until next time, stay cool ma beans.