Favorite Poems Compilation

How to strengthen your brain outside of school:

Maybe you’re not in school anymore, or you’re taking a gap year to save for school and you’re worried about keeping your brain fast and not getting too lazy. Well, here are a few helpful ways to make sure that you keep thinking:

Read books daily. Always have a book on the go. Reading keeps your brain active and it’s a cathartic activity. If you’re feeling up to it, read self-improvement books, or informative books.

Watch Ted Talks. Not only are these videos filled with so much great information, they are also inspiring.

Think about where you want to be in the future and start preparing for that. If this means that you need to spend hours of your life prepping the perfect resume so you can get a job or internship that takes you a step closer, then so be it. If you want to start your own business I’d highly recommend that you research the hell out of entrepreneurship. 

Exercise. Exercise is important for the brain. It also keeps you happy, which in turn keeps you motivated.

Expand your vocabulary. Write down the words you don’t know in books and look them up, keep them on flashcards and memorize them. Big vocabularies are so important and they do come in handy.

Learn a new language. You can do this for free on apps like Duolingo or you can actually go and take courses somewhere. This could help you so much if you plan on doing University abroad or even getting a job there.

Watch documentaries. Netflix can currently teach you about the Vietnam war, World War II, the Earth, the global food trade etc. Learn. 

Watch the news, listen to it or read about it. It’s important that we know what’s happening right now and memes can distract us, but try to be informed. Maybe you can make a difference.

Learn a new skill. It’s time to learn something you’ve always wanted to, whether it’s cooking, sewing, art, photography, yoga, mechanics etc. Teach yourself.

Do online classes to boost your grades for University. 

Do online classes because you’re curious. Don’t stifle your curiosity. Curiosity is an asset.

Challenge yourself to do one productive thing every day. Don’t let yourself go to bed without mental stimulation for the day.

can’t criticize plastic surgery as an institution because it’s none of your business if a woman wants to “fix” her insecurities. can’t criticize the makeup industry or beauty standards because some women feel good when they shave and wear makeup. can’t bring up the challenges women face in the workplace because some women want to be stay at home wives instead of working. everything a woman does is automatically feminist and we shouldn’t stop to think about the context surrounding her actions because that would be misogynistic. here’s what i had for girl dinner. according to my girl math the barbie movie was a revolutionary piece of feminist media. i may not show it but i feel the life slowly draining from me day by day.

ophelia, friedrich wilhelm theodor heyser // ophelia, jean-baptiste bertrand // ophelia, sir john everett millais // ophelia, léopold burthe // ophelia, theodor von der beek.

Guardian News: “‘You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words,’ climate activist Greta Thunberg has told world leaders at the 2019 UN climate action summit in New York.”

Love as Acceptance

Caitlyn Siehl // Leonard Cohen, "Anthem" // Rumi, "Bitterweet" // trans. Anne Carson, "Euripides" // Sade Andria Zabala, "Coffee and Cigarettes" // tumblr acct @/gayassnatural // Anne Carson, "H of H Playbook" // William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 116" // Clementine von Radics, "Mouthful of Forevers" // Toni Morrison, "Jazz"

unstoppable force (trying desperately to see the good in life) vs immovable object (wishing life would be kinder to me)

i really wish five hours of sleep was sufficient because going to bed at 2 and waking up at 7 would be heaven but the body keeps score