 I have so many lectures and assignments and homework to be doing and I'm making a blog. It's the other schools. Hey what's up my name is Ifa. I'm a first year student here in DCU. I wear most welcome to my blog I guess. I have no idea what I'm doing just a little warning for you but I never do so it's not the first time. Won't be the last. Yeah the case is done and I think the big thing weighing in on people's minds at the moment is the inevitable arrival of assignment deadlines and exams and friends like me. I think like my friends you are absolutely correct which is natural but it's not natural to be like that constantly so I guess I'm going to be showing some practical keywords they're being practical. Tips for minding your head at this very stressful time and just in general because college is hard. Lo and behold here are my top five tips for minding your heads, minding your minds I say and trying to get through it. Kicking us off at number five is mindfulness when everyone knows. Going to the HSE website mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to whatever is happening in the present moment and experiencing it without judgement whatever that means. It helps bring you into the present so basically focusing on what's happening right now and what you can and can control. It can be good for leaving sort of if you have anxiety about that deadline maybe the end of the week or that exam and you know it's beneficial. The HSE website there are ways that you can be more mindful on a day-to-day basis such as trying something new like sitting in a differentiation meetings. That's not very practical if you're doing online class but yeah if you have meetings sitting in a different place, gentle walk or yoga can help you cope if you've been over busy mind I do agree with that. Exercise personally is a big thing for me. Deal with stress it was a big way of dealing with stress when I sat at my leaving sort and I was supposed to be sitting at my leaving sort as well as naming thoughts and feelings for example saying this is anxiety I am feeling stressed. That is a big thing helping it's what helps to ground you and I think it's like telling your brain what what's feeling. Afrain yourself from the past and the future. So live in the moment the best on the list is meeting with your friends and family. We are coming out at level five happy days. So we can start to meet our friends and our family outdoors of course wearing face coverings and social distancing where possible. So give your friends a buzz text them go to the park it can do so much because you know take your mind off it and you know it'd be it's a bit of fun you know we've all been trapped inside for the past I don't know how long this is especially good if you're something like me I'm quite a social person and just meeting up with my friends and talking absolute nonsense with them for an hour or two is probably one of the best things I can do and take my mind off where I was bothering me and get a bit of a laughing so yeah all this being said you don't have to be meeting up with them in person. A zoom call or FaceTime is just as good as meeting up with someone in person it might be better so I have a lot of friends in Limerick and Galway I'm in Dublin I spend most of my time in Dublin so it might not be the best thing for us health-wise to be meeting up at home on the weekends and it is a big sport risk so if I want to talk to them I'll organise a zoom call and hopefully when the risk infection goes down and all that lovely stuff is a distant memory we'll meet up and we'll go for coffee and all that lovely jazz. So coming in number three is exercise which personally is one of my favorite ways to relieve stress I am a rugby player and I am studying PE so that is quite easy for me to say but I don't think it can be overestimated the effect the exercise can have on someone if their head is just a bit wrecked even like going for a walk in the park I do most evenings after I'm finished lectures or whatever just to clear my head personally my favorite way is a good dirty rugby training session but we can't do that at the moment so after making it with the park coming in number two is Netflix or YouTube or just watching streaming a movie or something lovely like that in my personal experience I was very stressed the first week or two of college you know I didn't know anyone didn't know where I was going I lived in the back of the world of awfully but yeah like I said I didn't know where I was going didn't know what I was doing didn't know anyone and I was so stressed and I was so scared that I was gonna mess up and that you know I was gonna have to drop out and I was gonna fail and being able to take that hour or two in the evenings was very beneficial to me and I still do it and obviously you know stuff like popcorn or ice cream or anything like that is optional it is heavily recommended though and makes it feel good yeah there you have it obviously there are many more ways of dealing with tricks but those are my top five do talk to someone do reach out to people and because I was there you are not alone and yeah I don't have to edit this video and send it off I have no idea how well it's gonna go it's probably gonna go very badly but your luck and I also have assignments and exams to study for so that's going to be my evening and but stay safe stay healthy and mind yourselves and mind the people around you