After the doctor’s, I’m undergoing a couple of tests, one of them being a blood test (note: drink a lot of water in the 24hrs beforehand, it’ll help you and the nurse). I also underwent a memory impairment test and the blood test will determine if I need a brain scan and that will determine if I need to see a psychologist. I’m being transparent about my health because I think it will help me in the long run, and it also informs a little about my current process.

Before sitting down to write (or just after I open up my book or word doc) I think I might practice mindfulness too, and maybe that will make writing a little easier, by clearing up all the chaos that might there that I’m not even aware of.

The daily mindfulness tips that I was given by my GP is a list of eleven things to do throughout the day to help develop mindfulness and ground you mentally. At first, reading it sounds a little cheesy but it does help. It’s similar to self-reflection but meant for more regular use/immediate effect. They’re more or less designed for you to take a moment and just take a moment to be mindful about what’s around you and how you feel.

You can find more about mindfulness by just googling it or taking a look at mental health organisations like Beyond Blue: What is mindfulness? Some do it similar to meditation but the list I have are more like small moments of just practised awareness (mindfulness) of what I’m doing, what’s happening around me and how I feel.

Especially in this time, mindfulness is a good thing to practice, whether you’re sitting down to study, going to work or just going about your daily life. Before I sit down to study I’m going to also take time to be mindful and hopefully I’ll be able to focus better and feel less stressed about what I need to sit down and do. This semester is likely going to be one of my hardest, but I don’t want anything to get in the way of graduating. I’m almost there.

It’s funny, I haven’t really thought about what it will be like when I graduate (except the not having a job possibility) but now it’s really starting to sink in that at the end of this year, I’m going to have finished three years and completed a degree. I am going to graduate with an official piece of paper to say that I went and did it. I managed to get out of my circumstances and I made it to uni, twice, and will have finally graduated from one. I thought I couldn’t do it when I was little, thought I might not be able to do it after my first bout of university and now know that I can do it, and am about to do it. Now I just need to apply that to publishing my first book (insert laughing-crying emoji).