6 CONFIDENCE TIPS

In the midst of exam season, I find myself panicking at breakfast about what to eat and how it'll affect my mood and how that will then affect my performance in these numerous papers I have spread out over two months... Have you felt the same way? Probably not, as different people have different worries. While some can be good at speaking in front of a crowd but scared to the brink of death at the though of taking a test, others are the exact opposite. I am by all means no expert at confidence; these are just a few (quirky) tips I use to boost my self-esteem and make me enjoy all the things I do.

In general:
1. Get a mood booster.
Songs, poems, dance routines, jogging on the spot etc etc. These are like your personal key to the secret garden that is the confidence somewhere inside you. I like taking a break from whatever I'm doing and jump up and just do a tiny jig to cheer myself up (make sure you're alone or you'll find you tend to attract quite a lot of stares).

However, unlike actual keys, the more you utilize these, the less effective they become, so use sparingly! Good examples of confidence-boosting songs are:

 Stronger Kelly Clarkson Roar Katy Perry

2. Enough sleep.
It's important. I try to sleep as much as I can but end up with 6 hours every night.

I guess different people have different tiredness-tolerance levels (yes, it's a scientific term). For me, as long as I have enough energy to get through the day, I'm fine. Which brings me to food.

3. Good food.
Teens, whether you're male or female, this is not the time to be on fad skimpy diets. Treat your body properly; sleep isn't the only thing that removes that tired dead feeling from your legs, healthy meals are crucial too!

Eat enough carbohydrates, as they are the things that your mitochondria release energy from in the process of respiration. Eat enough proteins so that you can grow (yes, you keep growing till 20) and so that your cells can regenerate. Keep the snacks to a minimum, but don't cut them off entirely: everyone needs a pick me up in the afternoon! Healthy options are the best: apples, plain crackers, and dark chocolate are some of my go-tos.

Confidence in tests/exams:
3. Know your stuff.
Of course, when it's exam season, the best way to get the "Yes I know this!" feeling is to actually know your stuff. And strut it. There is simply no shortcut to hard work; the more effort you put into revising, the more time you spend trying to understand those boring paragraphs, the more likely something is finally going to go *click* in your brain.

The confidence comes automatically; if you know what you're doing, you'll believe you can do it!

4. Trust yourself.
When you encounter an extremely difficult question or perhaps a more tricky challenging task, believe in yourself. Tell yourself "Okay  (insert your name here) . We're going to do this okay? I'm giving you five minutes for this question. You know you can do it. Okay? Okay." Whilst it might seem weird that you're talking to yourself in an exam, I find it's beneficial to spend two seconds giving yourself a thumbs up before continuing.

The thing is, if you revised properly, you'll know how to finish the question. It's just a matter of self-esteem!

Confidence in public speaking:
5. Your audience is wearing silly top hats.
I'm a shy person at heart, but onstage in front of the masses, you just have to convince yourself that the audience don't know any better!

If you imagine them wearing silly hats (some people like imagining their audience naked but er...) you'll be laughing inside and that smile you've been trying to force out will just come naturally!

6. Wear your favourite underwear.
If all fails, give yourself an edge. Why not wear those comfy bright blue undies today? No one can see them anyway. If you find yourself shivering and stammering, just take a second to think about that secret weapon under all those layers of clothing, and this will give you an instant uplift to continue on!

Note: This trick only works if you never, ever, ever tell someone about it. I solemnly swear that I am up to no good ;)

Yup those were my 6 tips! As usual, not all of them apply to everyone. Hope you enjoyed this post! For studying tips, here's a little something that might interest you.

Colgate Optic White toothpaste

After getting a haircut at Festival Walk, I went down to Taste with my friend to buy toothbrushes. Next to it was this "NEW!" Colgate Optic White toothpaste. The normal one is blue and this one says "PLUS SHINE" so I decided to give it a try. The funny thing was, next to it was a promotional tag saying buy any optic white toothpaste to get an 8-pack 330mL 7Up for free. Oh the irony of getting your teeth whitened only to drink more carbonated drinks! Supermarket corporations do have their fair share of humour...

Anyway, here it is:

Unconventional red packaging!

I will be updating this post to show my month's journey with this toothpaste. Hopefully the difference will be worth the extra 10HKD I paid! (Well there was the free 7Up... heh heh)

Copic Sketch Markers

I was recently very bored (once holidays start my workload halves) and was browsing YouTube when I saw this:

      How nice do those words look?!! Brush pen calligraphy suddenly became very interesting. Thinking of all the birthday cards and posters I would be able to flawlessly pull off, I visited a local arts supply shop in Mong Kok. It's a hidden sort of place and it takes you about a minute to find the door if you've never been before, because they plaster it with little drawings and glass deco stickers. Anyways, there wasn't much variety in the brands they sold, the only ones I could find were (obviously) the most expensive ones on the market: copic sketch markers.

      A friend at school had used similar comic-drawing markers on her artwork and I had marvelled at the way the colours looked so vibrant with one sweep of an ink pen. However, I was at first cautious because these do not come cheap! Priced at 38 HKD each, this was going to empty my wallet faster than M&Ms, if I did become addicted.
      And I already am. Look!

This is only my first day with these, bear with me :)

I expected to exit the shop with just one plain black marker, but they had around 10 different shades of black, from cool to neutral to warm to "special black". :O I ended up trying some and trying a few colours too, and absolutely fell in love with the hues. I'll say a little bit about the colours:

1. BG57 Jasper – a calming teal shade that's a bit more on the blue side

2. YG05 Salad – a bright yellow-green colour that reminds me of new leaves

3. N1 Neutral Gray No.1 – this one was the second lightest of the many shades of grey (haha) and carries a tiny hint of purple

4. Y17 Golden yellow – a warm glowing orangey yellow that is reminiscent of sunflowers

5. W10 Warm Gray No. 10 – borderline black, a tiny hint of brown to it instead of the usual dark blue

6. E81 Ivory – A very light beige colour

       I'm quite happy with my colour choices, they went quite well together when I used them on a birthday card. I even changed this blog's title to a hand-lettered banner, using Photoshop to invert a scan of my name written with the W10.

Double-ended: felt tip and hard marker nibs

So overall, 

Pros:

1. Very versatile felt tip nib

2. Nice oval shape, feels good in your hand

3. Claims to be refillable (haven't tried that yet, nor do I know where to buy refills)

4. Amazing range of colours (I'm dying to try other ones!)

Cons:

1. Price

2. Price

3. Price ARRRRGH I spent 228HKD on 6 markers!!!

There you have it. If you are willing to use half a month's allowance on these high quality markers, then go for it! Hopefully the ends justify the means and I'll be producing nice hand-lettered greeting cards. Else... *gulp*

Yours truly,