A good piece of advice can change your life. Do you agree?

Throughout my life, I, most likely like you, have been given hundreds (maybe even thousands) of pieces of advice. These wise words, given by friends, family members, teachers, strangers, and those who I look up to, have changed my life in unimaginable ways.

One important thing I’ve learnt throughout my entire 14-year life, is the importance of friends and friendship.

When you’re down, your friends should be the first people asking you if you’re okay and listening to you rant about your problems.

When you’re at your best, they should be the ones cheering you on from the sidelines, making fun of you in any blank moment.

They should make you laugh, make you smile, push you, inspire you, and teach you something new every single day.

When it comes to travelling, there's nothing easy about it. While planning for a trip is often exciting and exhilarating, all the stress seems to kick in when it comes to packing. Is it just me?

Ever since I was a kid, packing for a trip, whether it was a day-trip, sleepover or full on holiday, was one of the most stressful things! I found myself writing massive winding lists of everything I could possibly think of needing, only to realise once we got there that I’d forgotten a bunch of stuff we needed and had squashed my suitcase shut full of unnecessary crap! Anyone else relate?

I remember my very first day of high school, and all the preparation that went into organising my brand new school bag. I was convinced that I needed a solution to every problem, an item for every scenario and practically packed my entire life into my backpack!

Looking back, I realise how much of a mistake that was, and how carrying an unnecessary 10 kilos on my shoulders created one big mess.

Now in year 9, I still carry a backpack (since I’m not all too interested in handbags and tote bags), and have gotten the real hang of packing the necessities, as well as some extras just in case!

Isn’t relaxing great!?

Experiencing the feeling of having nothing to do, and being able to sit around all day binging netflix, watching youtube and playing video games can be such a relief!

However, while getting a break from busy, productive, stressful and exhausting everyday life can be a real blessing, I could only think of one thing worse than doing just that. Being bored.

I’ll be honest with you. As a kid, I never enjoyed reading. Rather, I saw it as a chore.

I always thought it was boring, a punishment from my teachers and purely a waste of time. (Sorry to have a go at all the bookworms out there😬!)

While I am definitely no bookworm now, I’ve finally found an area of reading that appeals to me.

I’ve always been a huge fan and strict follower of routine and habit. For years now, I’ve followed the same schedule each and every day in order to maximise my day, and everything I do throughout it.

Creating a morning routine, in my opinion, is all about finding what works for you. This post today is just a fun way for you to get to know me better, and does not in any way mean using this routine, ESPECIALLY if you're no morning person.

With so many advancements in technology during the 21st century, children now are born into an age of learning, adaptation, and media.

As teenagers, we go to school each day, inching towards the future and planning our lives as adults and independent beings. We use phones, social media and technology to make up large aspects of our everyday lifestyles.

Everyone has dreams and desires in their lives, it’s a given. Whether they’re desires for today, wishes for tomorrow, or dreams you hope to come true in years from now, it's inevitable that we want something seemingly impossible to attain.

However, it doesn’t need to be that way. If you look at the people in the world and everything they’ve achieved, it’s easy to say (in my opinion) that anything is possible.

When it comes to academic and life success, motivation and staying motivation is undoubtedly the most important thing to remember.

While high school often makes it difficult to stay both focused and motivated, with the large piles of homework and coursework to finish in such short amounts of time, it certainly is possible!

I vividly remember during 2017 or 2018, when I’d finally had enough of my bedroom.

It was a Sunday morning, and I quite literally remember throwing everything of mine onto the ground, and spending the entire day reorganizing my bedroom.

If I’m being honest, I think that was the first moment when I decided to change my life and my entire lifestyle.

High school is hard. Full stop. And I completely get it. I mean damn, I’m not even halfway there and I already find myself questioning my motivation sometimes.

But while high school often sucks, and can get really difficult and confusing at times, there are a few things that may help change that.

For Gen Z specifically, over the past few years, we have become so knowledgeable and motivated to change the previous generations' ways, in order to make a better world for our children, and their children to follow.

Everything we do in our day-to-day lives impacts the environment, often for worse rather than better. Today, I’ll be talking about ‘17 Ways To Be More Sustainable’ throughout our everyday lives, in order to look after and preserve our planet.

Being a teen in the 21st century is really weird, to say the least. While today, I stand tall (quite literally!) As a 14 year old girl in Year 9 of high school, I remember and often reminisce about times before life became so complicated.

In today’s blog post, I’m going to be talking about a bunch of random things that I’ve learned from being a teenager!

Many of these tips have shaped me for the rest of my life and have helped me become the person I am today.

Ever felt like there wasn’t enough hours in the day to get everything done? Let me tell you, I can relate!

Time management seems to be an issue almost everyone faces as they struggle to fit everything into their daily lives. So many things to do in so little time! It’s a struggle we all face.

Now, while we only have, and only ever will have, 24 hours a day, these problems that we endure aren't due to a lack of time, but due to a misuse of time.

Getting a good night's sleep is essential to our physical and mental health.

While we spend approximately one third of our life sleeping, for many, they still ignore and lack acknowledgement of the importance of sleep.

Sleep benefits us in almost every way; boosting and optimizing all aspects of our life. Lack of sleep, on the other hand, does the complete opposite.

Students are often the most common victims of stress. Factors such as family problems, friendships, relationships, school work, assignments and social media are just some of the many stressors that students experience.

In the age of social media and technology, the world has seen a dramatic increase in mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD and other disorders often characterised by stress.

We all know that we need to stay hydrated. It is something told to use by every parent, teacher and friend. But despite how important it is to drink water, we all seem to ignore it.

In our everyday lives, there are many reasons why people don’t drink as much water as they’re supposed to. You may be busy? You may hate the taste of water? You may hate the taste or prefer an energy drink or coffee instead? You may hate the idea of being on the toilet all day.

Whatever it may be, I get it. But that doesn’t remove the fact that water is SUCH a needed part of life and growing, especially as teenagers!

For most people, this time of year is one of the most stressful times, as it’s filled with heaps of assignments, work, and exams.

With half a year's work needing to be crammed and memorised purely for a hour-long test, it can be really overwhelming for many students.

With exams nearby, I wanted to write a post discussing tips for preparing for, and sitting exams and tests.

So, if you want to survive exam week and go out of it with straight A’s, keep reading!

While reading just isn’t for everyone, It is such a great skill to have in high school and in life!

Reading teaches you so many literary skills, and boosts your creativity and writing in so many ways! And with so many aspects of school surrounding reading and writing, there is purely no harm in giving it another try!

Hopefully these tips are useful and will help you become the bookworm you're destined to be!