"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." - James A. Garfield I think that in todays society the idea of honesty is so often lost. We are constantly bombarded by images promoting unrealistic standards of beauty and misdirected by news reporters, is there any truth left in this world?

While there are people who are brutally honest most of us tell ourselves that white lies mean nothing, isn't it better to tell someone they look good in the jeans rather than admitting they look fat? After all aren't we told "you shouldn't point out things about people's appearance if they can't fix it in ten seconds." Sure, maybe they can find another pair of jeans, but what if they're already running late, no time to change. So instead they must spend the rest of the day wondering if everyone else thinks they look fat. So we tell ourselves by lying we're doing the person a favour, we're stopping them from having a shitty day and maybe in the short-term it's the right thing to do. Except now that person will continue to wear the jeans until someone is bold enough to tell them the truth, the realisation will hit them and suddenly they'll wonder, what else have they lied to me about? 

It is true to say that the truth is a poison. As we live in a world of sugar coating and white lies somehow the truth seems harsh. If it isn't positive, inspiring or heart-warming no one wants to hear it. In fact most people are perfectly happy believing in a lie and I can't blame them.

However, I always saw people who were brutally honest to be admirable. Their words were black and white, completely transparent. The truth can act as a poison, it enters your system toxic and ready to kill you, but it can also be the antidote. The problem, I believe, is not the truth itself but it's the person receiving the truth, their state of mind. Since they are so used to believing, that somehow, the dress can look as good on them as it does on the model, that it makes sense; the moment someone spouts the truth we run for the hills, claiming them to be cruel and un-sympathetic. When really, we are running from our own truth, from the belief that maybe our society isn't made of cotton-candy after all. 

The truth is neither a poison nor an antidote but simply a tool, in which many people fail to see its worth. They spend their entire lives running, if no one is bold enough to tell the truth, then we are all living in a lie. 

When I say this I don't mean, write everything down 'in a minute' or 'later' I mean RIGHT NOW. The key to making sure you remember appointments, meetings, due dates or anything else is to write it down the minute you know. As soon as you've booked your appointment write it down, the moment you know when your meeting starts write it down, when your teacher tells you when the assignments due right it down. By writing it down right then and there it doesn't give you a chance to forget and end up being late for that meeting or forgetting your appointment.

Whether it be an app on your phone or the cute planner you saw in Kiki.K it doesn't matter as long as you know where it is. It's all good and well owning a planner or downloading an app onto your phone but if you never use and/or check it then what good is it to you? Always make sure you're constantly checking your app or your planner, making sure you know what you have to do and where you need to be.

If you tend to spend an extra 20minutes on your phone in the morning set your alarm 20minutes earlier to allow time for that, if you need an hour of downtime after school before you can focus on homework make sure to schedule that in. You need to be able to know your habits what normally happens and then find ways around it, e.g. if you have a big job interview you HAVE to be on time for but know that you always hit that snooze button at least twice before you can even open your eyes, set your alarm 30minutes earlier. That means you can still hit the snooze button and by the time that you get up it'll be that time your meant to be up every other day of the week. If you're able to analyse your habits and the things your body and mind tend to do naturally then you can find ways around them and create new better habits, I.e. If you procrastinate (guilty!) doing your work then try and get rid of all your distractions and focusing on the task at hand. Teach your mind and body better habits to help you stay on top of your workload.

If you've been given a huge assignment or work load that seems daunting break it up into little tasks. Write out everything little thing you need to do in order to complete the entire task, cross each job off as you go. This will help to make the work load seem a bit smaller and also make you feel like your achieving something rather than Woking hard for hours and still feeling like you've done nothing. For example if I get given a research assignment on day the Kardashians rather than procrastinating and complaining about the amount of work I have to do I would make a to-do-list. What do I need to do to finish this assignment? Find out the history of the Kardashians, write out a set of questions to answer, make a mind map for each Kardashian etc. as you complete each task you can cross it off and before you know it you'll be halfway there. I always find this to be super helpful because it not only breaks down the job but also makes it seem a lot smaller.

If you get given an assignment four weeks in advance don't stay up late the night before it's due to finish it. The moment your given and assignment with a due date attached write that due date into your planner, then write an actual plan. Although four weeks may seem like a long time if you keep putting the task off without distributing your time evenly suddenly what may be a simple assignment can turn into an absolute nightmare. The moment you know the due date look at the weeks leading up to it, do you have anything else on? Any other assignments due? If so when and how will you work around them? Now I know this is hard to do and it does take practice write out how you will finish the assignment, what nights you'll do what in order to get it done. It seems methodical and control-freak-Y I know but trust me if manage to write out a plan and actually stick to it, as the due date gets closer you won't be tearing out your hair in panic. This step is definitely a hard one to implement but by dedicating your time to each task and breaking down the assignment you can easily get it done before the due date.

A common misconception is thinking that you need a deadline to keep you going, that the only reason you accomplish anything is because it's due the next day. While this may appear true for you the cold truth is that is simply an excuse for laziness and procrastination. No matter how far away the due date may seem it's important to get started on the project as soon as you've been given it, that doesn't mean finishing the entire thing the night you were assigned it. Pace yourself, work out how much you need to do each night or each week to get it done before the due date without any stress. 

In this day and age, with everyone so connected to each other through social media, it's easy enough to want to travel. Constantly bombarded with beautifully edited images of the canals in Venice, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Forbidden City in  Beijing. It's so easy to get carried away in wanting to travel for the pictures and while it is a blessing to be able to share the magnificent beauty our world has to offer, I believe that the desire to travel should come from the heart, as travel is the best thing for our soul.  

Venice Beach, Santa Monica

Having both the means and opportunity to travel is one of the most incredible blessings. I truly believe that there is no better cure for mental blocks than a change of scenery, whether it be travelling thousands of miles or just a trip to the country side. You don't have to go far in order to find new experiences and destinations. While I am very fortunate to of seen so much of the world I still love exploring my own country. From road-trips to 13 hour plane rides the journey is as much an adventure as anything else.

New York City