Mindfulness. Cue the image of a room full of vegans, meditating cross-legged in a room full of bonsai trees and posters with 'enlightenment' and 'peace' written in bold letters… …at least, that's what it used to represent for me before it became an integral part of my daily routine! (And believe me, I'm no vegan!) In this post, I'll introduce you to what mindfulness actually is, what its benefits are, and the practice I cultivated to help me optimise my academic performance.

Ask yourself: How many activities that brought you joy have you given up over the course of your life? Do you find yourself wondering what things would be like if you'd continued on with a hobby, but think that it's 'too late to start again', or that 'you're too busy'...before returning to a state of stress/apathy towards your current situation? The truth is that pursuing our hobbies and passions can play a powerful role in improving our overall performance in various aspects

Welcome to the final blog post of the 'advice to young travellers' series, where I'll pass on some mental/emotional advice and lessons that may help you to own negative situations and transform them into a positive travelling experience. As cliché as some of these sound, I can promise you that they're the most valuable lessons that I learnt during my travelling experiences. Not only are they relevant to travels, but they can also be applied to your day-to-day life to glean ma

Thinking of travelling with your best friend? Read this first! Welcome to part 2 of the 'advice to young travellers' blog post series! Here I'll be imparting some lessons on travelling with friends/groups in order to minimise the chance of destroying friendships! Destroy friendships? Isn't that a bit over-dramatic? To put it bluntly, no. As much as travelling can forge friendships, so too is it capable of ruthlessly dismantling them. And it happens because of one sole reason

Ah, the travel bug affliction. Symptoms include an unquenchable thirst for new adventures, a burning curiosity to experience new cultures, a sudden calling to 'find yourself'… and possibly a desire for a new Facebook profile picture. Whether it's pre-university inter-railing in Europe, gap-year adventures in South America and South-East Asia, volunteering trips in Africa, or university-organised teaching groups to remote villages in Uzbekistan, each offer a tremendous opportu

Results day. You work hard(ish) during the academic year, revise hard(ish) during study leave, then you sit down and handle those exams. And then you sit back and enjoy a well-earned summer break. Results day comes. You turn up to school, get your results, make some casual future decisions, and go back to enjoying your summer. Sorted. …if only, right? The sad truth: for many of us, 'results 'day' might as well be called 'results month'. Because August arrives, and suddenly ea