Tag Archives: reading

4

I’ve Been Feeling Stressed

|

And I think one thing I’m really bad at is admitting when I’m feeling overwhelmed, which then makes the stress worse, and I become snappy and not nice to be around. Not good. So I’m writing it here to be more open about how I’m feeling in the moment: I’ve been feeling low lately.

With new work pressures/expectations, as well as general life stuff, things have been feeling a bit much for me over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been struggling. But I’m starting to feel better now, so here are some things that have helped:

  1. Talking about it with people I can be open and 100% myself with.
  2. Taking breaks from my phone – turns out being available all the time and constantly reading the news isn’t great for peace of mind.
  3. Reading for fun again.
  4. Watching TV to switch off for a bit – I recently started Downton Abbey, as well as binged Clickbait and the new season of Sex Education in the last week, just to give you an idea of how much ‘switching off’ I’ve needed.
  5. Praying about it and reading my Bible more. I’ve been getting a lot of encouragement from John 14:27-29, and remembering the gift of peace that comes from Christ.

In other news, my first official project with the Improvement Team was launched last week, and it’s an exhibition celebrating diversity in the NHS. It includes portraits, paintings and sound clips of various staff members from various groups within the Trust, sharing their experiences of working in the area, information about their backgrounds, as well as how the pandemic has affected them.

The exhibition was put together in collaboration with the local art college, and will be on display for free to the public for the next month. I’ve been so honoured to be part of this project (organising it all has been super stressful but we got there in the end!), and I also got the chance to be photographed as well, which was so much fun:

Here’s to future projects with the team, and yay for celebrating diversity!

0

New Year, Better Me?

|

HELLO, and happy new year!

I am back in uni land for the new semester, and I am absolutely BUZZING, because there are so many great things to look forward to. Halfway ball, the annual charity fashion show, visits from friends, and open mic nights put on by the new Healthcare Arts and Performance Society that I’m part of, are just a few of the things coming up this semester. It’s going to be a busy one, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t keep busy amirite?

Ofcourse, I’m still here to get my degree, so I’m also looking forward to learning about the Gastrointestinal System. We’ve been told that it’s not as intense as ENT, Ophthalmology and Neuro, so hopefully that’ll give me more time to keep on top of things. I want to be better at keeping up with my notes this semester, and if that means learning to say ‘No’ more, then so be it. While it’s good to not just be about medicine all the time, I mustn’t forget that this degree should be higher up on the list of my priorities.

I also want to be better at my challenges of the month. I’ve been slacking lately, and I feel bad because I used to do something new every month, but now I’m not going out of my comfort zone as much as I used to. So due to this, I’ve decided that this month’s challenge of the month will be Tinder. That’s right, you read right – The Ice Queen is going to go on a Tinder date at some point this month. Stay tuned for updates.

Another thing I want to better at is cooking Nigerian food while I’m at uni. I’ve enjoyed teaching my housemates more about Nigerian culture, so I want to carry on with it this year. Armed with a list (and pictures) of spices and ingredients from Abs (my mother), I plan to go to the African food shop and buy a ton of stuff to cook with. Exciting times ahead!

Finally, I want to be better at reading in my free time. I don’t read much during term time, (probably because I don’t have much free time), but after getting through Purple Hibiscus and A Monster Calls in a couple of hours during the Christmas break, I realised how much I miss it. So every night, I’m going to try and read before bed. Book suggestions are very welcome 🙂

And those are some of “resolutions” for the new year! Will I manage to accomplish them? I guess time will tell…