As the days creep toward Halloween, my feeling of dread increases. This is a weird feeling for me because, guys, I seriously love Halloween. I mean, I love fancy dress at the best of times—and in the UK, we do fancy dress a lot—but Halloween is just that much better. Unlike New Year, Christmas, birthdays, [...]
We’re the internet generation. We use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, and all the rest. We read BuzzFeed, have YouTube vlogs, create memes, take selfies, and google everything. We’ve given new meanings to #, like, friend, tweet, and favorite. And in some ways, this is pretty freaking amazing. We are so much more aware [...]
It’s The Big Question. It’s an instant existential crisis. And it’s something asked constantly: What do you want to do when you grow up? We get a lot of practice answering this question; all the way through childhood we choose careers such as firefighter, ballerina, or teacher. When I was informed at the age of [...]
Feeling down, sad, despondent, gloomy, depressed, stressed, worried, not coping, struggling, miserable, lethargic, dejected, in low spirits, glum, going through a rough patch. English has so many words for being unhappy. It’s not surprising, given how terrible sadness can be—especially over a sustained period of time. We often downplay it, believing that acknowledging it betrays [...]
Job hunting: two soul-crushing words. For those who quickly get a job, it’s a boring but relatively painless experience. For those that don’t, the feeling of dread at turning on your laptop steadily increases. Day in, day out, you customize your résumé, create cover letters, fill in application forms, and wait for responses. The cynicism [...]
Tanya Newton, 25 Educator teaching English in Japan Get Smart Mentoring has given me the chance to meet some incredible women. I have learnt so much from their experiences, and am grateful we have had the chance to share them in a safe, non-judgmental space. Mentoring gives young women support and advice so that they [...]
Perhaps it’s about career choices: maybe you want to pursue an entrepreneurial or creative career, or don’t want to attend university. Or it could be about relationships: you might want to get engaged, or to contact your birth parents. Or possibly it’s down to lifestyle choices: perhaps you want tattoos and piercings, or you plan [...]
Gap years: an enriching way to open your mind, or a hedonistic way to waste your time and money? Their divided reputation makes deciding whether to take one a difficult decision. The truth is that a gap year can be either of these stereotypes. Which one it ends up being depends on you. There are [...]
When I was in college (British college, that is—Americans, you'd call it your junior and senior years of high school), I started vomiting from stress. For a few months, I would regularly have to run out of my classes and exams, be sent home early, and take mildly effective anti-nausea tablets. I was very lucky. [...]
It's 11 a.m. on Saturday morning and you don't have anything to do. You've read three novels this week, watched all your favorite TV shows, and exhausted your go-to websites. You’ve already exercised. Your room is spotless. What you want is someone to hang out with, but there's no one. Your alone time has crossed [...]
