So I've been thinking a lot about school. I've been thinking about how crazy my life gets, how crazy I get. Then I get really, really nervous. While I'm super psyched to start my senior year i'm plagued by my fears and anxieties. Then I decided that I needed to stop being so scared about what tomorrow was going to bring and just enjoy today. I needed to learn to let go and just breath. There are a lot of things I need to work on this school year.That got me thinking, why not just start a list of goals and things to improve or change this school year. Here are my goals for this school year.

1. Stop being so apologetic and just be fearlessly me. I'm a shy person and that is probably never really going to change but I don't have to be sorry about the way I am. I'm proud of who I am, I'm the first to fangirl over Harry Potter and freak out over my latest OTP. But I feel like I need to take that confidence and bring it to a bigger scale. I need to be unafraid to be myself in a world that asks me to be small and quiet. I am tired of making myself smaller for other people, toning myself down because I'm afraid of being too much. So this year I'm done trying to cater to others and just be loud and crazy (if I feel like it)
2. Talk to people more. It's not going to kill me to strike a conversation with someone in class. It's not going to be the end of the world if someone doesn't like me. I'm going to try and talk to people more, try and make some new friends while I'm it. Though as a shy girl, i'm probably going to take baby steps with this. 
3. Take care of myself more. Lately I've talked a lot about practicing self care, about putting yourself first. I'm the first to admit that I tend to want to take care of other people before myself. I know that I have a bad habit of putting school ahead of my own needs. I'm a work in progress and while I am taking care of myself I know I could be doing a much better job at it.
4. Get grades I'm happy with. Every year I set the bar high. I want straight A's and I'm going to work my butt of to get them but if the best I can do is a B i'm going to be happy with that. Over the past year I've learned that we are more than the value we assign to a red mark on a test. I've learned to be okay with the best I can do instead of beating myself up because I'm not good enough. 
• This includes AP tests and SAT scores. 
5. Wear outfits I feel great in. This means different things to different people. For me it means putting in extra effort into outfits. I've made this goal every year since freshman year and I think I've done a pretty good job at fulfilling this goal. This year is going to be no exception
6. Volunteer more. All of my high school life has been spent pouring my heart and soul into my school work. That doesn't leave a lot for volunteering so I want to make more of an effort this year.
7. Drive. I'm 17 and I still don't have my licence. I need to get on it!
8. Make an effort to hang out with my friends.This is it. This is my last year of high school I want to be sure I make a ton of memories with my friends. I want to spend my time laughing with them, planning out prom together, freaking out over college apps with them. 
9. Finish college apps two weeks before they are due. I just need to be sure that everything is the best it can be. That means finishing early so I can fix any last mistakes and I don't have to be worries about my application not going in.
10. Stay organized!!! I always start off the year really organized and I usually falter a quarter of the way in. I want to make it more of a permanent thing. So I decided to start a bullet journal because I've heard great things about the system. So here goes nothing! (click here to find out more about bullet journal)
11. Make more time for the things I love. Sometimes school gets in the way of me doing things for fun. So I want to make more of an effort to write and read and dance and taking pictures. I want to have time to watch 3 movies in a row and binge watch my latest obsession on netflix. 

What are your goals for this year?  Let me know in the comments below!

Go Check out the rest of my back to school series so far!

Day One:Back to School: Books and Movies
Day Two: Mixtape Monday + Organization
Day Three: Student Survival Guide
Day Four: Goals For the 2015 School Year
Day Five: Cute Hair Styles
Day Six: Open Letter To Students

Staying Organized and Creating a Blogging Schedule

 Trying to stay on top of things can prove to be one of the harder things in life. Especially when life is hell bent on being cray and not really giving you a chance to breath. Staying organized is definitely a challenge for me, being a student and blogger. But the thing is the busier you are the more important being organized is. In order to keep up with school and make sure posts go up, schedules and calenders are KEY! I know a lot of these things aren't really new ideas but this is just what I do.

1.  Priorities! It's important to have an idea of what comes first. Like for me school comes first, which often means laboring over homework before even thinking of trying to get a post done. It's important to know what your priorities are before anything else because that way you can build around it. 
2. Have goals. I'm trying to make it a goal to have 4 posts up a week. Every Sunday and Friday while alternating some memes through out the week. That's my goal. While it's important to have these goals, it's also important to know you can't always reach them. Don't beat yourself up if it's 1 in the morning and you are way to tired to blog and you have school/work the next day. These things happen...
3. Be strict but go easy on yourself. Try to stick to a rhythm or schedule but if it's not possible that day. Don't fret. 
4. Creating a Blogging Schedule will save your life. Okay the best way to do this is to do it monthly. That way you have an idea of what and when things need to go up. Its always best to have a consistent blogging days (mine are Sunday and Friday). Try to pick days that are easy for you to work with. (Shout out to my friend who helped me make my new blogging schedule)

• Pick things you'd like to write about that month. Posts ideas are important to have beforehand to avoid the flustered blogging, bad posts, and the "fuck it i'm not going to do it" experiences. Not everyone works this way I know, but it's useful for me.  
• Now you might have a Calender handy and you could use that, or you can make your own. Like I did :) 
• So once you have your days set, try to organize your posts to fit within those days. Like For me, Sundays are Book Talks, Fridays are whatever days. It's nice to have some venting/tutorial/tips posts. 
• Don't be too overzealous and try to bite off more than you can chew. It's important to be be consistent and so it's important to know what you can handle. I know that two solid days are in the realm of possibility for me. I know it's possible to do some memes during the week 
• Now if you have pictures to take for posts, or pictures to edit. It's a good idea to work that into your schedule too. Because that can take a while, trust me. 
• Do your best to stick with the schedule
5. Have a planner. I know it gets tedious but trust me it's helpful! This way you have an idea everyday how busy you are and what you need to get done. I usually write down homework for the day, try to put the approximate time I'll spend on it and schedule time for my blog if there;s a post that day. If not I try to make sure I'm active every day on my social media because I love you guys :)
6. Pick days that you can work ahead. For me I use the weekends as time to work, time to get things done before Monday comes and homework comes piling on. So I'll try to carve some time out for blogging, taking pictures, editing them etc. (end of thinking capacity lol). By working ahead you are able to give yourself an edge for the week/month. 
7. CARVE OUT TIME FOR YOU. If you are stressed, tired, absolutely done with everything,you are NOT going to function correctly. You are NOT going to be organized and probably going to fall behind. It's so important to take care of yourself and get sleep, watch some T.V. Read a book. Whatever is relaxing and fun for you. That way you can stay on task, stay organized and stay on top of things.

Hope I was helpful! Those are my 6 tips. Comment below if you have any strategies or tricks!

Happy Friday!! DFTBA