{"id":19883,"date":"2023-04-27T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T20:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=19883"},"modified":"2023-04-27T12:06:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T20:06:45","slug":"main-character-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/main-character-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Main Character Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Mirella Barrera-Betancourt<\/span><\/p>\n

As a student, finding the time to breathe outside of the hustle of college life can be onerous enough without motivation. The mountain of homework assignments continues to grow, paving the way for one to turn into a begrudged, pessimistic student. The good news is that it does not have to be this way \u2014 it is possible to see college as thrilling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRomanticizing your life\u201d is a concept that gained traction on multiple social media outlets. However, the meaning of the concept outside of social media can vary greatly for different people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The concept does not have to equate to shouting to the world that one has their life together through social media, because it is very rare a college student does. In fact, it becomes easy to see the failure of the concept in practice sooner rather than later when one is actively attempting to document the beauty and aesthetic of their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The key is to relax, appreciate the aesthetic through the eyes and live in the moment. Though the act of photographing may seem to be the right move to romanticize college life \u2014 because everyone else is doing it \u2014 it is critical to not photograph every single moment for the sole purpose of posting it on social media. It is a practice best used for the soul, not false social media glorification. Instead, try the following.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to music with imaginative themes. <\/b>Youtube, with their growing number of study playlists, can be beneficial to setting the mood for productivity and motivation. The account, \u201cThe Dreamers,\u201d contains a barrage of playlist music \u2014 from classical to instrumental \u2014 for the people that want to experience the joy of feeling like the \u201cmain character.\u201d Choose from a number of videos under the umbrella of dark academia, midnight library study sessions, coffee shop ambience, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Invest in school supplies, and incorporate color and aesthetic into the study routine. <\/b>There is truly nothing more pleasing to the eyes and soul than a nice leather-bound journal, a pencil pouch, color coded book tabs and a new set of colored pens. For example, color coding tabs to the cover of a book can add delight and aesthetic to the monotonous action of reading and annotation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Find a nice study space outside of the dorm room. <\/b>This may seem like a no-brainer, but studies have indeed shown that taking time to study outside of the familiar, confined space of a bedroom improves the mood and productivity. This includes public places, such as the coffee shops downtown with the soft glow of ambient lighting or a study spot around campus with a nice view of the street and nature. It allows one the prospect of having something to look forward to when study time rolls around.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Organize one’s study desk. <\/b>A clean and organized desk area for optimal study time can do wonders for motivation and productivity. For aesthetic reasons, buy a few plants, organizational desk trays and even add a splash of personality and character with some decor\u2014 such as through a photo frame \u2014 to uplift the environment of the desk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":19884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}