Journal 1 –

Essence task:
I found that making the change to uni was not as stressful or hard as I
thought it would be, thanks to the events Monash organised to help us get to
know each other better and socialise easily. With ESSENCE, one of the goals I
made focused on Education as I wanted to find a more effective way of studying.
It was a SMART goal, to ensure that I was able to not only work on it in
consistently but also remain motivated to work towards it. I specifically set out 40
minutes per day to be solely dedicated to be working on what I had learnt in the
lectures, allowing me plenty of time to have some leisure time and rest for a
while.
One strategy I found to be effective to manage stress was to have a quick
lie down every time I found myself walking around the room trying to figure what
to do next in terms of studies. It prevented me from continuing to waste time and
also gave me a way to be more aware of moments where I losing focus, making
me more productive as I was able to carry out tasks in a shorter amount of time.
One habit I would like to change is my forgetfulness to have a drink of water every
now and then to ensure my health. Currently, it is the awareness aspect of ADEPT
working against me, as it is hard for me to realise when I’m not following through.

Stress Release Program:

I have noticed after last Monday that I am much more aware when I am
being mindful or not. Although I still am inattentive at times, I feel like my self-
awareness of these moments have allowed me to recognise when I am not
engaging in mindfulness and prevented me from being distracted as much as
before. I also realised the link between a lack of mindfulness and stress, as I found
how being disengaged from activities pushed me to lose track of time and recall
moments of regret, causing me to unnecessarily to think hard about things that
happened in the past.
I carried out the meditation exercise once more during the weekend and
found that afterwards I was much more focused on work and wasn’t taking as
many unnecessary breaks beforehand. The only problem is recognising when it’s
time for me to do the exercise as I am not carrying it out as much as I should be