Damselz-In-Sanity

✨Academic Validation✨ The dependence on physical awards as a sense of acknowledgement and appreciation. First things first,  This blog is not written to claim that academic validation is "bad" or that we should completely stop seeking it -  NO! It's authored to bring to the limelight the negative effects of academic validation on your mental health and how it affects not only yourself but your entire social circle.  With the school year almost coming to an end, award season awaits. For some of us, this is the most exciting time of the year - your yearlong efforts finally seek fruition. Some of us can only dream about standing at the podium. And for some, despite your hard work, you simply miss it by an inch. Now I'm someone who has experienced all 3 of the above scenarios; and if you're a "late bloomer", chances are, you have too. Getting awards, simply put, feels good.  It validates the sacrifices made: the late nights spent, and the occasional social e...

 I'm officially an adult.  And I'm going to formally experience "life" now. It's going to be tough. I know that. But the only thing that keeps me confident enough to face that fact is that I will never EVER relieve my senior year of High School again. If I could survive 12th grade, I can - hopefully - survive what the future holds for me. So, to officially start the post: School can be rife with stress. Every waking moment is spent either in front of a textbook, in class, doing an extracurricular or editing the millionth attempt of your Common App essay (if you're an International aspirant.) And when you're in a constant loop of the same, fatigue is but natural to catch up to you. This is what my - as well as most of yours' - senior year looked like: Last exam of 11th grade - a movie out with friends - AP's and SAT - Internships - Common App Essay - Extra-curriculars - Barbieheimer - First Semester Exams - Early apps - Durga Puja - Pre-boards - Re...

 Hello hello and welcome (back) to my blog :) After writing over 30+ essays for college apps and over 3000(totally not an exaggeration) pages of textbook content, senioritis caught up to me. It's always better to take a break than to slack off and produce poor results; which is why, 3 months ago, I decided to take a break from blogging.  Truth be said: I missed blogging. It's an activity I've pursued weekly since freshman year of High school. One, which has not only opened up so many opportunities in the field but made me better. A better writer, a better person. Obviously, you can't turn your back on an activity that has given you so much. So, I've decided to get back to my passion project, but with a few tweaks :) Timeline shift: DamselzInsanity began as a weekly blog in my freshman year of High School, during Covid. Over the years, while the pandemic subsided, my workload escalated. And as I enter university life, I know for a fact that maintaining a weekly sch...

 Happy New Year Eve Eve Eve! (mentally insert Pheobe meme) Heilo everyone and welcome backzo to the last #faltufriday post of the year <3 In all honesty, I'm not quite sure how to write this blog; so just a heads up, this post is going to be a very random collection of thoughts put together...and I hope you enjoy :) I've got some lukewarm news. If you haven't yet deciphered from my socials, yes, it's true.  This is my last blog post. For a while. Lemme explain. Blogging has been the most consistent activity I've kept up with, for more than 4 years now. It's one that has - not exaggerating - been a defining moment in my life. Now I'm not going to be senti and all in this blog because it's not the very last blog post I pen. So, no  goodbyes are hard but it's for the best; no No. Genuinely speaking, it was a very hard decision I've had to take but I knew it was the right one. Alongside being absolutely swamped with college applications and Board...

 Hello hello and welcome backzo to the last 'informative' post of the year! Previously, I had authored a blog sharing my favourite mental health TED talks with you all! With immense love garnered on it, several more binges later, I thought about doing a part 2! Without further ado, let's jump right into it! to give a watch once! 1.  Why we all need to practice emotional first aid When we get a small scratch or splinter, we know exactly what to do. Wash the wound, apply a band-aid and avoid contact. This has been ingrained in us since we were 5.  But what if it's an emotional scar? Are we really taught how to process grief? How to speak to someone who is vulnerable? In this TED Talk, Dr. Guy Winch discusses the societal favouritism towards physical health over mental health. He emphasizes the importance of practising emotional hygiene, drawing attention to the psychological injuries and wounds such as loneliness, failure, and negative thinking, and suggests simple habit...

We encounter so many people in our lives. Some at school, some at college, some at adulthood and even old age. Yet at all stages, we possess the common tendency to question: Is this person a genuine friend? Or am I only friends with them because I see them every day? It's quite natural to ask these questions. But the difficulty lies in gaining the answers to them. In an increasingly fast-paced world full of fake people, how do we distinguish the real ones? This blog is not a one-shot checklist to figure out who's the "real one" or "OG Gang". It's a blog to help you recognise the kind of relationship you hold with so many different people in your life and whether your environment is actually as positive as you perceive it to be.  And no matter the outcome, remember, talking it out always helps. Make conversation. Don't ghost or run away. Okay enough introduction, let's get to it! Simply put, the cliched lines you every day in a WhatsApp good morni...

Disclaimer: This blog post is not to promote taking ice baths or condone the fact that ice baths can cure your Mental Health. It's only a concept that I came across recently and thought of shedding some light on! If you are struggling with your mental health, please reach out to a professional. Hello everyone and welcome backzo <3 In all honesty, I saw a reel about this on Instagram and of course, I had to go researching it :) Here's what I found out: In the literal sense, an ice bath is sitting in a tub with really cold water/filled with ice, for about 10-15 minutes. When you come in direct contact with the water, your blood vessels constrict, redirecting blood towards vital organs. This constriction is intensified by norepinephrine( fight or flight), a hormone and neurotransmitter released under stress. When leaving the cold water, blood vessels reopen, improving circulation and blood flow. The vagus nerve, responsible for heart rate, blood pressure, and stress response, i...

Hello everyone and welcome back! Today's post is a slightly different one. While over the past 3 years, I've written about my views and personal experiences on teenage mental health. Today's post is for my history lovers, who'd like to learn in brief about the various phases in the evolution of the subject of Psychology. Without further ado, Let's get to it! We've all heard the phrase, " Curiosity kills the mind ". Well, Stone Age humans took it literally. They would trephine humans by carving holes in their skulls and "releasing evil spirits". Psychology is a new science. Thus it shouldn't come as a surprise that proper laboratory studies started only about 150 years ago, in 1879 by Wilhelm Wundt. He trained his subjects by asking them to record accurately their cognitive reactions to simple stimuli in order to measure basic cognitive structures. He eventually described his theory of structuralism—the idea that the mind operates by combi...

Hello everyone and welcome back! Due to the overwhelming response on last month's # faltufriday blog, I thought, why not have a part 2? So, this month's quote is: Medication is the only effective treatment for mental health disorders. To what extent do you agree on the truth or falsity of this statement? Drop your thoughts in the comments below; please add the phrase 'private' in the brackets if you don't want the comment to be public. Last but not least, please share and follow for more content - every Friday! Looking forward to reading your thoughts! Signing off, Kuhu :)

 Pizza or Pani Puri? KK or One Direction? Read a book or binge a TV show? We've all been confronted with 'crucial' life choices but many a time, when under pressure, it is common to feel paralysed; so yes, don't worry - you're not the only one. In fact, scientists have found that nearly 20% of the adult population suffers from this. Why? Let's find out! Researchers have found that the stability of preference-based decisions relies on the intensity of communication between two specific areas of the brain, rather than the strength of activation in individual brain regions. To investigate this, they employed transcranial alternating current stimulation, a non-invasive technique that modulates brain activity patterns. They reduced information flow between the prefrontal cortex (located just below the forehead) and the parietal cortex (above both ears) while participants made preference-based or sensory decisions about food. The study revealed that when the informati...