Time management is something that I have always struggled with. I tend to take on more than I can handle at once and time certainly doesn’t help in that matter.

Having good time management skills allows you to give yourself a break when you’re becoming worn down. We need these skills to survive. Without them, we’d find ourselves struggling much more. Poor time management skills can lead to trouble sleeping, increased stress and anxiety but for some it can lead to depression. Developing these skills can allow you to overcome these obstacles and can even lead to a more positive attitude.

Recently, I have really struggled with managing my time. Between two jobs and going back to school, it’s overwhelming but I’m managing as best as I can. My jobs are easy to manage but school can be pretty tough to juggle on top. I find myself trying to deal with everything at once instead of taking the time to work on each task.

I spent last week deciding whether it was more important to get my project done or tasks for work. Honestly, I felt like I had to make a choice. I didn’t think I could manage the time very well (this was me overthinking). It was a struggle trying to balance both. I put my project first, but because of this, I lost a lot of sleep trying to finish up my work tasks. Thankfully, I began this week with a better mind set and a plan, now I feel much better.

The best advice I can give you is to learn to manage your time. Remember to give yourself a break when you need it. Find time in your day to just breathe. You absolutely deserve it. Having good time management skills will get you through life, I promise!

What are you doing to better manage your time?

Read Jessica Schrader’s article Developing Time Management Skills to learn how to find more time in your day!

Check out this post about Time Management here on TurningPointCT!

Guys, check out this awesome video!

“From award-winning documentary filmmaker Arthur Cauty, comes Faces of Mental Health, a short film which challenges stigma and encourages open conversation around mental illness and suicide in young people.

Students in Bristol were offered a space to open up and share their thoughts and personal experiences of mental illness and suicide, with a view to encouraging people of all ages and backgrounds across the country and around the World to step forward and speak out.”

It’s on vimeo, and definitely worth a watch and a share!!

Check out the video here on vimeo

Today the artist Mac Miller passed away. He was 26-years old.
Mac Miller openly suffered from addiction and mental illness- candidly talking about his struggles in interviews and breaking down the walls that create stigma.
He was a talented musician, and impacted many young people with his music and his soul.

The tragedy of another young person, lost to addiction is a heavy weight we must carry as a society.
It seems recently, that we are losing celebrities at an alarming rate.
Through tragedy, a platform is opened- in which we can gather together and speak loudly about these things which have been forbidden.

With addiction, suicide, and mental illness ringing loudly in our ears- we must remember those we have lost. And move forward- not in silence, but in strength- with knowledge gained from their lives and their pain- with lessons to speak up and ask questions.
We must commit to caring for each other- no longer is it possible to look away from mental illness and addiction- we are so clearly surrounded by it- so clearly suffering from it, or not, but know people who are. So now, we must rise together to change the conversation and break the stigma which has silenced us for so long.

As for Mac Miller, I hope deeply that his family feels the love and support they need to get through this time- and I hope they feel comfort knowing they have the support of many others who have gone through similar loss. I hope he is at peace and that he rests in peace.

R.I.P Mac Miller

I can relate to this article in so many ways. From being forced into inpatient psychiatric settings to feeling completely violated due to the use of a benzo injection for being considered “uncooperative”, to having CPS/DCF involvement because a parent disagrees with the treatment their child is receiving. Similar to Kelli, I believe that the mental health system is broken and doesn’t always take the patient’s human rights into consideration. I will work to change the system so that others don’t have to endure the things I had to growing up.

Check out the article using the link below:

The Forced Psychiatric Treatment of a Child

What are your thoughts about this???

Aside from the variety of things I plan to discuss as a part of my blog, allow me to introduce myself personally and in the context of Turning Point. My name’s Luca, I’m 17, and I’m a recovering addict. However in a sense to not let a term like that define me, Hi, I’m Luca, I’m 17, and I’m just another human being that so happens to have struggled (and manage) with Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Self-Harm, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, the whole 9 yards. (I wonder where that expression came from? “the whole 9 wards”, nine yards of what?! whatever) Through a long and complicated journey I was able to make it out on top (sorta) and I can’t complain too much about my life today, I feel actually “grateful” for what I have now. And let’s get something straight here, I want to iron out a stereotype I had before now, I was under the assumption (in the heat of my emotions and addictions and what not) that people with psychiatric issues, and people who don’t drink or smoke, where lame as hell and a lot of the time very social awkward and weird to be around, I promise you the last thing I am is a weird kid, I might be a little f’d up but It’s my pleasure to announce that getting clean did not turn me into a nerd, or make more depressed, or any of that sh*t. Where were we? Ah, yes a proper introduction, well enough about what’s supposed to be important then, let me ease into who I identify as. My life revolves around music, I will drag that into every post and most likely label a few songs I’ve been listening to that day at the bottom of the post. I play guitar, bass, do vocals, write and record music, listen to all different genres (except pop, country, rap, pop-punk, emo/screamo sad kid bullsh*t and holiday tunes). So music has had a very significant relevance in my recovery, emotions, psychological well-being, development, and establishing myself as a person in my values and morals. I will be posting at the least one time a week, sometimes more, never less, about a variety of things, and am more than glad to post based on request and answer any questions anybody might have or would want to reach out to me for.

“Thanks A Lot” – Third Eye Blind
“Looking Down The Barrel of Today” – Hatebreed
“Overlord” – Black Label Society
“If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” AC/DC
“Bleed American” – Jimmy Eat World

Today is actually Prince’s birthday. Today he would have been 58 years old.

Prince, as we know, has had a tremendous impact on music. As we celebrate his life and legacy there is a new conversation, in which he could be just as impactful.

We learnt last week that Prince died of opioid-related overdose (Fentanyl -pain killer). Prince was not a known drug addict – publicly, he was portrayed as being entirely clean – not even a drinker.

What may have been a prescribed pain killer turned out to be the cause of addiction and the untimely death of a beloved music icon.

What this teaches us is that addiction has no face. We are at a point where addiction or death from addiction is no longer entirely oriented with low-life culture.

Obviously we have a universal issue that affects everyone and anyone and more people will help to demolish the stigma of addiction by getting help or educating themselves especially about prescription drugs.

Where do we go from here? How do we use the story of Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse to save lives and dismiss the stigma of addiction?

Pain-Killers are becoming some of our biggest killers – for a similar reason that we listen to music, many musicians seek comfort and ease of pain (whether physical or mental) from the use of drugs and alcohol.

Maybe drugs have a way of driving musical talent through its physical and psychological impact but it’s also a threat to our music and musicians.

Hey guys. I’m really struggling with something right now in my personal life and I felt like this was a good place to talk about it.

My best friend at school is really struggling in the depths of his addiction to drugs and alcohol right now. It’s really, really hard for me to sit back and watch one of the people I love and respect, basically destroy himself. I’m not trying to paint myself as the victim in this situation, since obviously he is the one struggling with addiction. Sometimes I feel like I’m working harder on his recovery than he is – I feel like I care more about him getting sober and getting on the right track than he does.

It’s really hard too, because he’s my best friend at school and obviously I want to lean on him for support, but most of the time I can’t because I’m sober and he’s not. It’s frustrating that our friendship is on such an uneven playing field, since I’m his main support at college, but he can’t return the favor. Some really awful things have happened while he’s been high / drunk, but I don’t know what event will make him realize that he needs to take his recovery more seriously.

I don’t really know what to do. Thoughts?