Saying everything sucks won’t make everything suck less, but making small changes to your life will. Here’s how one small change made my life suck a bit less, in just one week.
It was November last year; everything felt really hard, reading was tedious, writing was impossible. And the closest I got to recreation was finding a discounted quiche in Sainsbury’s. As a person, as a student, I was barely surviving, and thriving had long been out of the question.
Something clearly had to change. But if you’re like me, wellness advice from the lockdown lovelies has worsened feelings of inadequacy rather than resolved them:
- Wake up at the butt-crack of dawn.
- Get gallons of lemon water pumping through your veins before the sun rises.
- Make lists.
- Commit to tasks.
- Always be grateful.
…Sod. That.
So I held out, childlike, for some grand solution that required minimum effort: to slap me with a reminder that moaning about the train wreck of the past year won’t help me complete my degree.
And then it came in the very unlikely form of my neighbour, Calum. It turns out his company ‘Brainzyme’ makes natural brain food supplements. When he asked if I wanted to try some, like any student that loves a freebie, I said yes. Although ‘natural’ and ‘brain-enhancer’ felt like an obscure pairing, I was willing to try anything at this point.
He told me that the supplements are a ‘natural nootropic’, meaning their ingredients are scientifically proven to support motivation and focus. They’re also 100% plant-powered, vegan, allergen-free, free from gluten, gelatine, carbs, sugar and calories.
Calum kindly gave me all three variants of his product – the mild and calming formula ‘Focus Original’ (£18 for two packs) – the anxiety-reducing ‘Focus Elite’ (£47 for 2 packs) and – the strongest option for brain fog and motivation, ‘Focus Pro’ (£29 for two packs). I went for the strongest version straight away.
When I took two Focus Pro capsules, something weird happened: I read and wrote, without significant pause, for the first time in a long time.
It turns out that a nice little cocktail of natural things that I’d never heard of – guarana, ginkgo and choline – were the tonic to my slovenly state. Brainzyme doesn’t make any bold claims about revolutionising anyone’s motivation, but these supplements really do.
After taking one Brainzyme in the morning and two before lunch, my focus hours extended from 7 minutes to 7 hours. My dreaded post-lunch-slump was completely gone.
In the week that followed, I read two novels, wrote an essay and started exercising again. In fact, I can positively say I got more done in that week than I had in the few months prior in much less time. Realising that motivation loves a vertical human, I started doing all the things I had long been neglecting. I now had the time, the energy and the motivation.
Three months later, I’m still taking Brainzyme. They’ve got my brain through tired days and early days and have helped me find my feet again.
They also do a student discount! Enter ‘StudentEdinburgh11’ at checkout for 11% off the small product that made a big difference to my motivation.
Image: Hatice EROL via Pixabay