BESA HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE (PART TWO)

Believe it or not, there’s a car in space.

In Part One of the BESA Holiday Survival Guide, there was a word we alluded to that we decided had been mentioned waaaaay too much in the news and on social media recently (and literally via the lips of everyone on the planet), that we should not mention it; which we didn’t. But by indirectly ‘mentioning’ it, did we indeed mention it? Who knows? Not us.

But this week there’s another perhaps even more popular word that’s being spoken by literally everybody in the universe (including the aliens, Ziggy Stardust, and the Spiders from Mars, and even that astronaut dummy guy that’s driving Elon Musk’s Tesla in space somewhere, we imagine). So, therefore, we’re not going to mention ‘that new popular word’ here either, but we have it on good authority that it rhymes with schmockdown.

Is it just us or is this a bit like that week between Christmas and New Year when nobody has any idea what day it is, what the time is, whether they’re hungry or just bored, and what they should actually be doing with themselves?

Hence this blog post is here to help!

Now, if you managed to engage with any one (or all) of the previous six Holiday Survival Guide tips from Part One, then good on you, you little biscuit – you go fam! If you haven’t managed to get that far yet, then please stop reading this, go back to Part One, do those six things first and then come back here. Okay? Good chat.

“But I can’t do these new things because I’m only on Season 3 of Friends”, you say?

So are we.

“But I’ve only gotten through 150 of the 250 conversation starters”, you declare?

Well played champ – you must be the only one who clicked that link.

“But I haven’t even finished the first book of the Gone series yet”, you state?

That’s okay, there’s still lots of days of the twenty-one to go – our sources say it rhymes with schmixteen.

“But I’ve still got so much schoolwork to get through”, you cry?

Keep going you’re almost there. (Because there is more on the way soon. Cue the evil teacher laugh – MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

We know, we’re hilarious…

(Disclaimer: Please note that we are not in any way attempting to make light of the seriousness of the current lock down we’re experiencing. We’re merely trying to stay sane, be positive and look on the brighter side of life.)

Okay, okay, enough with all the ‘blah blah blah, yakkedy schmakkedy’. On with the rest of the list then:

7. Look up who Ziggy Stardust is and what the Spiders from Mars have to do with anything.

Also, look up who Elon Musk is and what an ‘astronaut dummy guy’ has to do with anything, and how these things all relate to one another. Or just click the video link below and check it out. Why? Because there’s a car in space people!

8. Download Google Podcasts

What’s a podcast you enquire? According to Merriam-Webster – it’s a program (as of music or talk) made available in digital format for automatic download over the internet.

So, in English this time: it’s really just a radio talk show where people talk about interesting topics and stuff, and when they’re done, they publish them on the interweb thingy for you to listen to. We recommend Google Podcasts because there’s a plethora (there’s that word again) of information available on a vast number of topics that caters for a variety of interests and tastes, and you can download episodes to listen to offline. Shweet!

Here’s a few top podcasts we reckon you should give a try:

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Jay Shetty is an Indian British motivational speaker whose goal it was to make wisdom go viral (which he ultimately succeeded in doing) and who posts episodes weekly across all operating systems and platforms to keep you mentally healthy.

Check out these awesome recent episodes:

11 Indoor Activities to Reduce Stress, Beat Boredom & Boost Productivity

3 Ways to Deal with Loneliness & Healthy Social Distancing

TED Talks Daily

Now, if you haven’t heard of TED Talks, where exactly have you been for the past 34 years? Yip, TED Talks has been going since 1986, can you believe it? Subscribe to hear about thought-provoking ideas on every subject imaginable from some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers including Simon Sinek (who has his own podcast channel called Simon Sinek Interviews) and Bill Gates.

Check out:

How we must respond to the Coronavirus pandemic | Bill Gates

Curiosity Daily

Curiosity Daily will help you get smarter about the world around you

BrainStuff

According to the BrainStuff bio - whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore - and explain - the everyday science in the world around us.

Try this short episode called FunStuff Playlist 03: Do Dogs Use Facial Expressions to ‘Talk’ to Us?

There’s a wealth of knowledge to be explored so go mad! (And please be sure to let us know of any interesting channels you recommend we should subscribe to.)

9. Meditate

We know what you’re thinking. Hear us out on this one.

“But BESA, meditation is not for me, it’s for people who enjoy doing activities like yoga and origami, who practice feng shui while listening to Mozart and sipping on their freshly made cucumber and lettuce smoothie.”

Well yes, there are those people who do do that and there’s you who could do that too. But let’s start small. Meditation is not about sitting barefoot on a mountain top, with your feet crossed over your knees while humming kumbaya and feeling all zen and stuff either. Nope this isn’t the movies. It’s much simpler than that - essentially, all you have to do to get-going on this meditation thing, is to sit and listen.

Yip it’s that easy. Just sit and listen. Any thoughts you may have, acknowledge them and let them go (it’s a bit like watching cars going by; see them, acknowledge them, then let them go on their way). Start small. Try 2 minutes at first, then try 5 minutes, and work your way up to a time that works best for you.

The more you practice, the better you’ll get and the more easily you’ll be able to incorporate it into your daily life.

Then once you’ve mastered it, tell everybody you know about how awesome meditation is, how you’re now becoming vegan, starting cross-fit and are going to solve world hunger in the process.

Have a look at the apps Headspace and Calm available on any good app store to help get you started. There’s enough free content on both to guide you well on your way to meditation mastery.

10. Journal

Again, hear us on out on this one. Journaling is really, really, ridiculously good for you (to paraphrase the great Derek Zoolander. Look it up kids.) and will bring you invaluable insights into yourself, others and the world in which you find yourself. Because your world is completely different from anybody else’s world, and it’s yours.

Now, you don’t need to be the movie cliché where you hide your journal under your bed, or between your mattresses, or in a hidden compartment in your desk drawer somewhere. No, it shouldn’t be like that. Your journal is yours, and yours only and anybody worth their salt in your life, should respect your privacy.

Not keen on leaving things on paper? Try the amazing app called Journey available (again) for download on any good app store. It’s password protected, and nobody will be any the wiser as to what you may be doing on your phone, because let’s face it, you’re always on your phone, so why should what you’re doing on it matter?

“But BESA, what should I journal about?”

Anything and everything really. Start by talking about your day, what you’ve done, what you plan to do, and the rest will just flow. The best part? You can look back on it in twenty years to see how far you’ve come, how you’ve grown as a person, and also for a bit of welcome nostalgia.

And finally…

Fun Fact:Mickey Mouse’s name was originally Mortimer Mouse.

Don’t believe us? Check out the link below. You know, because the interweb doesn’t lie.

6 Things You Didn’t Know About Mickey Mouse

Should there be a Survival Guide Part Three? We think so! Until then, keep doing schoolwork, be safe, look after each other and get lots of sleep while you can