Let’s face it, not all parents love their children. Abusive, bad parents exist. They messed up not only with our childhood but also our adulthood. Like a lower back pain after your 30s, the pain never truly goes away but you can keep the pain at minimal, tolerable level. This is my way of dealing it, reading memes, lots and lots of it and it worked

Reading Memes Helped Me To Get Through My Childhood Trauma

Memes are funny and relatable. Although childhood trauma memes are sometimes a little dark, for people who’ve been through worse, it’s plain comedy. I find it somehow therapeutic because when you can start laughing/ smiling at your own trauma and knowing that someone out there truly understands you, it feels less painful. I am sure this doesn’t work for everyone but it worked for me. I tried meditating, breathing exercises，think positive etc and it didn’t work as well. So if you are like me who has a darker sense of humor, try it!

Childhood Trauma Memes Are So Relatable And Funny

We all know that seeking help from a professional is always the way to go but can we afford it? Unless my company’s insurance includes therapy, I am not going to pay tons of money for a therapy session. Memes are free therapy, you see it, you laugh, you smile, maybe you cry then it feels like you can get through this today.I remembered famous comedian Ali Wong joked about her miscarriage on her show, some of my friends find it awkward and inappropriate to joke about it but I know, I know it’s a way of coping and healing. When you can laugh about your wound, it gets easier, day by day.

Memes Are Free, Therapy Is Expensive 

How memes helped me deal with my childhood trauma

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

health

Health

How to deal with sadness 

I got my JLPT(Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N5 exam results recently and passed with a 96.8 percentile rank. I was really happy because I was never a top student in any class ever. I was never a hardworking student and HATE sitting in front of a desk with textbooks studying for hours.So, If you are a beginner like me and don’t want to splurge a lot of money on expensive language courses and hate boring textbooks, I am here to help!If you are an intermediate or advanced Japanese learner, you probably already know this or more! Please feel free to share your tips and experiencewith us!

I Passed My JLPT Language Exam Using Only These Online Resources

What do you do waking up first thing in the morning? Brew coffee? Do morning yoga? For me, I just stay in bed and scroll on my phone until I have enough energy to leave my bed.Instead of forcing myself to leave my bed and get up studying, I utilize my time in bed to study.Here are 6 apps that I used to learn basic Japanese while I am staying in bed:<ol><li>Lingodeer</li><li>Duolingo</li><li>テレ朝News</li><li>Easy Japanese News やさしい日本語ニュース</li><li>Instagram</li><li>YouTube</li></ol>These are all FREE apps but some of them have a premium plan you can join to skip ads while learning Japanese. I don't mind watching ads and thus did not join any premium plans.

Learn Japanese Staying Warm And Cozy In Your Bed 

There is no perfect app that will help you to master the language, each of them is good and bad in its own way.For example, Duolingo and Lingodeer are perfect if you are a beginner and want<ul><li>To improve your vocabulary</li><li>To understand basic grammar rules</li><li>A well-structured course to follow</li></ul>Each lesson usually takes 5-10minutes to finish, making it easier to commit to a routine.However, they both are not ideal if you are trying to improve your oral skills.Both apps have oral practice exercises yet the voice recording function is a little bit buggy and could be frustrating when practicing.

Learn Japanese: The Pros & Cons Of Language Learning Apps

テレ朝ニュース & Easy Japanese Newsやさしい日本語ニュース(ESJ) are perfect for strengthening your listening, reading and oral skills.Both apps are Japanese News apps butテレ朝:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">News is read by REAL Japanese News Anchor</li><li class="ql-align-justify">NO English or other translation is available</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Perfect for shadowing</li></ul>ESJ:<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">News is NOT read by real people but artificial voice assistants </li><li class="ql-align-justify">English and other language translations are available</li><li class="ql-align-justify">News articles are modified into an easier version for beginners to read</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Free JLPT mock exams are available</li></ul>No matter which app you choose, reading the News is always one of the best ways to learn a language!

Learn Japanese: The Pros And Cons Of Japanese News App

One of the best things about learning on Social media is there’re A TON of interesting and new resources. Since I check on my newsfeed on Instagram and watch Youtube for leisure every day anyway, reading Instagram mangas, watching Japanese reels and videos are very entertaining, it didn't feel like I am studying at all.However, some contents might contain inaccurate information that will hinder your learning. Being able to select the right learning materials on social media is crucial yet can be an overwhelming process.

Learn Japanese: The Pros And Cons Of Social Media

The first step is to master 50音 & pick ONE language learning app to start with.Hoarding apps at the beginning is a bad way of learning because information overloading can make you give up easily. Slowly add in more apps/materials after you have a grasp of the basics.After that, create an immersive learning environment for yourself such as <ul><li>Changing the language setting on your social media to Japanese</li><li> Watch Japanese Shows on Netflix </li><li>Find good pages to follow on social media </li></ul>A good beginning is half the battle, everything gets easier & easier after you have a learning routine!

A Road Map For Absolute Beginners 

Looking for more resources? Don't worry, I got you! Useful links:<ul><li>まるごとのことばhttps://words.marugotoweb.jp/top.php</li><li>SK Home Online Language School https://youtube.com/c/SKHOMEyoutubeJapaneseschool</li><li>NHK やさしい日本語https://www.nhk.or.jp/lesson/english/learn/list/</li></ul>Shows for Japanese learners: <ul><li>Terrace house series (Reality TV)</li><li>Shirokuma Cafe (Anime)</li><li>Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (Anime)</li></ul>

More Learning Resources

Who said learning a language needs to be boring and tiring? Is it possible to study while staying in bed, feeling comfy and cozy? The answer is YES!

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Philosophy

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Learning & Education

communication

Communication

Self-Learning Japanese Tips

We have always heard about the first step towards meeting our goal is to start from “baby steps”, but did we really start from baby steps? We all know that the definition of baby steps means making a very small amount of progress towards achieving something. What we don’t know is how “small amount” of progress do we have to make. Think about a person who has NEVER cooked before and has to follow a recipe and the instructions was, “Add a pinch of salt”, doesn’t it sound confusing? Everyone’s finger is different, everyone’s pinch is different, right?

They say “Start from baby steps”, but what is baby steps?

If your goal is to lose weight, how many times have you failed to do that? Forcing yourself to go to the gym everyday no matter what only to give up in less than a week (or lessPersonal trainers or fitness couches all tell you that you need to work hard towards your goal and working out for 30 minutes is the least amount of exercise you should be doing.They have implemented to “baby steps” towards your goal is 30 minutes of exercising. When you can’t even achieve that, it makes it even easier to give up.What happens if we start from something much more easier to maintain a habit?

Did We Take Too Big Of A Step From The Beginning 

If your goal is to lose weight and you have never exercised before, don’t start with jogging or swimming or lifting weight for 30 minutes, that’s not “Baby Steps”, that’s “Big Foot Steps”! Start by planking for a minute, or walking to your favorite place everyday(Your favorite beach nearby, your favorite shopping mall or park etc) Build an exercising habit, prepare yourself both physically and mentally to take on something harder later. No matter how small of a step you take, you will get there eventually as long as you don’t stop.

Start With Something Really Really Easy To Maintain A Habit 

One of the most famous quotes from The Analects of Confucius, “The faster one tried to finish, the longer it seemed to take him.” There’re two reasons why you failed so many times at achieving your goal.1) Taking “Big Foot Steps”instead of “Baby Steps” in the beginning2) Wanting to see the results IMMEDIATELY Set your goal lower, make it more easier to achieve and start with REAL baby steps. Remember about the story of “The Hare and The Tortoise”? Make haste, less speed. As long as you don’t give up, you might even reach the finishing line sooner than you think.

How to deal with sadness

Self-Learning Japanese Tips

How can we use “baby steps” to achieve our goal?

Gigie Wong