Ways to Rejuvenate
All my fellow college students can agree that stress is easier found than peace and sometimes we just don’t know how to rid ourselves of that. We want to just freeze time and just stop everything for a little bit. Just one day to do nothing and have nothing to do. Here are my quick, easy, five ways to rejuvenate after a stressful week.
1. Take a Day
This is something I do almost every single week. As an odd combination between and introvert and an extrovert, I get hit with a random need to be by myself. When you’re stressed, this is a for sure answer to your problems. Just sit down, relax, pop in a movie or Netflix and just be. Don’t think about that 12-page paper that’s due next week that you haven’t even started yet, or that book you have a discussion on Monday, but it hasn’t come in yet. Just take a beat, and be by yourself for a couple hours, even the whole day if it turns out to be really soothing for you.
2. Exercise
Exercise is a great outlet for your strong emotions. While you are literally sweating out toxins, you’re sweating out your stress and frustrations. It’s not fun, but we can all agree that exercise takes away all our will and energy to be angry or upset.
It really is a great way to calm down and think of other things than all the work you have to do, or already did and don’t feel very good about them. And it doesn’t have to be anything too taxing. Do yoga, it’s not necessarily easy, but it’s not as intense as running or lifting and it still gets the job done, maybe even more so.
3. Spa Day
Here’s my favorite! Now, this doesn’t have to be a legitimate Spa Day. We’re in college, we have no money, so you don’t have to go to a Spa and pay a lot of money. There are really simple ways to get the same feels.
Dim the lights, buy some face masks and a foot soak tub. You can do this and just sit there and relax, maybe even nap. Or, you can do the Spa Day activities while watching a movie. This you can do with friends, or without. Whatever would best calm you down.
4. Find your Thing
By ‘thing’ I mean your place or activity that takes you to a better place. For me, it’s a bookstore or a coffee shop. I go, drink coffee, look at old books, write, or just sit and listen to worship music. It doesn’t matter what it is, just find whatever it is that takes you away from all of that crap that is messing up your life right now. A little mini vacation from our stress-filled lives.
5. Read
Reading kind of goes along with finding your thing, although I recognize that some people don’t like to read. For those of you that don’t read, maybe try poetry. It’s short, it sounds nice, and if you don’t understand it that’s totally acceptable. One of the hallmarks of poetry. Sometimes not understanding it is the point.
Reading is just a distraction from life. It’s a mini vacation without actually going anywhere. If nothing else, it will at least show a narrative of someone else’s life that is probably much worse than yours. So, it’ll entertain while making you feel better about yourself. So, even if you hate reading, give it a go, because who knows? It might give you some perspective and provide a good distraction from everything else going on.
These aren’t fool-proof. I realize that sometimes putting aside the anxiety and stresses from college can be impossible during high-intensive periods. For example, midterms and finals. A lot of times there is simply just no time to actually relax and do nothing. Most days I leave at 8:00AM and come home around 7:00PM. You get home and eat and sleep, sometimes you don’t even eat.
Start scheduling time for yourself, because if you don’t you’ll go crazy. I learned that in high school – trying to do everything and say yes to everything, but you can’t do that, because it’s not worth it. Find what’s most important to you and cut everything else out. Schedule some ‘you’ time and you’ll see the wonders of “treating yo self”. And naps. Naps are pretty great too.
