Picture this: You try to focus on all of the things deemed as “important,” even though constantly being on track can lead to being overwhelmed. It might feel like the world is wizzing around you, like you can’t relate to those important to you as much, or even like everyone else on campus has their life together except for you. The more you try to ignore the feelings the more they latch on, until the only thing you want to do is roll up into a ball and try to put yourself back together, allowing the cycle to repeat again.
Recently it seems as though more and more students are riding this cycle. The stress of grades, social life, family, and properly functioning day to day have finally hit this year’s student body. It’s an underlying connection that we all might feel at some point, but most of us don’t talk about it. It’s time for us to realize that sometimes not being okay is actually okay. What we experience as a personal low might be part of a bigger issue in our lives, as well as on college campuses, in general - the lack of self-care.
There are many different ways of defining self-care. For some people, it may be limited to the “Treat Yo Self” approach made famous by Donna and Tom (I see you Parks and Rec fans). Some may not take the practice seriously, as it’s not necessarily a concept that is physically added to your life. Then there are some who just don’t know where to start. Contrary to popular belief, self-care isn’t about just doing what you like. Smoking cigarettes because they make you happy, for example, would not be considered part of the practice. According to The State University of New York, self-care “refers to activities and practices that we can engage in on a regular basis to reduce stress and maintain and enhance our short- and longer-term health and well-being.” In other words, it’s something that you add purposefully into your life, in order to cultivate your physical and mental health. This means finding what makes you feel good in a healthy, productive way and sticking to it.
This also means that everyone practices this in a different way. The practice of self-care is as different to each person as each person is to each other. While some people may like yoga or meditation, others may enjoy making time to enjoy a book that is non-school related. Writing, singing, creating - the spectrum of activities and actions to improve your wellbeing is practically limitless, meaning that everyone can find at least one thing that can makes them happy, relieves stress, and embraces positivity.
The benefits of this so-called “me time” are extremely interesting when looked at from a scientific standpoint. Take, for example, the practice of yoga. Millions of people rely on yoga everyday for their form of self-care. Interestingly enough, Harvard University studied the results of continuous yoga sessions centered on personal mindfulness. They found that through this practice, the body’s stress response was calmed, allowing for a calmer response to future stressful situations. In other words, the more that you take time out for yourself, the better your mind and body will be able to handle the future stress of day to day life.
I am not writing this to claim that this practice is easy, that I know the secrets to self-care, or that I am even very experienced at it. I do, however, honestly believe that this is something that college students, including myself, lose track of when focusing on daily life. I believe taking that time to respect my body and value my mind, allows me to do the same for others around me. In my own self-care journey, I find the more that I put into my own life, the more I can add to other’s. It isn’t until we embrace ourselves and our needs that we can address that of the world around us. In the words of the great Donna Noble…
In case you needed a little pick-me-up, here’s a Ted Talk playlist focused on self-care.
