Mental health, school, and work can be hard to balance, so make sure that you're taking care of yourself.

School is stressful for us college students. We're shoved into what seems like sudden adulthood, forced to manage a fulltime load of school, work, social life, and finances. It's pretty insane, especially since that if you look at the statistics, students now are dealing with the same level of mental stress that put people into mental institutions in the 1950's...which is pretty sad when you take the time to think about it.

With all this being said, I feel like we need to take a step back and rethink how much value we put on mental health. Because honestly, we deserve to remove the stigma around it and be freely able to give it the attention that it sorely needs. I think that in able for this to happen, colleges and universities need to make resources more available to students. For example, did you Illinois State University peeps know that the school as two full-time counselors available to us? That's something that I recently discovered through a class project. I was actually very pleasantly surprised to find that out. It means that steps are being taken towards bettering focus on mental health.

However, how many students know about it? Resources need to be made aware of. Especially since they're free to us and we normally don't even get all that we're paying for in student fees. But that's a whole other story.

If we as students are to undertake the challenges of working school and balancing more than likely one job, we're taking that hit to our minds and our bodies. And when you're mentally shot, it affects your body as well. Speaking from personal experience, it can be anything from a migraine to physical exhaustion. Our mental state needs just as much care as our bodies. Whether it be from free visits to a school counselor, taking a day for yourself, doing yoga, venting to a friend, we need that mental detox. We can't just continue to run and run and not take a breather.

For me personally, every Thursday night is a "me night." I choose to put aside schoolwork and do what I feel like doing...and that can vary from chilling out in a bubble bath to watching my favorite movie to writing whatever I feel like. The point is I take the night to breathe and recollect myself, and I've found that I've been so much better for it!

As we move forward into our fall semester, I just want to be that mom friend to everyone and remind you to make sure you're taking care of yourself. Take a self-care moment and remember to breathe. Look into what resources are available to you through your school and don't be afraid to make use of them! They're there for us for a reason, so don't hesitate to