Mental, physical, and emotional health hasn’t always been my biggest priority. Whenever I get overwhelmed, because of my anxiety disorders, I tend to fall apart and collapse in on myself like a dying star. After an extremely stressful 24-hours last week where a Psychology midterm, a nasty sinus infection, and juggling being involved in two major productions at Wake all converged on one day, I had a bit of a mental breakdown. I ended up sobbing on the phone with my boyfriend after screaming at him for something silly that he had no control over. It was then that I decided to make proactive steps to make a positive change in my personal health. There have been so many things that I want to try and always brush off by saying, ‘I don’t have time.' Well, by putting it out there and onto Hayleigh’s Corner, I hope to be accountable for following through on these things.

So here it is, the top 4 things that I want to try this Fall to improve my health:

Resume my yoga practice.

This is one that I don’t really have a huge excuse for. I have a gift card sitting in my desk drawer for an unlimited month of membership at a yoga studio that is less than a mile from Wake’s campus. When I practice yoga, it is one of those things that instantly boosts my entire day. Not only does it have incredible physical benefits, but it also can improve your mental health as well. I am a bit partial to hot Vinyasa flow classes. This practice is not for everyone, but I know that when I come out of one of these classes drenched in sweat, I feel mentally refreshed and at peace. My goal is to finally activate my membership at the local studio and resume my practice. If you want to find out more about the benefits of a Vinyasa flow practice, click here.

Meal Prep for One Meal Per Day.

If you have ever searched for ‘eating healthy’ on Pinterest, chances are you have seen at least one recipe for meal prepping. Meal prepping is where you cook a large portion of food at the beginning of the week, and then divide that into containers to be refrigerated and reheated throughout the week. The idea is that if your food is already prepared, you cannot use the ‘I don’t have time to cook’ or ‘I am not in the mood to cook’ excuses. I have a bit of a weakness for tofu burrito bowls with queso at the Moe’s on campus. If my food was already prepared, it would prevent me from making excuses about cooking for myself later on in the week. My top recipes that I am looking to try are linked below, and they really do look quite tasty.

Start Keeping A Bullet Journal.A bullet journal is basically just a notebook with paper with only dots on it. Using the dots, you can create lines, squares, circles, anything that benefits you in structuring what you will use the journal for. Many people use bullet journals as day planners (and if you are like me and hate using digital calendars, a written planner is a necessity). You can also use the journal to make to do lists, detail goals, track class assignments, or course progress. Now, this one will be the hardest for me to follow. I have been known to scrawl a memo to myself in my planner and then forget about it. It is going to take a bit of self-awareness for me to keep this up, but I really do think that it will help me to plan ahead and manage my time in a more effective manner. Click here to check out the journal that I bought on Amazon (shout out to free 2-day Student Prime shipping), and here is the link to learn a bit more about bullet journaling.

Keep a ‘Free Time To Do List.'

With as many commitments as I have and as overwhelmed as I get doing things last minute, there is never really an excuse to sit on my couch in my apartment and watch Netflix while online shopping and procrastinating. Most days, my friends are scared of the pile of laundry under my lofted bed to come into my room, I have a project/test/paper that I could be preparing, or I could be taking better care of myself and doing the first two things on my bucket list. I have times that I could be working, but I choose to take time to watch an episode of Law and Order: SVU on Netflix while sitting and shopping. So my free time to do list would be things that I could do while still relaxing. I could certainly fold and put away that pile of laundry while still giving attention to the goddess that is Olivia Benson. So my ‘free time to do list’ would be a way of keeping myself from procrastinating in a way that ultimately causes me to stress and panic later when I realize that I have to try and write a 12-page paper before class the next morning at 9am.

So, those are my fall bucket list items to help myself get in a better place mentally, physically, and emotionally. I don’t like having breakdowns like I had last week, so I hope that these things help. If they don’t accomplish everything that they are supposed to, then at least I made a valiant effort in self-care.