There are many people online telling people that true self care is drinking 3 gallons of water, running 10 miles a day and getting 8-10 hours of sleep every night. EVERY. NIGHT. While that sounds great in a world where midterms, assignments and responsibilities don’t exist; that kind of self care doesn’t fit into the lives of most college students. Here are some small, manageable ways you can treat yourself on a weekly basis.
1. Putting yourself first
Honestly, the most important (and the hardest) part of self-care is learning how to prioritize yourself. Like I said before, all the responsibilities in life can feel like they are more important than anything else you have to do. I’ve fallen into this belief more than I would like to admit, but it takes a lot of strength and power to recognize that your responsibilities are actually second to your health and wellbeing.
2. Scheduling in time for you
Following on the theme of step 1, learning how to put yourself can be started by scheduling time for you. This could be setting aside one hour a week to read a book, take a nap, or to spend a little more time at the dining hall to talk to your friends. If you think you can’t set aside a whole hour, start with 30 minutes or 10 or even just taking a 5 minute meditation break.
3. Celebrating the small things
Whether it's completing an assignment that you were stressed about, doing something nice for a friend or trying something new, find a way to celebrate yourself for all the things you have done. It may seem like a small thing to do an assignment in the grand scheme of college, but to do that assignment successfully you had to put in the work and the time to finish it. You put in the effort, so you might as well give yourself the reward.
4. Sleeping when you need it
In college, we have a tendency to stay up all night in hopes that it’ll add 10 points on our assignment/midterm/final. And while all-nighters might work for some people, they might not necessarily work for you. I had to recognize early in my college career that staying up all night would most DEFINITELY not work for me. One way to identify that you need to go to bed is by looking at the work you did during the day and the work you're currently doing (at night). If your work is substantially worse, you couldn't finish the problem or your hand writing trails off the page, go to bed!
5. Knowing the you can’t always do it alone
Just because it’s called “self-care” doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. Taking care of yourself also includes recognizing when you need outside support. If and when you need it, visit University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS). All Northeastern students are able to make an appointment by phone, MyNortheastern or just by walking in during business hours. Those hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday (8am to 5pm), Tuesday and Thursday (8am to 8pm) and from 12pm to 4pm on Sundays. Staffed by a wide range of clinicians that can help you with a fever or with overall wellness, UHCS would be your best bet to get the support you need.
If you manage to do one of the things on this list a week, it’s a great step to improving your wellness while in college. If you end up not following this list at all, acknowledging your stress levels is a step in the right direction; and one that can help you realize situations where self-care can be applicable in your life!
