Ah, college: The best/worst 4+ years of your life. Although these hectic years are enjoyable and rewarding, they're obviously just as stressful as they are fun, if not more. The most important (and often the most difficult) attribute of college is learning how to budget your time and how to prioritize.

Despite the fact that it sounds easy, it is one of the most difficult things about college and can take years to perfect. It goes from "I have reading to do for tomorrow so I'll do it tonight" to "I have a paper due 25 minutes before this one and an exam five minutes after that so I have no idea what to do."

Amongst the deadlines and stress, it's easy for students to forget how important it is to take care of themselves. I don't just mean this in an emotional and spiritual sense, but also a literal one. It's not uncommon for students to forget to eat during Finals Week, trust me.

Self-care isn't just important for your sanity (though self-love is VERY important), it's also important for your health. Self-care can refer to getting enough sleep, eating 3 square meals a day, and staying active. It can refer to staying in bed all day with snacks because you turned in that big project and your mind is a pile of mush.

Here are some self-care tactics and tips to keep in mind as you begin your Fall semester:

Nutrition:

Although it's often a struggle, eating three meals a day or a series of smaller meals a day is definitely relevant. Even if it's nothing more than some water, an apple, and yogurt between classes, 5 small meals a day will ensure that you don't over-snack and/or eat junk food when you start feeling snacky before your 4 p.m. Art History class.

Personal Hygiene:

No, I'm not gonna tell you that you're nasty if you don't shower every day. Between my work and school schedules, I consider myself lucky if I get to take a shower every other day. As far as shaving your legs and all that tedious stuff goes, don't worry about doing them to please other people. If you would rather use that stuff for, you know, studying, than good on you!

However, personal hygiene is one of the most important parts of self-care just because it's time devoted to yourself. Although it's possible to get pushed to the point of stress where you're considering how long a shower will take and if you can use that time to do something else, put down the pen, close the book, and take a hot, steaming shower to escape for a few minutes.

Take Time For Yourself!

Finally, the most difficult part of all of this: Don't feel guilty for taking time for yourself. It may be seen as selfish or impractical but taking five minutes to yourself could be the difference between passing all of your finals and failing them because you've been stressing too much between an A and a B.

Self-Care is not a selfish act nor a pointless thing to avoid responsibilities - It is necessary, especially when you're worrying about finals and deadlines.

Take a moment, take a breath, and kick some butt this semester!