Welcome back, everyone! We hope that you enjoyed your weekend and are staying prepared ahead of exam season. To our undergrad students, post-grad students, law students, and any other followers proceeding along their academic tracks, this article is for you. With Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaching, how are you making sure that you don’t get too stressed at school? How do you practice self-care at college? Find out everything you need to know below!

Let’s Chat… Self-care During Busy Seasons!

• Meditation: The task sounds more intimidating than the actual practice itself.. most people envision meditation, gratitude, and mindfulness practices as an hour-long activity requiring you to sit on a yoga mat and breathe. Well, we’re here to debunk this myth! Gratitude and meditation practices make take just a few short minutes and may include a thought or two, a journaling exercise, or some breathing, but they do not need to take up a large part of your day. We encourage you to do so when you wake up or before bed, especially by putting your phone down and “unplugging” from electronics.
• Say No: Learning how to say no! We often feel pressured by “FOMO” to attend any and all events while in high school, throughout college, and beyond. However, if you’re reaching burnout or a point where the stress of balancing all activities is beginning to outweigh the social benefit, it’s important to set boundaries with yourself. Remember, saying no does not need to be viewed as a negative but instead as a beneficial moment to allow yourself to recharge and attain an independent moment to relax.
• Engage in and Allow Yourself Breaks: Using breaks to actually break from schoolwork, social events, or activities is the best way to recharge your body and brain for a great rest of the day. Breaks lead to better productivity, so they should be viewed as equally important to the moments and hours spent being productive.
  • Extra Tip: While taking a break, we encourage you to go for a walk, exercise, stretch, practice yoga, grab a snack, make a smoothie, walk to a cafe for a cup of coffee or tea, call a friend, take a bath, paint your nails, do a face mask or skincare routine, light a candle, listen to music, listen to a podcast, or engage in a small activity solely for the joy of it! Above all, make sure that your “break” isn’t a secret disguise while you’re still glued to a screen. Put that phone down!
• Input “Self-Care” Into Your Schedule: By actually documenting moments of self-care as events on your schedule, you will be more likely to “complete” it. Visually and physically blocking out time for self-care will help you practice it every day! Start by identifying the points in the day where you could best utilize a break and then block it in: we recommend in the morning before you start your day, in the middle, in the late afternoon prior to dinner, or before bed! Any of those will help break up your day and add in a little “treat.”

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