With midterms coming up, let’s have the inevitable self-care discussion.
We’ve seen the trends––facials, Netflix rom-coms, teas, and bullet-journals. But what Instagram ads won’t show you is the best form of self-care: doing the damn thing you’re procrastinating in the name of pampering.
I love nothing more than a night of yoga, ice cream, and a good book, but those nights turn into mornings when I wake up and remember how much work I have due.
A few years ago, when I entered college, I realized that taking care of my responsibilities was a way to take care of myself. I reframed the way I thought about self-care, and I started practicing diligence. I did homework on Fridays, ate some vegetables when I wanted fries, and developed other habits that would have sounded like torture to past me. Not long after I started doing this did I start to feel like I was actually taking care of myself, instead of doing things that brought me a temporary fix.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t indulge yourself! Life is short and any joy is good joy! But I found that once I created a good schedule for myself, where I got my homework done ahead of schedule and didn’t procrastinate doing my dishes, that I actually enjoyed Netflix marathons and sleeping in more because I didn’t have background stressors distracting me.
So next time you try to prioritize self-care, think about what it would mean to actually take care of yourself. Maybe that’s ordering pizza and online shopping, but it also may be finishing that paper you were going to leave until Sunday and starting in on that pile of laundry.