Through the business of school, it’s easy to forget about yourself, your mental health and self-care. I know for me I tend to forget about taking a break and reflecting on how I’m coping with the excess amount of stress school can bring. Looking back at my freshman year, I realize just how horribly I handled this anxiety. I lost myself completely by the end of the year. I crumbled under the pressure because I was in my own head, running back and forth through all of the things I needed to do. I knew going back to school this fall, I couldn’t do that to myself again. I would not be able to mentally sustain myself. So, I made a list for when it all gets to be too much. Here are some tips for maintaining a workload and selfcare.
1. Take breaks -Don’t cram information into your mind, take break in order to re-energize yourself. Short mini breaks can help you from getting overwhelmed.
2. Go out with friends- Make sure to have some time to get your mind off of things. Have fun, let loose and pretend to have no worries.
3. Split it up- short chunks of work, help overcome the entire load be done over time. Trying to do everything in one night might work once or twice but over time it will catch up to you. So, do bit by bit and slowly but surely it will be completed.
4. Change of locations –Change things up, you’ll get bored of sitting in the same room. Studying or working on an assignment that you don’t want to do will only be worse if you’re feeling uncomfortable or bored in location. So, go to a cute café or different spot in the library and keep yourself engaged.
5. Do your nails/hair/makeup- Through school, my care for my nails or hair gets lower and lower, meaning I slowly stop doing it or caring about it. These things are really important to keep a person’s confidence. Don’t allow yourself to sacrifice your confidence and happiness over your work.
6. Silence- Take a moment of silence and think over your thought and compose yourself. Don’t allow your thoughts to overwhelm or overcome you. Think about anything and everything, take deep breaths and keep pushing forward.
Workloads are important but so is your self-care, make sure you’re balancing things, not sacrificing things. I hope this list helps, even if it’s a bit. School, jobs and internships, everything in life can get to be overwhelming. Keep in mind it’s okay to take a break. It is okay to have a breather for yourself for your own self needs.