It’s a Wednesday in the last week of September. The leaves are starting to fall as the Massachusetts air gets cooler day by day. Meg Buschini and I settle into two red Adirondack chairs on the campus quad. I asked her to be a part of an interview in an effort to highlight some of the incredible women leading our Her Campus chapter at UMass Amherst. Being the wonderful person she is, she agreed.
A senior communications major with a minor in sociology, Meg wears a pink face mask and sits with her legs crossed. She’s wearing colorful, flowing pants. Her hair is piled on her head in a loose ponytail. When I ask her how her day is she responds, “It’s been… pretty solid.” She’s just come from a Campus Rec Center class called Mobility and Meditation taught by a friend. Our conversation is easy, halfway between two friends catching up and a podcast interview. Anyone who knows Meg IRL, or online for that matter, knows she’s a woman passionate about wellness, healing, spin, and so much more. It’s clear she has come into herself, applying her passions in everything that she does. We launched into our discussion beginning with her role as our Her Campus chapter’s wellness director.
Wellness Director
The position was created in January 2021 in conjunction with Meg and the former chapter president to support general mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. In her role, Meg hosts wellness events, provides resources to members, fosters community and safe spaces, and encourages members to “just take care of themselves.” There was no vision, just the goal of being a support system.
“If I could provide any sort of extra support or a boost in someone’s life, then I feel like I would’ve achieved everything I wanted to,” she told me. “I just wanted people to know they are not alone.”
She later elaborated, “It can be really tricky navigating all the responsibilities we have. And I don’t want Her Campus to feel like a responsibility.”
Meg’s practice of wellness is not isolated to Her Campus. Meg told me she started getting into mindfulness and meditation during her challenging freshman year of college. Started in May 2019, after finishing that first year, her Instagram account, @mindfulmeg_, is the convergence of her personal diary and a resource for others. Posts range from personal reflection, reminders, affirmations, and so much more. I encourage you all to check it out for yourself.
“I had thought about creating [the account] for so long, but I worried about people judging and sharing this stuff on the internet,” she said. “It seemed very vulnerable.”
When she mentioned how creating this page seemed very vulnerable, I asked Meg how vulnerability tied into wellness.
“I think that we can’t heal from the things that we don’t talk about and acknowledge,” she said. “It makes you feel less alone, it opens up conversations, it allows you to really just start healing.”
Meg told me her next Her Campus article is on this topic: the strength in vulnerability. She told me her articles are frequently wellness focused: lessons she’s learned, her struggle with chronic illness, meditation, change, etc.
“It’s what I’m passionate about and what I love sharing,” she said.
Since its beginning, @mindfulmeg_ has grown to just under 800 followers. As Meg said, “It’s wide open for the world to see, and is basically my diary. [It] has allowed me to connect with so many people in general, but also in a way that I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t made it.”
“We can’t heal from the things we don’t talk about or acknowledge”
Meg Buschini, Wellness Director of Her Campus at UMass Amherst
Daily Wellness
I asked Meg how she incorporates wellness into her daily life. She tells me it’s about the little things. What wellness looks like changes from day to day. Sometimes wellness is just getting out of bed. You have to establish nonnegotiables.
“Nonnegotiables for me are definitely stretching, definitely coffee,” she laughed. I was curious if her experience with chronic illness has changed the way she looks at wellness.
“It’s interesting because wellness on days when I’m really feeling my condition looks very different than wellness on other days,” she said. “Wellness is not a constant, it can change from moment to moment. Sometimes it’s lying in bed all day with a heating pad, other days it’s being active and drinking a ton of water. It doesn’t mean you’re not taking care of yourself.”
Spin
Mostly because I needed a little love and self care, but also because I’d never seen Meg teach, I attended her Thursday night spin class at the Campus Rec Center the evening after our interview. Running late, as per usual, I snuck in right before doors closed and hopped on the last bike in the back. Meg welcomed me with open arms and proceeded to lead the most inspiring class. We spun along to a perfectly curated playlist, all the while Meg shouted affirmations, instructions, and encouragement from the front.
“Everyone here is rooting for you, including yourself!” she shouted.
Introduced to spin in 2017 by her older sister, Meg told me she instantly fell in love and attended as often as possible. She became close with the instructors at her home studio and always looked up to them. She finally got into teaching when she transferred to UMass, after years of considering it. “I just went for it,” she said.
My ride with Meg was physically hard and exactly what my soul needed. I’m still sore from it as I write this, but I’ll hopefully be attending again. I highly recommend her classes.
“Everyone here is rooting for you, including yourself.”
Meg Buschini, Wellness Director of Her Campus at UMass Amherst
It was a privilege to get to know Meg further through this writing. She is a kindhearted, compassionate, and fierce woman who I am glad to know. I highly encourage you all to check out her work, both for Her Campus at UMass Amherst and beyond. <3
Ways to get into contact with Meg:
- Her Campus Wellness GroupMe – open space to chat, ask question, share affirmations
- @mindfulmeg_ on Instagram
- In-person connections
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