7 Ways To Practice Self-Care While In College
There’s no question that college can be stressful, but we always have to remember to take care of ourselves. We are our biggest investment. There are so many reasons why self-care is so important.
In my first year of university, I neglected my self-care, especially during midterm and finals week. I hardly got any sleep, I wasn’t eating properly and I just was stressed out and worried all the time.
I knew that I needed to maintain a consistent self-care routine and take better care of myself.
It’s important to check in with ourselves regularly. Sometimes this means to detach ourselves from work, school, or whatever it is that is making us feel overwhelmed. It’s good to take some time for ourselves and destress.
Many students think that self-care in college is almost impossible or too expensive.
Self-care can be practice in the simplest ways possible and here in this article, I will be sharing 7 ways with you.
1. Clean & Organize Your Room
I have to admit that during the semester, my room was a mess. My study desk was unorganized and confusing. I didn’t have time to fold my laundry, so it was just there sitting on my bed for days. I gave up on making my bed every morning.
It was horrible. My life was a mess and I felt that I wasn’t in control of anything.
So, I decided that I needed to stop what I’m doing and spend at least 20 minutes tidying my room and my desk.
So, I put on my favorite Spotify playlist and got to cleaning. Within 10 minutes of cleaning, I felt much better. Once my room was cleaned and organized, I felt more content and it felt good to have a clean space around me, must I say, I felt at peace.
So I say this to say that sometimes when our environment is chaotic and messy, then we tend to adapt that feeling that our life is a mess and we feel unmotivated to get anything done.
So, dedicate at least 10 to 20 minutes every day to tidy and clean your room.
I promise you that you will feel less stressed and you will sleep 10 times better than before.
This is a form of self-care.
2. Acknowledge That You Need To Take A Break
Studying or working for long sessions without a break can lead us to feel unfocused and unproductive. Many of us feel that cramming long study sessions at a time will help us to pass our exams. While that might work temporarily for some cases, it will surely do you no good in the long run.
Hate to break it to you, but you are working harder and not smarter and leading yourself to a possible burnout moment. Cramming might work for you, but you are damaging your health by doing this, by not taking regular breaks. This is not an efficient and effective way of studying. In fact, this is an unhealthy way of studying or doing work.
I know we all want to pass our exams and do well in school. But we can’t do that if we are not taking good care of ourselves.
Taking regular breaks can help to prevent study fatigue and keep you focused and productive. These breaks allow you to refresh your mind, as well as helps you to maintain your attention and regain your motivation.
So, at your next study session or work session, use the effective Pomodoro Technique. Simply put, this is done by working in sessions of 25, 30, or 45 minutes and taking 5, 10 or 15 minutes break in between and doing this for 4 or as many cycles as you wish.
This is an effective and highly recommended way of managing your time and working smarter, not harder.
You will also realize that you get more done and retain more information using this technique rather than cramming all night.
Give it a try!
3. Make Time To Do A Workout Session
It is so important for us, as college students, to stay active and exercise. For me, a workout session is therapeutic. Whenever I am feeling down about myself or I am overwhelmed with school or personal stuff, I like to go to my campus gym and do a 30 minutes workout. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Just a simple jog on the treadmill is good enough.
When college starts to kick us in the rear, it really helps to do some sort of exercise. Why? There are so many benefits of staying active in college. I’ll just state two important benefits for now:
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Exercising helps to relieve stress and improves our mood: This is something that we all want to achieve in college. Less stress and a happy mood. Well, exercising can help with this. The endorphins and serotonin (happy hormones) are released into our body after we do a physical workout, these hormones improve our overall mood and relieve some tension.
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Staying active improves our memory, concentration, and our focus. This will also ensure that what you have learned this semester will stick with you for a longer period of time. When we maintain a consistent workout session, we have a bigger chance of concentrating, actively participating in classes, and retaining the information we might need.
Staying active can be anything.
Riding a bike, going for a run or a walk, or even doing some yoga. It really doesn’t matter, once we are staying active and doing some sort of physical activity. We will feel less stressed and more energized.
4. Hangout With Your Friends
When you are feeling down, just a simple walk or a coffee date with a friend makes you feel so much better. Especially because you are able to confide and vent to your friends. This can distract you from all your academic obligations for just a few hours (which is okay to do from time to time).
Next time you might be feeling low, link up with a friend and just hang out and have some fun.
I am sure that afterward, you will feel a bit more refreshed and ready to go!
5. Make Time For Me-Time
I do not care how much stuff you have to do (in the nicest way possible), you need to make time for some me-time, all the time.
Let me go ahead and repeat that for you, You need to make time for me-time, all the time!
This is another way of practicing self-care in college. It is totally okay to not be productive for a day. It’s okay to put down your laptop and books and watch that Netflix movie on your wishlist, it’s perfectly fine to relax and unwind and do whatever you have been putting off (non-school, non-work related) anything that has to do with relaxation, do it.
One of my favorite things to do to unwind is to put on a face mask, light my candles, put on some jazz music, and have a glass of wine. I normally turn my phone off or put it on “Do Not Disturb” mode, because this is my time and I owe it to myself.
So do you!
6. Ditch Social Media For The Day
Social media has its pros and cons. But I am sure you would agree that social media can be distracting when we are trying to focus or to do something productive.
Have you ever found that you are trying to focus on your assignment but you somehow found yourself scrolling on Instagram or Tiktok? “Oh, I’ll just scroll for 5 mins” Then 2 hours later you’re still scrolling. Well, it happens to the best of us.
No shame in that. Happens to me too.
Try ditching social media for the day. It’s good to get a social media detox every once in a while, it will do us so well. Doing this will help us to really focus on ourselves and make time to do things that make us happy. Ditching social media for the day can help to improve and strengthen our mental health.
If you want to go to the full extent, try turning off your phone for the day (Be sure to tell your friends and family so that they don’t get worried when they don’t hear from you)
7. Take Yourself Out On A Date
Listen when I tell you that, yes this might be awkward at first, but once you start to do this consistently, you will love it.
YOU ARE YOUR BIGGEST INVESTMENT.
This doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be a simple coffee date, a walk in the park, a Starbucks date, go to a museum or take yourself out for ice cream.
Sometimes we have to ditch everyone else and take some time for ourselves, have some alone time.
Find a place where you can be by yourself. And spend a few hours to journal your thoughts, practicing gratitude, whatever will make you happy.
These were 7 affordable, easy, and simple ways in which you can practice self-care while in school. I hope that you will use these tips.
Self-care is a must and I can't stress enough how important this is.
Always make yourself your 1st priority.
How did you find this article? Do you have any tips you would like to share? I would love to see them.
