As the semester begins to come to a close, the common feeling around campus is a sense of drowning, anxiety, and sadness. Applications for jobs or internships, course registration, and final projects and exams… sometimes it can feel too difficult to juggle it all. Many people find it difficult to keep their head up and stay positive with so much to do and such little time to do it. To finish the semester off strong and beat the end-of-semester slump, the first and most important thing you can do is take care of yourself physically and mentally. Sometimes, it can feel impossible to prioritize you and your mental health, but it’s necessary to accomplish all the things needed to enter winter break successfully.
Taking care of your body and mind can come in a number of different forms and may look different for everyone. For those currently living in a college dorm, it may mean something as small as preparing yourself a healthy snack, lighting a candle, cleaning your room, or going to sleep an hour earlier. For others it may mean something more concrete like starting a new show or movie, going on a long walk or run, or finding a way to journal or do some form of self-reflection, especially with Thanksgiving around the corner.
If sitting down to begin a new TV series or movie sounds appealing to you, Enola Holmes 2, Don’t Worry Darling, Luckiest Girl Alive, Stranger Things Season 4, and The White Lotus have all come out in the past year or so and are extremely popular and trending right now.
If you are looking for a different form of bettering your mental health, try journaling on your own or with “The Five Minute Journal” which has guided prompts. You can find it and a number of other prompted journals on Amazon or at Target and Barnes and Noble. You can try a new face mask or get into a new skincare routine. You can also try beginning a new book, scheduling regular times to be social and spend time with friends, and making sure to do things you love, whether that be taking naps, going to museums, going out to eat, painting, reading, or anything in between.
This time of year can be extremely difficult for students, especially as the sun begins to set earlier and the weather begins to drop. However, staying positive and keeping up with your mental health isn’t impossible and is something every individual should prioritize. Doing this can not only help you achieve your goals, but can also inspire your friends and family to keep take care of themselves too.