People are back on the Hill. Classes have begun. Already, there have been dozens of social events and probably just as many assignments. Yes, it is the beginning of a new academic year at Kenyon. And that sort of thing can get super overwhelming super quickly. So, it’s essential, in my humble opinion, that you treat yourself with as much care and respect as you can manage in the year ahead. Whether this is your first year at Kenyon or your fourth, I believe that there is always room to improve your overall happiness and self-care routines. Note that this will not be a perfect guide to self-care, but rather suggestions and starting points for you to create a version of self-care that works for you.
Start with the simple things.
This may feel obvious, but if things are moving too quickly, it is totally okay to slow yourself down. Many times, there are simple steps that you can take to help yourself feel better about everything that is going on in your world. Food and/or water can have a huge impact on your mood. Even if you have to take it one sip or one nibble at a time, make sure that something ends up in your system. It’s powerful energy for your mind and body! The next big player, of course, is sleep. Maybe you can afford that fifteen-minute nap you’ve been craving. The hard truth is that staring at your computer screen for an hour will be much less effective than taking a fifteen-minute nap and finding the energy to finish your work after. Moreover, I’ve found over the years that giving to sleep at a reasonable time and getting up early to complete any incomplete tasks brings a new life to your ideas and abilities.
So, you’ve gotten food, water, and rest. Now what?
The next step, of course, becomes a bit more complicated. Most of us need food, water, and sleep regularly, but the person next to me in Peirce probably doesn’t have a burning desire to watch the live-action Scooby Doo movie in the name of self-care. So let us start with this: do not let the liveliness of the campus fool you. It is okay to feel tired. It is okay to tell someone you don’t feel like going out for a night. It’s okay to take a deep breath and bask in some silence. I promise you that you are not missing out on the college experience; you will still come out of this place (hopefully) smarter and with some joyous memories to take with you. Contrary to what this school would have you believe, those memories do not all have to be made right now. There is no correct way to be a Kenyon student (though I hope you are at least making the effort to be kind to others). Do not take this advice, by the way, as some sort of assertion that if you are always busy and overwhelmed, you are doing something wrong. If this is what makes you happy, I encourage you to do it.
But, there are a lot of ways to be happy on this campus, and they are not all public.
Watch “Game of Thrones” in the Gund Gallery Theatre with your friends. Re-read Harry Potter for the 37th time. Play The Sims for 5 hours. Watch tutorials on makeup you will never use and recipes you will never try. Call your family or your friends. Sit alone. Find trashy memes. Make trashy memes. Find a movie or a book or a person or a place or something that helps you smile. Practice your craft. Don’t practice your craft. Do whatever you need to do to remember that you are a worthy person regardless of the things that other Kenyon students see you do and accomplish.My most effective self-care tools are my headphones, my “happy folder,” and my face wash. I like to sit in bed and listen to the same twelve songs for two hours. I have a folder saved specifically for moments where I get too caught up in everything going on around me; it holds pictures of my friends and quotes from my favorite characters and things that are just nice to look at—things that make me feel warm inside. I also like the idea that, by washing my face, I am accomplishing at least one small thing each day. Try to accomplish one small thing each day. Try to remember that your small accomplishment doesn’t need to beat out anyone else’s small accomplishment.
Learn to exist in this space, one calm breath at a time. Slow down. I promise that there is more time than you think there is.