Put yourself as your first priority
In college, we are pulled so many directions. We are asked to put so much first in our lives. We have so much on our plate: assignments to complete, papers to write, work to do, tests to study for, friends to see, and meetings to attend. With busy days, weeks, months, and lives, we tend to forget about one of the most important things: ourselves. With so many things to do in our lives, we usually end up putting our own self very low on our priority list, which I think is sad. We, our minds, our bodies, our selves, are the reason we are where we are. We would not be here if we didn’t take care of ourselves, think of ourselves, and do things for ourselves in the past, so why are we forgetting to in college? I am not asking you to be selfish, just to remember that you, yourself, need a break so you can be your best. Some people (myself included) feel like they need permission to take time for themselves. Well, this is false. You do not need permission. You are allowed to take time for you, and prioritize yourself. This brings me to my next lesson,
Self Care is SO important
How do you prioritize yourself? This is one way to. Take time in your day to see how you are doing. Check in with your body and your mind. How are you feeling? What are you feeling? Why are you feeling that? Ask yourself these questions and do self care accordingly. Are you feeling tired? Take a nap. Feel sad? Cry. Answer to your body’s needs. Don’t feel like going out tonight? Don’t. You have the power to step back and analyze what is going on in your life, and you have the power to make a change in your life for the better. I often forget to do this, and forget I have to power to do this. With work, school, and clubs, my working life always seems to take priority over everything else. And if you let that happen, if you let the working life take over, it will not stop taking over until you make a conscious effort to make it stop. To not let it dictate your life. Learn there is so much more to life than checking things off a to-do list and calling it a day (and I love to-do lists, but this is true). Instead of just living, trying BEING. We are human beings, after all. Be present instead of working so hard that life just slips away from you.
Never be too hard on yourself
Perfection is something I have always strived for, and continue to strive for. You are allowed not to be perfect. In fact, none of us our perfect. If we were, we probably wouldn’t be in college. I struggle because I have a hard time letting things go if they are not perfect. I even have a hard time starting something if I think it will not be perfect. The hard truth is nothing is perfect, but the good news is that this is okay. It is okay. If you do the best you can do, that is GOOD ENOUGH! In fact, that is great. It is better for something to get done and be good, rather than to not get something done in fear it won’t be perfect.
Be kind to others because you never know what they are going through
Everyone has their own problems. We are all struggling with something, big or small. What is going on in our lives greatly affect our emotions and our days.
Remember this next time someone is rude to you. They are probably having a bad day, or struggling with something in their lives. I’m not justifying when someone is rude, but instead of being rude back, you should be kind. That might be the first kind thing they encountered all day, and you might have just turned their day around. Think about a time when you were having a bad day. Now think. If someone did something kind to you, would it have turned your day around? Or maybe someone did do something kind to you. Did it impact the quality of you day? Most likely you answered yes. So, be kind. It will impact others, and it will impact you.
Listen To Others
Never underestimate the power of listening. People like to talk about themselves, yes. But, hardly anyone actually listens anymore. Instead while one person is talking, they are just thinking about what they are going to say next. I think we are all guilty of this at one point or another. Another thing people do is try to give advice for one’s problems. This is good sometimes, but a lot of the time people just need you to listen. They need to get something out of their system. Maybe they don’t need advice, or they don’t need your opinion. Sometimes they just want you to listen, and that is all they need. Sometimes the best way to help someone is to just listen.
Make sure to like HC Belmont on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, pin with us on Pinterest, and love us on Instagram