As a freshman in college, the remnants of high school still linger in my mind. When coming to college, the difference between the two was evident — especially in terms of self-care. In an environment where rigorous academics, a competitive atmosphere, overloading extracurriculars, and balancing a social life on top of everything seem impossible, self-care is more important than ever. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was how different it would be from high school.
In high school, I had quite the specific regimen. While it was always hard for me to partake in self-care — as I always felt like I was wasting my time due to a rigorous schedule — I truly understood the importance of it and tried to institute it in my life as much as I could. For me, self-care was very simple; it consisted of one step: take a break. This broad step left lots of room for interpretation, which is exactly what I needed. Some days, when I had the energy, I did activities like taking a shower, watching a TV show, playing my ukulele, journaling, or organizing my Spotify playlists. It typically consisted of any of my hobbies, or just taking a break from whatever is bringing me stress. For the times I had low energy, I was scrolling on social media — while not my favorite type of self-care, it, unfortunately, was an option I found myself relying on, as my energy typically hit excruciatingly low levels.
In college, I’ve noticed that self-care differs from the earlier examples. Unfortunately, I don’t have the same flexibility in terms of time management. Everything I do needs to have a purpose, or else the feeling of wasting time is exacerbated. I struggled a lot with this at the beginning of the year because I felt like any self-care I did for myself had no value. After a bit of time, I’ve realized that this is far from the truth. In college, I just have to make sure the things I do have value. What that means is that sometimes self-care is not only watching a TV show, or organizing my Spotify playlists; sometimes it is cleaning my room, washing dishes, or planning out when I am going to do my homework the next day. Even if I don’t necessarily want to plan out my homework or clean my living space, these are all things very important for maintaining my mental health. This is exactly why they fall under the umbrella of self-care; they’re something that lets me take a break while adding value to my life.
I’ve noticed that the biggest difference between self-care in high school versus college is that it now emphasizes value. Back home, scrolling through social media didn’t hold any positive value, even though it was technically a break from stress. In college, self-care needs to hold value, or else your feeling of wasting time is emphasized. For me, I’ve seen myself go to the gym every once in a while, or just go on a walk outside. It’s also been less fluff. I haven’t been doing face masks and painting nails (but if this works for you, please go for it!). Instead, I’ve been doing my dishes, forcing myself to shower, and journaling when there’s an abundance of negative feelings. It’s almost like I’ve been doing the things I don’t want to do for self-care because I know it will help my mental health overall. Walking into a clean room after a long day does wonders for your mental health.
Self-care is different for everybody, but personally this is how it’s been different for me. As long as your mental health is improving, then your self-care is doing its job — regardless of what form it takes. Make sure you stay hydrated, fuel your body, and most importantly, take care of yourself.
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