Do you feel like your life is getting hectic? Maybe it’s stress from your job, the amount of college work piling up as we near finals week, or maybe it’s something to do with the unsettling state of our world right now. Here are some self-care tips for handling all of that stress:
- Pace yourself
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It can be so tempting to just sit down for 6 hours and get that big project done in one go — trust me, I know. Or maybe you want to dedicate the next 36 hours to studying for that upcoming final. But you cannot forget to eat! And sleep!
Pacing yourself, while it can be hard, is beneficial to keeping a healthy balance between work and rest. Try to set 30-minute timers for doing work, and 5-minute timers in between for little breaks. During breaks you can eat snacks, scroll through your phone, read some pages of a book (not the textbook kind) or take super short power-naps if you’re talented like that.
- Morning and night routine
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When life gets hectic, the days can start to feel less organized. Day blends into night which blends into day… It’s like a never-ending stress adventure. Starting and ending your day with the same routine can help to make your days feel more concrete and fulfilling. Some suggestions are incorporating a daily/nightly skin care routine, doing a short yoga session, setting time aside for journaling, or you could even just plan ten minutes to eat snacks while staring out of your window; it’s up to you!
- Schedule days off
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Sometimes it feels like all you need is just ONE day off. I would recommend taking a look at your calendar and finding a day where you don’t have any appointments or meetings —that will be your day off. The plan is to work around that day to ensure that when the day comes, you’ll be able to spend it however you like without worrying about school or work responsibilities.
- Self-encouragement
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It’s so easy to feel like you’re not doing your best, no matter how much work you do. It might sound cheesy, but don’t forget to remind yourself how amazing you are. One of the first steps to feeling satisfied with your life is to accept your present self, no matter what stage you’re in. So what if you procrastinate until the last hour before an assignment is due? Don’t beat yourself up for it! Instead, accept this personal habit and try to find ways to improve.
- Learn to love what you do
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The feeling of going weeks on end without feeling like you’ve had a proper break can be so frustrating. Let’s face it, there will be times where you have no choice but to sit down and get some work done. Over the summer, I felt so miserable when I was doing literally anything related to school. But since I did school work so much of the time, that meant I felt miserable most of the time. I realized that if I’m going to continue with this college thing, I have to find a way to make it enjoyable. Some things that have helped me to make a busy day less mentally-draining are to listen to music while doing easy but tedious tasks, make-over my study area so that my physical surroundings look pretty, sit in a sunlit area instead of a dimly lit space, try to find some genuine interest in whatever classes I’m taking, and think of how this will all (hopefully) pay off in the future.
Those were some ways you can make your hectic life seem a little bit less hectic and a little bit more joyful. I hope you found some inspiration from these tips, good luck!