As college students, we have to deal with a lot of pressure and stress besides studying which causes many problems with physical and mental health. Sadly, mental health is not something that schools pay attention to, and because of that, we weren’t taught about it during high school. College burnout have a massive impact on students’ physical and mental health, leading to frustration, isolation, and even anxiety or depression.
So how do you get over that frustration and maintain your healthy body with a positive mindset? It keeps me wondering since I’m an international student and have been away from home for three years. It’s also such a hard time to keep up with your mental health and well-being during this challenging time like a pandemic. Anyway, I started 2022 with podcasts about happiness. I spent the whole week listening to random episodes, and I’m glad I did it. I think it is a must and really easy if you guys are into podcasts or want to listen to something before bed. For whatever reason you decide, you should open this link and save it to your Spotify real quick.
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos and The Science of Happiness are two fantastic podcasts about happiness that I have found recently. Each episode has an excellent conversation with the speaker and guests. They share tips and guides to mindfulness and focus on meditation’s scientific research to fulfill compassion, gratitude, and awe. There is a lot of insight and scientific facts explaining how to be happier, but I believe we should start with self-love to be more relaxed in our lives.
In brief, happiness, even when it feels distant, is always here in your inner peace, and you just have to find it. Happiness comes from positive thinking, and our mindset is often in the way. People tend to enage in negative self-talk whenever they feel down, such as: “I am so stupid why I can’t finish this? Why can’t I find happiness?”. The truth is it’s probably just overthinking and we need to calm down. We tend to forget self-care and are unaware of our well-being since we focus too much on other things. Don’t let it wander your mind. The negativity talks too much! Therefore, the first thing we need to improve is working on our mindset and learning to control our thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, happiness is not about being happy 24/7 but learning to manage negative emotions and embrace your challenges.
Our mind divides into conscious and subconscious, and 95 percent of our brain’s activity is unconscious. This means that the majority of the decisions we make, the actions we take, our emotions and behaviors go straight to the subconscious mind. It keeps the data of our behaviors and activities in our daily lives as a computer. We humans don’t pay much attention to it, but in the long term, what we are doing will form into our daily habits beyond conscious awareness.
Imagine your mind and body is a garden, and each of your positive thoughts is water and nutrients. If you wake up every day with an exciting feeling and positive mindset, your garden will bloom with flowers from your watering, while negative self-talk and doubting yourself are garbage, and it will trash your garden with dirt. We want to nurture your garden with greatness, not junk.
Now you might wonder how to stop the negative thoughts, and how to think positively. Here are some ideal practices that can help you embrace the experiences and reviews that will make you happy:
- Reminding yourself that life is too short for negative self-talk or a sorrowful mind is something that I just learned through Mel Robbins and her book The 5-second rule. The first simple practice is that whenever you feel like your mind is starting to think negatively, you will imagine it like a lightswitch, count in your head “5,4,3,2,1,” and immediately remind you to stop focusing on the present. Are you distracted by something in your mind when reading this line? Trust me, I know what that feels like when you are too worried f and you can’t focus on what’s going on at the moment. But with this practice, I’m sure it will remind you to take a moment and enjoy your life. I know that sounds crazy because even the author thought like that at first, but when you can control your mind and stop that negative talking in your head for long term, it will strengthen your ability and critical thinking mindset.
- Practicing gratitude will help you feel better at any time, especially when you feel burnout in a high-stress job. In every language, we have a word for gratitude. Because being thankful and blessed for things in our life is a beautiful behavior, it brings you more joy to think about the great things you have in your life. Scientists share that showing gratitude develops a compassionate and open mind to others. It builds kindness and allows you to see things differently in your daily life. Dealing with difficult emotions and finding ways to cultivate positive emotions is a challenging journey ;practicing gratitude would bring you an open heart and feel better about yourself. It could be anything, what are three things you are grateful for today? Let’s take a moment and think of your answer.
- Meditation is a yes, yes, and yes! Repeat after me, practicing meditation is a must that everyone should spend more time doing. So many scientific statements have proven the incredible power behind meditation and its long-term benefits. Shout out to my professor Karen, she is a fantastic professor who always starts her class with 1 minute of meditation every day. Even though it’s only 1 minute, it helps you calm down and remember to breathe in and out for a moment. It’s just you, yourself, and your thoughts. Meditation is not about getting rid of your thoughts, but turning them into grateful behavior and appreciating your breathing. The more you get into it, the more meditation brings inner peace in your mind and fills your heart and thoughts with compassion and kindness.
- And of course, love yourself. By this I mean, give yourself a hug and be proud of what you have achieved and embrace every step of your life. Fuel yourself with good food and positive energy. And omg guys, I just found my daily anthem, “Good morning,” from Qveen Herby, she is such a hidden gem. Big shout out to my sister Vy Vu for sharing this song with me. Check her out asap; if you like “I AM WOMAN” by Emmy Meli with a solid message to all the girls, then Qveen Herby should be in your next playlist! Qveen Herby’s music provides such a good mood, a catchy beat, it empowers women, and has lyrics with good vibes. Positive affirmations are also my great antidote for negative thoughts, they are just a great reminder to thrive through your day. Sometimes, you are too busy and stressed out by unnecessary things, which lowers your confidence and gives you self doubt. A cheer-up note is just what you need to remind yourself how awesome you are and become a better version of yourself every day. Check out my AR filter for daily affirmation as a cute reminder for all my loved girls :).
At the end of the day, everyone wants to be a happy person on the planet and enjoy our best selves. I hope these little tips will help you and encourage you to try new things. Just a quick reminder, if you are having a bad day, it will be fine. We have all been there and will get through it as we always do! Let’s start a new day, rise, and shine as our unique selves.