The semester is ramping up, finals week is approaching, and I’m sure that all of us could use a mental break — or three, or four. More often than not, when I feel like I need to clear my head, I turn to movies, tv shows, or social media to use as a distraction. But the media can be a grueling place, and oftentimes, I end up stressed in different ways than I had been before I turned on my phone. So in the advent of spring, and being able to see the sun and feel its warmth, I am going to guide you through a few mentally healing and stimulating, but completely media free ways to destress.
All of these activities can be done alone or with friends, and because I don’t know many college students with cash to spare, they are all also (mostly) free!
Create A Self Portrait:
By self-portrait, I don’t necessarily mean just a drawing. Of course, it could be a drawing, or it could be a scribbled sketch; it could be crafted with dry pasta and spaghetti sauce painted on a colorful plate.
But what I would suggest is this: rummage through the entirety of your room, collecting different representations of yourself from every corner. Dive from the cabinets you frequent daily to the dusty drawers, and to the back of your closet that you haven’t touched in months. Find all the things (big, small, wonky, squishy) that have contributed to who you are or that you feel reflect your mind in some way, shape, or form. These things could be trinkets, clothing scraps, old birthday cards from when you were five years old… anything goes!
Once you feel like you have hunted and captured every stray piece of yourself- if your room isn’t ripped to shreds, then you probably should take another look around. Start to arrange your collection of personal treasure in a way that really feels like you.
You could craft up a wildly eccentric depiction of your face. Or you might feel like a pearl in a clam, so shape up your collection of items in the form of a pearl in a clam! Give yourself wings, put flowers in your hair, and add stars to your eyes.
The portrait might feel more like you than look like you, and that’s a good thing!
When you’re done, admire your beauty from every possible angle, and have a conversation with yourself.
Make A Bouquet Of Flowers:
Flowers are always pretty, but they are always, always prettier when they’re made personal. You might need to empty a few dollars from your pockets for this activity, but I’d argue the value of the final product will exponentially exceed the amount of money you spent.
Grab a few bundles of your favorite flowers from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, or any little produce mart, and you have all you need to create the most beautiful arrangement. Go home and lay out all of your bouquet making supplies: flowers, scissors, a vase(s), a trash bin of some degree, and start grouping your flowers together in ways that fill you up with springtime joy.
When you’re finished, you could keep them for yourself and brighten up your room, or you could give them to a person you love.
Creating a bouquet is such a simple, yet incredibly therapeutic way to spend your time and relieve tension. It’s one of those things that we might overlook when attempting to find outlets to de-stress. Now that it’s spring, I can’t think of a better time and way to channel energy into something so special.
Go For A Walk:
Taking a walk may seem like the most obvious media-free way to clear your head; almost so obvious that it probably could have skipped out on this list. But don’t stop reading yet!
For the final stress-relieving, happiness-inducing, media-free activity of the read, I am going to guide you through my ultimate Philly walking route. Of course, you can go on a walk anywhere, for as long or as short as you wish, but if you feel so inclined to follow this route, be prepared to spend a couple of hours outside — and be equally prepared to exceed your daily step expectations.
I like to start at City Hall, and head west down Market Street toward the Schuylkill River Trail. You might start walking and think, “hmm I wish I had something to drink…” and at this point you are probably around 21st street, which means that also at this point you are only a couple blocks away from Black Turtle Coffee, a personal favorite matcha spot of mine.
With or without a drink, continue toward the trail. I usually enter from Market Street or Chestnut Street, depending on whether or not I have a $7 matcha in my hand, and I like to turn left when I get to the trail. Sometimes I stop and sit for a while on one of the grass beaches by the water wall; other times I keep walking until I get to Locust Street, where I turn off of the trail and back onto the road.
At this point, it’s all about your personally desired path. My path is turning right on 25th Street off the trail exit, walking by the Schuylkill River Park, and then wandering up and down every street in the neighborhood until my legs start to give in. I like to pac-man my way through the one-ways and the alley-streets, admiring everyone’s houses as if they’re Brooklyn brownstones. Sometimes, I like to pretend I live over there.
This is essentially where the walking guide ends, because I tend to end up in a different location by the end of every walk. Sometimes it’s South Street, sometimes it’s Rittenhouse, sometimes it’s back on the Schuylkill River Trail. My definition of a successful walk includes getting a little lost somewhere along the way, but if that’s not particularly appealing to you, you could always at any point head back to Broad Street and BSL your way home.
Okay, that’s it! Happiest of trails on all of your walks, happiest of creations for all of your bouquets and all of your portraiting. And of course, happy spring!