Life in college can become extremely hectic! It can be easy to forget to indulge in self-care. Taking care of your physical and mental health is very important, especially in helping you maintain a healthy balance between school and personal life. I found it difficult to adjust to the packed life of a college student during my first semester of freshman year and I definitely didn’t keep up with my self-care. Now that I have adjusted to this new life, here are my top five tips for maintaining self-care as a college student!
- Having a Consistent Routine
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The most important thing that I do for self-care is to maintain a consistent routine. If you can get into the habit of doing healthy things for your mind and your body, then it becomes much easier to balance the massive load of college homework. There are some pretty basic things I keep a routine like brushing my teeth twice a day, having three meals a day, going to bed early, and waking up around the same time during the week. Having a consistent schedule not only helps me stay organized but also makes me feel less stressed and can make me more productive. I feel more productive by having a routine because it helps reduce my stress about getting things done and increases my motivation!
Emily Veith - BALANCING SOCIAL TIME & ALONE TIME
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Learning how to balance social time and alone time can be very hard at college, especially at a big university like UMass Amherst because we are always surrounded by people. As an on-campus student, I live with hundreds of people in my building, and most of my friends live in the same hall as me. It can be challenging to go to my room for alone time and not feel like I am missing out on social time. Having alone time to be able to wind down from the day, take some time for yourself and recharge is super important. If you feel like you need alone time, don’t be afraid to say “I’ll see you later” to your friends, as I promise there will be many other opportunities to spend time with them!
- Eating Foods That Make me feel good
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Eating healthy can be hard as a college student! We are always on the go! It is easy to grab unhealthy food to go before running to class. When we do have time to eat, the dining halls are full of foods like pizza and french fries that are hard to resist when that’s available every day of the week. Recently, I have changed my eating habits and it has left me feeling more energized, confident, and overall feeling better about myself. I like to build my own salad from one of the many salad bars in the dining halls, I also take advantage of the many fruit options such as fresh berries, pineapple, cantaloupe, bananas, grapes and more depending on the day!
- Making time to exercise
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Sometimes it’s hard to make time to exercise, especially after a long day of classes. But getting exercise can be very beneficial to your health both physically and mentally! I love going to the rec center and working out some of my stress from classes. It may feel like I don’t have time to go and that maybe I should be doing homework instead, but it is more than okay to take a break and let that stress go! There are plenty of relaxing yoga classes available on campus as well which get me moving but also help stretch out my tense muscles.
Original Illustration Designed in Canva for Her Campus Media - Going easy on myself
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This is the easiest advice to give, yet the hardest advice to take. Many of us are far too hard on ourselves every day, especially when it comes to succeeding in things like academics, jobs, sports, and social lives. Sometimes I feel like I am not being productive enough. At the end of the day, we are all trying our best and that’s all anyone can ask of us. Giving myself a break and putting into perspective that maybe I was just having a bad day can really help relieve the stress of it all.
All five of these things are really important in taking care of myself both physically and mentally. There is so much stress and anxiety related to college life in general on top of all the academic pressure we may face so it is really important to find things that help you practice self-care! There are so many other ways you can take care of yourself, so find what works best for you. It may take some trial and error to find what helps you relieve stress and feel good about yourself, but these five things are a great place to start!
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