Summer is gone and fall is here – I knew that the moment I walked into a Target and the back to school signs screamed at me. I looked around, paralyzed as the terror of Spring 2019 flew through my mind. I don’t know about everyone else, but the Spring of 2019 was an actual horror — by the second week I was in a coffin. So what better way to start the fall semester but with five ways to make sure we don’t feel our flame extinguish?
- Letting out the feels.
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First of all, everyone needs to know where the UMKC Counseling Services office is located. So fear not my brethren, I know the location and I am here to bestow it upon you. Brookside 51 Building 5110 Oak Street, Suite 201Kansas City, MO 64112. Feel free to click on the link to schedule an appointment, my collegettes. The first eight sessions are free, any after that are $15 per session and twelve sessions are included for every academic year. Go and let it all out.
- Reflection time.
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Every night before you sleep, or in the afternoon, schedule in reflection time. It doesn’t matter what you do. Go play with the puppies at the shelter, journal, jam out to some music —-whatever you gotta do to keep the flow alive. I personally, every single night, light a candle and sit peacefully. I remind myself that everything will happen in its due course and nothing I do can change how it goes. I just have to do my part.
- Feel your lungs.
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I hate exercise, but boy does it help. You need to find a niche and stick with it. I run every morning. Yes, I yell and scream about how I hate it so very much, but it helps your girl focus. Find your chi —-be it yoga, running, planking, weights, walking the dog —-it doesn’t matter. Find it and stick with it.
- Planning.
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Get a planner and schedule in everything that you’ve got to do and be sure to add in the breaks! Put in a coffee break or a meet-up with friends or some reading time. You plan your study sessions but you need to plan your rest sessions too. That is often our mortal flaw as collegiates. We forget to schedule in the rest and stick to it. Do that and you will not survive baby girl, you will thrive more than the Jonas Brothers.
- Relax the shoulders.
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Lastly, breathe, girlfriends. We gonna make it. It’s just a semester and you are a badass. Remember, we are like trees, y’all. We grow our leaves back after the winter storms. But for now, we stand vigilante and ready for the storm.
I hope these help you in some way as you all go forward this fall and face the semester. Let’s step it up into the semester. We got this!