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Sorry I have a date with myself. Raincheck?

In the aftermath of midterms and the reality of what has happened on campus I feel that this week we should talk about self care. I know that I have had a hectic past couple of weeks and this upcoming one is not looking any easier. How do I handle it all, school, work and a social life but still have time to write on here cheerfully every Monday morning? The answer is simple; I am a pro at self care.

For those of you who don’t know the term self care, you are unfortunately one of the many who are probably not practicing it. How I like to define it is pretty literal.

Self care: practices and/or activities you do for yourself to care for your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.

Essentially self care practices can be any type of activity that de-stresses you after a hard day or week you had. I’ll point out now that partying on the weekend does not count as self care because you are using a substance to handle your emotions. While I know it is common for people to “drink their feelings” or think on that Thursday or Friday “I need a drink” or “I can’t wait to black out.” The appeal is understandable as most people use alcohol as an outlet to deal with or conceal their problems. The problem with this however is that alcohol being a depressant does not help these stress and emotional levels it only brings you lower or in worst cases gets you arrested, gives you a hangover or puts you in the hospital with alcohol poisoning because of excessive drinking. So, I suggest instead of claiming alcohol as your savior at the end of the week that you should think about something you really enjoy doing. It could be watching junk TV, playing/watching sports, going for a run, crafting, painting, or getting your favorite coffee/cup of hot chocolate, curling up and watching Hocus Pocus to get in the Halloween spirit (which for those of you who love that movie, aka EVERYONE, it’s on this Tuesday night…just saying).

The best part about self care is that it truly has no rules, you do what makes you happy with yourself focusing on a healthy habit you enjoy that will relieve you and really take care of your problems even just for a little while. The minimal time I suggest you take is 15 minutes because in all honesty while we are all busy we have 15 minutes to spare to curl up with a book, make some tea, paint your nails, go on a quick walk, call home, etc. I’ll be honest in admitting I love my self care time and many of my friends know this about me. Monday nights you can most likely guarantee that I will have spent a minimum of 2 total hours watching junky TV shows on TLC or Bravo (yes I know can’t help it) while I do some writing or reading or sleeping. The thing about it is that when I’m done I feel rested, even if I don’t nap, because I feel great about myself and I know that no matter how stressed I feel that I will handle it and it will all work out in the end. Yes I know this sounds presumptuous but trust me self care has literally saved my life. I won’t say I am a saint and health guru because I truly am not however, most of my friends know that when it comes time for a test or paper while I will complain about doing it I am hardly ever truly stressed about the outcome. What self care does for me in those situations is let me know that this paper or exam isn’t the end of the world and that at the end of the day it is more important to know I feel happy and satisfied with my life than worry about a paper or a Midterm I won’t remember in 5 years.

This week is a perfect time to focus on just 15 minutes of self care a day. Think about your Halloween costume if you haven’t already, take that time and try on funky clothes in your room, or search the internet for the most original costume idea on campus, watch your favorite Halloween movie. I can tell you I will basically be Disney themed all weekend and I can’t wait to finish my costume for my favorite princess (not telling). So that’s what I’ll be doing with my 15 minutes every day this week if not more. And if all this doesn’t help you my professor last week gave my class some words of wisdom last week to try and ease our anxiety about the upcoming paper to be due telling my class “Guys don’t worry C’s get Degrees right?” … Yeah it didn’t calm us either half of the class hyperventilated over getting a C but it did make us laugh, so remember to do that. Take a deep breath it’s almost Halloween after this week we can all laugh and have some fun because isn’t that what life is truly about? I think so. See you next week!