Today I really wanted to talk about the importance of self-care and how we can practice it. The Studyblr community is filled with hard-working, ambitious, intelligent ladies and as much as I love seeing us push hard to get grades or to be accepted into our dream university, I really also want to talk about the importance of caring for ourselves beyond academics. Let’s get started!
1. Understand what self-care looks like for you.
Self-care looks different for everyone. The two key components to self-care are 1) Survival needs (such as drinking enough water, hygiene, etc), 2) Social needs, and 3) Personal (such as reading a book, watching Netflix, etc). BOTH of these need to be paid attention to. Some examples of Survival needs are-
-Drinking 8 glasses of water a day. 🚰
-Taking your medication. 💊
-Washing/styling your hair. 💇
-Anything related to hygiene. 💧
-Taking mental health days. 😌
All of these are super important! If you’re not taking care of yourself physically, you’re not going to be able to perform your best mentally. It’s going to be harder to pass that test if you’re running on nothing but coffee and 2 hours of sleep.
Social needs is a smaller category, but it’s still really really important. Your social life can affect your body and how you feel. Things like surrounding yourself with toxic people, hanging out with friends too much/not enough, whether or not you’re an introvert/extrovert, and other factors can really affect your mood. I’ll talk about this more later, but now I want to discuss personal needs.
Personal needs are how we unwind. They aren’t necessary to self-care, but are still valuable. Some examples of personal needs are-
-Playing a round of Mario Kart. 🎮
Personal needs are the needs that, though not necessary to self-care, are still very important! It’s not selfish to think of yourself every once in awhile. If you need a mental break, you should feel free to do whatever helps you unwind.
2. How to take care of hygiene.
In our busy schedules, it really can be hard to remember to do the mundane things like take a shower or brush your teeth. However, I have some tips on how to make sure you get to these things!
1.Save your longer hygiene tasks such as showering, shaving (if you choose to), washing/styling your hair, acne washes, and any else for NIGHT 🌙. It really can be hard to do these things in the morning, and doing these things at night can be a great way to relax. You also don’t have to worry about getting to school on time, so you’re allowed to enjoy it.
2.In relation to #1, something I do that has been helpful is setting aside two nights a week for what I call “detox nights”. On these nights (usually either Thursday/Friday and Sunday) I do everything that I normally don’t have time to do. I wash my hair, shave, take a bubble bath, flat iron my hair, do all those acne treatments that have to sit on your face for a little bit, and overall just relax. I have a job so I almost never have time at night to do this, but I still make sure I get to it twice a week so I can keep myself clean. Also, not every night has to be a detox night! Please still try to shower every night/day!
3.Play around with scents and see which ones relax you the most. I really like mint/tea tree stuff, but go to a store like Bath and Bodyworks or Lush and experiment. Some really relaxing scents include Lavender, Lemon, Orange, Chamomile, Jasmine, Vanilla, and others.
4.Create a schedule. Don’t just take care of yourself “when you remember”, make a time for it! Also, don’t allow yourself to do anything else before you take care of yourself. Maybe even put up a chart.
5. Also please take your medication! I forget to myself all the time but seriously just do it!
Healthy eating can be really daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! Often when we think of healthy eating, we think of picture perfect Instagram girls with bright colored smoothies doing yoga. That’s not reality. Instead of buying over-priced, way-too-long-to-cook food, simply make healthier choices! This can look like-
-Drinking water instead of soda/juice.
-Carrying a water bottle everywhere you go.
-Eating oatmeal instead of cereal.
-Eating an apple instead of a cookie.
-Puting less sugar in your tea/coffee.
-Putting real vegetables/meat in your Ramen.
Little changes can really affect your energy levels/overall health. Also, I cannot emphasis how important it is to DRINK 8 GLASSES OF WATER A DAY. I can’t even begin to explain how much that has helped me. It sounds like a lot, but it’s really only 2 Nalgene water bottles worth of water, which is really easy to drink over the course of a day. Here’s a link to the water bottle, which I HIGHLY recommend purchasing: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ORDIU8/ref=twister_B001NCDE84
4. How to have a healthy social life.
Everyone has a social life, and depending on how healthy/unhealthy it is, that can really screw with how you feel on a daily basis. For starters, if you or anyone you know is experiencing abuse, here’s a list of hotlines below that can help you in crisis:
Dating Abuse Hotline (Love is Respect)- 1-866-331-9474
National Domestic Abuse Hotline- 1-800-799-7233
RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network)- 800-656-HOPE (4673)
Crisis Call Center- 800-273-8255 or text ANSWER to 839863
List of other Hotlines that can help- http://www.teenhealthandwellness.com/static/hotlines
It’s important that who you surround yourself with is lifting you up, not tearing you down. If the people you hang out with are continually leaving you feeling upset, embarrassed, incompetent, discouraged, or hurt, DROP THEM. I don’t mean that in a start-a-bunch-of-drama-he-said-she-said type of way, but seriously separate yourself from people who hurt you. You don’t deserve that. You also don’t have to cut yourself off entirely, but distant yourself. If they ask you to hang out, make an excuse on why you can’t go. If they text you, don’t text back unless if it’s needed. Try to avoid hanging out with them since you know it will leave you feeling upset. This isn’t mean or selfish or “bitchy”. This is you taking care of yourself. Surround yourself with people who you know support you, cherish you, love you, and want to see you succeed. And yes, they’re out there.
Also, understand what you need when it comes to social interaction. Some people need to see their friends everyday, some only once a week. Both of these are valid. If you’re and introvert (like me), you may not be able to handle lots of parties, loud music, or hang outs. And that’s okay. If you’re an extrovert, you might need to be with people, go out, and have fun! That’s also totally valid. Get to know yourself and find out what your social needs are.
Look, if we don’t allow ourselves to vegetate every once in awhile, we’ll burn out. It’s just a fact. Hear me out, though. This should not be a regular thing. But it’s still necessary. Personal needs are pretty much our guilty pleasures. Mine is watching Grey’s Anatomy. Yours might be play the Legend of Zelda. Or maybe it’s reading the Harry Potter series for the sixtieth time. Or maybe it’s eating pizza in bed. Whatever it is, allow yourself occasionally to do it. Often, out of fear of our guilty pleasures becoming habits, we deny ourselves to right to enjoy them entirely. This is really unhealthy! It’s impossible to always be productive and you shouldn’t expect yourself to. Maybe its your Saturdays, maybe its that night after Finals, but whenever you feel your body saying “I need rest!”, allow yourself the right to vegetate. Trust me, it will be okay.
This suprise section is just about loving yourself. In order to care for yourself, you need to love yourself. Don’t beat yourself up over every little mistake. Chances are nobody noticed it. That zit you got last week? Nobody can see it. That B- you got? The girl next to you admired it. Didn’t make varsity soccer? Nobody thinks any less of you. We get so caught up in the little things that nobody even cares about! And I can bet that you don’t judge other people since you don’t want to be judged yourself. Seriously though, you are beautiful, intelligent, radiant, passionate, determined, hard-working, lovely, independent, influential, and magnificent. Don’t take that from yourself.
This might be the most important section of all. Seriously take care of your mental health. ALWAYS remember to take your medication if you take it, and allow yourself to break. That probably sounds weird, but what I mean is that you should allow yourself to feel negative emotions and to just let it out. Take a mental health day if you need it. Talk to your doctor, a counselor, a parent, or a close friend if you think you may have a mental illness. There’s no shame at all, and things like grades/work/apps are not as important as your well-being.
—————————————————————————————————-
Thank you for reading this lengthy post and I hope you’ve learned a bit more on how to take care of yourself. Love you lovely! 💕💕💕
snowghoul
titsay
gummygunk
origamiaround
romaincrisis
jacobvanloon
