With post-secondary making time to brush hair becomes a challenge. The overwhelming pressure of assignments, and exams makes it super tough to make time for ourselves. The concept of self-care is non-existent during these stressful moments, and the fear of failure further adds to the anxiety.
I find that students these days have the toughest time taking care of their mental and emotional health. As soon as exam season starts, sleep, nutrition, and self-care go down the drain.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I struggle with this too. To find a balance between school, home and myself is not an easy task. It’s completely normal to prefer one over the other. However, what’s important is having the mindset to try. Conditioning myself to self-discipline is an eternally difficult task. I always find it hard to take breaks between studying. In those moments, I often forget to eat and drink. I end up prioritizing studying over everything else, and it honestly doesn’t do me any benefit. I believe that self-care really starts with the mindset. Self-care isn’t about treating myself to a beautiful dinner (although that is a great thing to do), but it’s more of accepting myself for where I am – expecting nothing else. Knowing that “I am enough” is the first statement that got me started with my own journey to self-care.
Now, tell yourself the same. “I am enough”. Say this with the intention of loving and accepting yourself for who you are. It’s important to be thankful for the body you’re gifted.
So, let’s get right into it before we go more off track.
1. Give yourself Care
I know it’s hard, it took some time before I got there. To be honest, I could only do this when I let go of all I wanted or wished I was like. I had to let go of all expectations others and I had set for myself, for my success. So, what if I didn’t get into university? I would still be me. There’s so much more there for me to do. If one road didn’t come through, another will. I wasn’t created for the purpose of a four-year degree. I was created for more than just that. My worth shouldn’t be limited by a number, a degree, a weight, or a sum of money. I needed to know I was much greater. Self-care is self-acceptance. To truly know you’re awesome, to know that nothing will change that. To know that whatever you become, it’ll be for the best. This doesn’t mean I didn’t focus on goal setting or becoming a better version of myself, but to get there I had to learn to love myself first. By learning to love myself, I learned more about loving others. When I began loving the closest person to me (myself), I truly learned to love others. When one gets out of this bubble of judgement, and jealousy, they realize how much beauty there is in others and themselves. They start focusing on their development rather than the downfall of another. Now, this doesn’t mean a person has to be narcissistic in order to love themselves; there’s a fine line between selfishness and self-care. That line is determined by your intention. Self-care is being thankful for who you are today and trying everyday to become a better version of yourself. Selfishness is prioritizing your own self over everyone else to the point where it becomes an obsession – selfishness drives you to be arrogant, self-care drives you to be humble.
2. Plan Efficiently
A healthy lifestyle involves a plan. The balance between school and life is really a trial and error process of how well you’re able to manage time. Time is a huge factor in limiting your ability to do everything you want in a 24-hour period. Through time management, you’ll be able to prioritize efficiently. Knowing what needs to be done first, what will take the longest time, and do I have all the necessary materials for it, is critical. Prioritizing daily is a very good skill to have. It’s a habit that will take a while to develop, but it will condition your mind to be more self-disciplined. Speaking of self-discipline and planning, the biggest key to get you started is a strong mindset. Do you want to do this? Do you have the mental energy to wake up early morning and get work done according to how you planned it? If you’re constantly procrastinating, and delaying things to the next day, know that it will never happen. Goal setting is how well you’re able to convince your mind of its reality. Every plan you make needs to be practical, and your mind needs to be prepared to take it on. Impracticality will only lead to a cycle of disappointment because you won’t be able to achieve everything in your schedule.
Now, take a pen and paper. Right now? Yes, right now. Write down 5 long term goals you have for yourself this year. These must be goals you really want to achieve; you need to have a willingness to work hard for what you’ve written down. After you’ve written them down, ask yourself, how can I achieve these goals throughout the year? What can I do to get to the result? I don’t want you diving into the details quite yet. Write basic information. Now, moving onto the next step, let’s plan the week. This is where a good calendar comes in handy. Write all the important things that need to get done in RED. Write all the tasks that need to get done but aren’t important in BLUE. Look at your schedule and see if there’s anything in there to help you accomplish your 5 goals. If nothing, this is where you should start planning what you can do in a week to get to your goals. This will take some time, and perhaps the SMART planning sheet could help in making your goals more specific and detailed. After all of that’s over with, lets plan the day. The process is to narrow everything down to a day. I plan my day at night, but of course you can also do it in the morning. I like to write down beforehand what I need to do the next day. The way I organize it by is timing, and importance. I give a certain time for each task, and usually do the less time taking but important tasks first. The order of your tasks should be from most important, easiest, less time-taking to the least important, hardest, more time-taking tasks. Having a time limit keeps you focused and doing the easy tasks first will give you confidence as you check off those tasks on the list. Make sure to not over crowd your schedule, and make time for things like dinner, exercise, hobbies etc. Have extra allotted time just in case you can’t finish your tasks on time. Use colors if it makes it easier for you to make sense of your schedule.
3. Incorporate Hobbies into your Day
Sounds simple, but it’s difficult with a heavy exam season. I know it can be tough to make time for hobbies during exam season, but I cannot emphasize how critical hobbies are for helping you study better. Taking breaks is a great study habit because it allows your mind to relax. There are many studies to suggest that students who had hobbies in their daily schedule performed better in school. The human mind is a fascinating creation that can take in so much information, however that information can be absorbed and understood better if the focus is given to it. After a while, the human mind loses focus. The human attention span is about 10 to 20 minutes in healthy teenagers and adults. That’s crazy. You can’t force yourself to study for 10 hours and expect all the information to be understood? Chances are you’ll forget. A good study schedule is one that involves hobbies and fun activities to recharge your brain. Make time for what you enjoy first, then get to studying. The way I do it during exam season is to spend some time outside with my friends or neighbors. I love art, so every now and then I’ll have half an hour for my sketching. Even if it isn’t every day, I make time for it every couple of days. Not to forget, I always like to leave space for some teatime with my family. In my family, the tradition is to watch our favorite TV shows with some good green tea on the side. Of course, we also socialize during this time too rather than just watching TV.
4. Take care of your Physical Health
That’s right, exercise. After I began incorporating nutrition and exercise into my life, I noticed a huge change in my emotional and mental health. I love dance! I think it’s amazing how music can impact your mood so much, even if it’s temporary. I didn’t start right off with workouts or went to the gym to lift weights. I did what I loved. During my high school years, I would sometimes play Badminton with my friends. Later in the day I would go outside to the park and walk around, and if time permitted, I would do short five-minute workouts. I started very small. I think that’s the key to gaining consistency: small baby steps. Even if the starting point is to stretch every 30 minutes after studying, continue doing it. Once that becomes a habit, add new things to take care of your physical health. It’s fine if thirty-minute workouts don’t work for you, start with five-minute ones. Consistency comes through small, easy tasks. Just don’t do one thing, skip for a day. Even if its bare minimum, do something every day to ensure you don’t break the habit. Now for nutrition, it’s the same process. I started with cutting out stress eating. I cut out my cookies first, and then continued from there. In fact, I started incorporating healthy alternatives for my cravings. Instead of eating cake, I would bake a whole-wheat, walnut-almond cake at home that was sugar free. I incorporated foods I could eat guilt free, and to my surprise they were more filling so I wouldn’t need much of it feel full.
5. Realize you won’t be able to make Time for Everything
At the end of the day, some things will need to be sacrificed. The truth is you can only do so much in a day, and you’ll come to realize that one aspect of your life will always be favored over the other. Balance can’t be attained completely. It’s what you can strive for, but it’s not a possibility. To accept this will take you a step further. The goal is to continue trying and build habits that will get you closer to the center.
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