Caring is Caring: Self-care is overused and underapplied

Photo courtesy of WOKANDAPIX/Pixabay

Sometimes it is not easy to take breaks, but remember that it is essential. If you work too hard for too long without balance, you run the risk of burning out and harming your mental health. Take care of yourself this month!

September is National Suicide Prevention Month and National Recovery Month, and unfortunately, almost everyone knows someone who has struggled, or continues to struggle, with these topics. College students are thrown into a community where resources are available, but the scary part is reaching out to access that help. Maintaining good self-care can help ease some of the stress of life, but it is always a good plan to take advantage of available mental, physical, and financial support systems. 

Let's explore how to manage your work-life balance better. The definition is simple, and involves balancing your work: classwork, studies, employment, physical needs and health, managing your living situation, and other responsibilities that are seemingly endless (are you tensing up yet?), with your life: friends, family, spiritual and religious needs, romantic relationships, hobbies, clubs, quality sleep (yeah...), as well as relaxation and down time. So how does self-care blend into this? 

By maintaining a balance between your work and life, you have the opportunity to consciously put effort into caring for yourself. While it can be tempting to feel a sense of accomplishment for pulling an all-nighter to complete a whole book, or reward yourself with a chai for not taking any breaks for a five-hour study session at the Milne, it is ultimately counterproductive. By putting an excessive amount of energy and strain into one part of your life, you are neglecting another, and it comes back around to bite you. 

For instance, although you read that book in one night, did you really have time to reflect and grow in your academic life? Was the stress of it all worth it? Will it impact your relationships and overall mood in the coming days? While these things may seem commonplace, the more you do them, the less likely you are to recognize the toll it takes on you. 

Take a moment today to reflect on your study habits. Do you tend to push yourself beyond the boundaries of quality work? Are you making sure to make space to sleep (at least 7 hours or more), eat regularly, and ensure that you feel safe, clean, and comfortable? By doing these things, you are not only caring for yourself physically, but you are also telling your brain that it is cared for and able to thrive. 

While college is a place to learn, it is also a place to live. I highly recommend scheduling, blocking, and planning your days in advance to work around your life; making a plan rather than a commitment. Move things around, find what works for you, and do not feel bad about rescheduling a study session. Being proactive about your day will prevent the midafternoon panic of “I need to do something productive today!”

This may be the last time you have to be a full-time student, so enjoy it! Making yourself miserable by neglecting your needs truly has no benefits. Your friends, family members, and educators want you to be a fully functional and cared-for person, and you cannot show up for them completely if you are not. 

The next step in balancing your life is to adjust your needs to align with those of others. Living around so many people of a similar age, some opportunities simply do not exist in other parts of life. So join clubs, try out for that club sport, show up to events, no matter how “cringey” you may think it is. Do not just seize the day, but seize every moment of it. 

Life is not all work or all play, and being an active participant in the world around you will help you in ways that you do not expect. That girl on your volleyball team might be the best study partner for your chemistry course; that boy in your acapella group might be the best emotional support through a rough semester. This is not to say that you should make friends in a transactional way, but humans are social creatures, and we need to support one another just as much as we need to support ourselves. So step outside your comfort zone, you never know who might be out there waiting for a good friend.