5 Ways to Care for Yourself this Week
Happy Monday everyone! I don’t know about you all, but I have been extremely busy the last couple of weeks. It’s my senior year, which means the classes are tougher, the homework takes longer and the job search is on! The only thing that’s keeping me going is the thought of walking across that stage in May. This vision has kept me motivated for some time now, but I’m beginning to feel a little burned out. Aside from academics, I have my work life, family life, and personal life to try to think about. I feel like I’ve been having a hard time balancing everything. Not to mention, I haven’t been paying enough attention to creating time for self-care.
This a large part of the reason I’ve been feeling burned out. I know that a lot of you are probably feeling the same way too. So I have a challenge for both of us this week. Let’s try to be intentional about creating time for self-care this week. If you’re not familiar with the term “self-care,” it is just as simple as taking time to do things for yourself, that’s out of your regular schedule. Self-care can look like reading a book or meditating. It can also be taking the time to do your hair or go to the gym. The point is to be intentional about taking time out of your day to tend to yourself. So, I challenge you to take action and find something on this list that interests you and take care of yourself!
Get Active
A great way to practice self-care is to get your body moving and break a sweat. This can be anything from running, cycling, or taking a Zumba class. What better way to take care of yourself than a little bit of cardio? I’ve found that this is a great stress reliever. Not to mention, it’s scientifically proven that your body releases a chemical called endorphins when you exercise. Endorphins trigger a positive feeling in your body and reduce your perception of pain.
Meditate
I’ve recently gotten into mindful meditation. This is a form of meditation that literally helps you stay focused and present. According to Mindful, mindful meditation is a simple as finding a quiet space, sitting down and focusing on your breathing. There a lot of other details, and I admit, I’m NOT an expert! Meditation is a learned activity that can be difficult at first. I suggest doing some research or taking a class. The way I learned to do it is through an app. Some helpful apps are Mindfulness Daily, Stop Breathe & Think and Deepak Chopra Meditation.
Read
I know you probably rolled your eyes at this one. Hopefully, it’s not because you don’t enjoy reading! As a college student, I know that it seems almost impossible sometimes to read anything other than textbooks. When you’re a student, you’re consuming a lot of information almost every day, but it's still important to try to read for leisure. That can be reading my blog posts —hint hint— reading a novel, or the newspaper. Either way, take a break from those textbooks, find something that interests you and start reading.
Beautify
This is probably one of my favorite forms of self-care! It’s fun and simple. You don’t have to do anything extravagant like going to the spa. Although you can if you want to, honey! Do something that is related to beauty. This can be taking the time to do your hair, paint your nails or do a face mask. I also love to take baths with bath bombs. Those are always fun! Do something that will make you feel good about yourself. The point is to take care of yourself.
Go out
You don’t have to go to the bars, but you can if you wanna! Just get out of the classroom and out of the house! Lexington obviously isn’t the biggest city, so you have to get a little creative when it comes to finding something to do. There usually different festivals and events going on throughout the year. Not to mention, UKSAB puts on some fun events. As long as you’re finding something to do that you actually enjoy, you’ll have a great time. Get some friends together and get the party started.
