Self-care
Self-care is so important, but some people think that it has to take a lot of effort to do. Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn’t; it depends what you’re doing. Self-care is taking care of the body and mind. You can do many things to do this.
The most common thing recommended is to exercise, to just get yourself moving. This doesn’t mean you have to go bike or run long distances though. You could lift weights, but you have to go to the gym to workout. You can go on a leisurely bike ride or skateboard an a path, or even just go for a relaxing walk. If you were to do things outside, which is self-care in itself, it would be best to do so as outside of a city or urban environment as you can. In Boston or DC, for example, it may take a little while to get outside of the city or urban environments, but there are so many paths along the rivers with beautiful sites, and trees and grass and flowers. Getting yourself moving outside in nature is a great way to self-care.
Something else that’s highly recommended is yoga. You can do it in your room, with friends, or in a studio. You can do it with calming music or without. Along with yoga comes meditation, breathing, and mindfulness. These seem daunting, but by no means do they have to involve a lot. Meditation can be right when you wake up in the morning for just 5, 10, or 15 minutes. It’s advised to do this in a place where you feel safe and comfortable, and where you can just let go of yourself. Breathing can be done wherever and whenever you need it. Typically it’s associated with meditating, but there are so many different kinds of breathing that can help you it’s its own category. Mindfulness also doesn’t have to be a lot. It can be just paying attention to your body, how it feels in certain situations, and how things make you feel in situations as well. It can be just recognizing what you’re feeling, and accepting it. Mindfulness can be paying more attention to your friends, roommates, or people around you and simply recognizing what they do for you and being grateful, and letting them know that you’re grateful. Doing things for other people and letting them know you care and you appreciate them can go a long way not only for you, but for them as well.
Something else that you can do for self-care is cleaning your room. I’ve found that if my room is messy, so is my mind. By cleaning your room you can give yourself space to breath. A leg off of that is putting away the pile of clothes that always sits on your bed or chair, and only leaving out what you wear every day like a sweatshirt or sweatpants. Another thing that helps, which doesn’t really make sense until you actually do it, is making your bed. Having your bed neat and clean ties in with the cleaning your room part, but having a made and tucked in bed that you can crawl into after a long day just makes going to bed that much better.