Self Care❤

When we feel stressed, it is easy to stop doing things that help us with our energy and keep us going through the difficult phases of college life. Self-care is the active participation of enhancing your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and quality of life. It can reduce some of your stress. It is important to maintain both the physical and mental components of self-care in order to achieve an overall state of wellness. Physical and mental health can balance your mind and body, which are essential to achieving wellness in order to do well in life.

On this page:

Benefits of Self-Care

1. Being at your best
2. Maximizing your potential
3. Improving your quality of life
4. Increasing your physical and mental resources to deal with stressors

Self-Care Myths

Myth: I need to stay up late to study for an exam.

• FACT: Good sleep helps with memory.  Sleep helps you better store the information you’ve learned in your memory, so that you can better recall it on an exam.  Cramming before an exam, especially at the expense of sleep, is a bad strategy.  Sleep is also important for energy and mental sharpness, two factors related to doing well on an exam.  Want to do well, get a good night’s rest.

Myth: I don't have enough time to eat early in the day.

• FACT: Food is fuel.  Food intake is part of a chemical process impacting energy and a host of other systems that directly relate to positive performance.  It doesn't take a lot of time to eat a piece of fruit or to prepare a sandwich to carry and eat.  If you are not eating until late in the day, consider that your schedule is too jammed, too hectic.  Consider that without the benefit of food you will be more tired, more mentally blur, more easily stressed, and more likely to perform poorly.

Myth: I need to be strong and do it by myself.

• FACT: That makes no sense!  When did it become a sign of strength to make things harder for ourselves by not utilizing the help and resources around us?  A school is interested in students doing well, students staying in school and graduating.  There are people wanting to helping students with studying, physical and mental health, connection and activity, and just about anything else you can think of.  Students who study in groups often perform better than those who study alone.  Asking for help can be hard but can spare you lots of pain down the road.  You can CHOOSE the harder way but it's a lot better to get the support you need.

Myth: I couldn't do my schoolwork because I had to work part time.

• FACT:  Many students need to work in order to get through school.  However, remember you are working TO GO TO SCHOOL.  School is your priority.  If that isn’t true, maybe you should consider if school is something you are committed to, something that you want to be doing.  It is okay to choose to work and return to school at a later time.  It is okay to choose to work because right now in your life school isn’t a good fit for you.  Maybe you haven’t asked for what you need at work, like time off or a flexible schedule.  Have you made it clear school is your top priority?  Have you looked into getting financial help such as financial assistance, bursaries or government funds for students?  If working makes you unable to perform in school, it's good to think about where you are heading towards.