To Those Who Need a Reminder to Practice Some Self Care

Life is a mess and often times that mess can overwhelm us. That can be said for the best moments and the absolute worst. The goal of this reading though is to touch on those worst moments when we get so caught up in what is going wrong or what could go wrong that we forget to take care of ourselves.

We have all been there, me included. These past couple weeks, for example, have been piling for me: Readings over readings over exams and more exams. That's the life of college students, though, especially during midterms or finals, and on top of that I procrastinated much of my work due to a concussion that I was dealing with. Furthermore, what happened and what is still happening is that I'm spiraling into a stress cycle that is causing many anxious thoughts and behaviors. It isn't okay either—since what that means is that recently I just haven't been feeling like myself. It will be, but for that to occur I know I have to take care of myself. If you are dealing with this right now or perhaps might in the near future, here are some tips that I think may (hopefully) be helpful.

Find a way to focus on what's going on right now.

What I mean by this is basically be mindful of your surroundings and yourself. Distract yourself from what you're stressing over, whether that's the future or the past, and realign yourself to what's going on right in this instance of your life. That might be easier said than done, but here are a few points that can be effective:

1. Take time out of your day to meditate.
2. Work on breathing exercises.
3. Lie down and close your eyes, letting your body experience the moment and nothing else.
4. Work on muscle relaxation techniques.
5. Journal.

Balance

I'm not talking about physically, though if you so desire, go ahead and do that. Challenge yourself to see if you can balance physically while staying concentrated on what's going on outside of you and inside. What I am talking about, though, is find a way to re-situate. I know that might sound pretty vague, but here are a few starting points that can be done when becoming overwhelmed.

1. Take a break from technology.
2. Spend time by yourself.
3. Look into chakra balancing techniques for your mind and soul.
4. Watch positive motivation videos on YouTube if technology is a must.
5. Read.
6. Take a nap.

Learn to let go.

You might at this point be wondering how I can even ask you to do that when life just sucks, and that's fair. By letting go, however, you release any tension that had been building up in you, and you allow yourself to feel much lighter. For this, though, you have to do some self-digging, and by being mindful and realigning yourself, what is the matter may become clear. Once you know what is causing your body, mind, and soul to be disrupted that allows you to tackle the issue in a very individualistic way. Here are some tactics to use once you're ready to let go of what is weighing you down.

1. Take a walk in nature.
2. Talk to someone.
3. Exercise.
4. Cry it out.
5. Find a form of art expression that works for you.
6. Exhale all those worries.
7. Apologize to yourself or others if necessary.

Work on being in love with the person in the mirror who has been through so much and is still standing. Remember to be kind.