Posted on

How to Hopefully Avoid Burnout 101

There’s a project due Wednesday. Then a paper due the next day. And of course you should have already started studying for your midterm on Friday. College and grades are important. But mental health should be your higher priority. With all the deadlines on top of midterms, the amount of stress you feel can be overwhelming to the point of suffocation. It may sound counterintuitive, but it is important to spend a few moments away from studying and homework in order to practice self care.

Everyone has their own methods to de-stress. But I would start with making sure you complete a few simple tasks, such as drinking enough water and getting enough hours of sleep, which can really make a difference in your state of mind. For me personally, when the weight of midterms gets too overbearing I spend time with my family or I exercise. I usually do mud masks with my sister or I will babysit my two month old cousin for a few hours. Getting some fresh air by taking a 30 to 45 minute walk outside also clears my mind. Even before I take a midterm or a final I will walk a couple miles- just circling around Aldrich Park- to burn off any nervous energy. 

Stress is a normal aspect of life. In small amounts, it is just an indicator that you care about something. But like everything else in life, it needs to be taken in moderation. The most important part is that you should occasionally to take a step back and take a breath. Find a balance between studying hard and making time for the activities you enjoy. Go to dinner with a friend. Play video games. Do a face mask. Make your mental health just a high priority as college is. 

 

Posted on

How to not be a Zombie in college

At some point, stress will get to you. At some point in college, you will feel overwhelmed. Even if you never really had too much stress in high school, college is different. So how to counterattack stress? It’s called self-care. Throughout college, I heard may students and adults how they never focused on self-care, and how it negatively impacted their life in general. So trust me, focus on self-care as much as you can in college and start early like me.

So even if you heed my advice, what is self-care? Self-care is more than just showering or brushing your teeth. It’s taking care of yourself mentally. How? Each person has their own ways to deal with stress, but here are some things I do:

If it’s something small or minor, I generally push through it and move on. Delaying it too much would not only grow my anxiety but waste my precious time. But then there are day to day things, and to deal with those, I listen to music a lot, and I generally play video games. The game I currently play right now is Fortnite, (add me if you wanna play together). Sometimes I have those days where I feel overwhelmed with many things to do with little time. And to avoid going into my panic mode, I distract myself by watching youtube videos or talking to my friends. One of the best time to talk to my friends is via Fortnite because we can talk and play at the same time. Fortnite is more fun to play with your friends. Other times, I eat, because I generally am moodier on an empty stomach. So make sure you fill your belly. Another self-care I practice is working on my assignments late night (assuming it wasn’t done at midnight or requires logical thinking). For example, for my writing assignments, I work on them around 11 to 2 am, simply because I am too tired to fuss about the little details and my creative juices flow then. Just because of that doesn’t me you don’t sleep at all, because you should. There were times where I stayed up till 6 in the morning (on weekends) and it messed up my sleeping schedule (or circadian rhythm system). Regarding sleep, what matters is not getting that 8 hours, but it’s more about getting the consistent hours of sleep. Every now and then I sleep at 2 am and wake up at 7 and still function as if I got 10 hours of sleep. In fact, getting more hours of sleep makes me less efficient. But keep your hours consistent, that’s what’s important. Going out for a walk and working out is another great way. Making a list of things that need to be done is another good way because it helps to keep track of your priorities.

In college, at some point, you will feel overwhelmed, or stressed, or some issue you physically cannot solve, and it’s okay. It’s normal, but what is important is you take care of yourself, self-care. You may not realize the importance now, but when you have a job, responsibilities, and other activities, the self-care you practiced since the first year of college will pay off.

Posted on

Self Care for the Winter Airs

Self care is an important aspect of surviving life. And since college is just a part of your life, proper self care can be used to help you get through the tough times in college. Now, the term self care can be interpreted in many different ways. It varies from person to person. One might think exercising is a great form of self care while another might think that is hard work and determination and is no way relaxing. If you are anything like me, exercising is a special event that is reserved for special occasions, such as running with an old friend that you haven’t seen in years. My type of self care focuses mainly on indoor relaxation, either on the computer or in bed.

Video games offers a nice form of relaxation for me. Simple games like Stardew Valley offers a farm to take care of, letting me control the world and blow off steam. MMO’s like Guild Wars 2 and Black Desert Online is also fun to play casually although it can be frustrating at times. Watching anime also helps as well, but sometimes you could get too into it and binge an entire series, which isn’t too good. This form of self care allows me to take my mind off of my current problems, making it peaceful to a degree. Of course you would still need to finish whatever work is given, but a small break can help boost productivity later. This is a great way for me to mentally unwind after a long day of classes. Keeping a notebook with emotional problems help me get through emotional problems. Starting it at first is difficult, but when you look at the past situations that you have gotten through, it helps boost moral and get you through the problem.

My way to relax in between classes is to play Pokemon Go. There are many Pokestops around campus so getting into the game becomes easier. Also it can be used to familiarize yourself with the area, and even connect with other people who play. Pokemon was part of my childhood so being able to walk around and catch them whenever I want is fun and relaxing. You could also use it to pass time if you have large gaps between classes.

Posted on

Face Masks, Dining Halls, and Naps

College is comes with all kinds of stress: the stress of midterms, stress of relationships, stress of running to make it to the dining hall before it closes. Stress surrounds you and there’s little you can do to control it because it’s just a part of college, but you can control how you react to the stress. Now halfway through my first year of college, I’ve definitely experienced my fair share of stress and here are some ways I practice self care and deal with the stress!

  • Face masks: Okay this sounds super stereotypically girly, but it is so relaxing to be able to sit back and enjoy treating your skin after a long day. It really leaves me refreshed and ready to get back to work. It’s a quick 10-15 minutes that could make all the difference. I love doing this with my roommates because it gives us all a chance to quickly catch up and look silly together. I recommend sheet masks if you’re scared to try face masks because it’s literally a thin sheet that has serums soaked in it. It’s easy to apply and easy to take off, plus they’re pretty affordable. I bought a pack of 24 on Amazon for $12 and it’s been more than six months but I barely finished half of them. Give this a try!
  • Spontaneous Dining Hall runs: Personally, studying drains my energy, so after a couple hours of studying, I’ll grab some hallmates and we’ll go to Pippins together really quick just to get our legs moving and take a little break. A soft serve cone can temporarily relieve some stress! As a freshman, you already pay for the dining hall! So take advantage of it as much as you can.
  • Nap: Naps are essential to college. Everyone naps. Whether it’s a 10 minute power nap or an indulgent 2 hour nap, naps help you recharge and can make you way more productive! When you’re running on little sleep, sure you can be studying for hours, but it’ll be hard to retain anything. Listen to your body! If it’s saying you need a nap, take one. But remember to set an alarm because you still need to get work done!

These are some of my tried and tested ways of taking care of myself and relieving stress. In all honesty, academics are important and you should study really hard for all your exams, but in the long run, it’s way more important to take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, and physically. Make sure to take care of yourself!

Posted on

Learning How To Relax

In high school I had a chemistry teacher whose motto was: “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and everything is small stuff. Except for your health and your family.” I was kind of taken aback by this. What do you mean everything is small stuff? I’ve got four finals to study for, ACT prep, community service, how am I supposed to not sweat? When I asked him what he meant exactly, he told me to keep a broad perspective on life. It’s not like I shouldn’t try to do well in school and my extra curriculars, but I shouldn’t let those things consume my life and bog me down with stress. There’s so much more to life than we sometimes realize when we’re burdened by huge responsibilities like tests and projects. Admittedly, I still feel like my teacher’s motto is an oversimplification, but it has nevertheless stuck with me since. Going into college, I knew that things would only get more difficult, and as things got more difficult it would become even more important to manage my self care. Of course stress is an inevitability, but I’ve managed to keep it at a minimum by consciously allocating time to de-stress.

One of my old hobbies that I’ve always loved is video games. Ever since even before elementary school there was something about video games that captivated me. It’s a unique medium of entertainment where you’re required to actively engage in it, unlike with television or movies. Of course since coming to UCI I’ve had far less time to spend playing games, but every once in a while I’ll allow myself time to indulge. It serves as a really good way for me to keep in touch with my friends back home as well. Even though we’re hundreds of miles apart, it gives us an extremely easy way to interact and socialize with each other. Here at school as well, I’ve found that there are many people who are interested in games, whether casually or more competitively. I mean at the student center there’s an entire room dedicated to video games. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me.

Of course, playing video games isn’t the most physically exhausting activity, so I also make an effort to get some exercise which I think for a lot of people (although not all) helps to relieve stress. Sometimes I’ll just leave early for class and go the long way around. UCI has in my opinion a legitimately beautiful campus. Oftentimes I find that after a particularly rough day, a walk through Aldritch Park can be rather cathartic. Even if I do have three midterms and an essay and two hundred math sets due tomorrow, at least I can enjoy the nice socal weather and the scenery. Just kidding I don’t know if there’s anything you could do to comfort yourself in the face of that. But it’s definitely important to give yourself some personal time to do what makes you happy.