I get it. Life is crazy and balancing out your time and what is important can be super hard! It’s easy to forget about how important it is to take care of yourself, along with worrying about other things.

I once read a quote and it said, “if you named all of the things you loved, how long would it take you to name yourself?”

Self-love, mental health, and physical health are all things that you need to worry about and especially for yourself. If you don’t worry yourself, then why would someone else? These are some things you should do or think about each week in order to keep yourself grounded and happy.

1. Prioritize yourself and your goals.

Prioritizing yourself is harder than it may seem. School, work, and anything time consuming can cause you to forget about yourself and what you need. Focusing on the present is of course just as important as focusing on the future. On the way to your future goals, make sure you don’t lose yourself or motivation! Look at the bigger picture and imagine how awesome your life is now AND will be in the future!

2. Self-Love is the best love.

While you’re busy trying to find the love of your life or loving your friends or family, it’s easy to forget to love yourself. If you don’t love yourself, it shows and IT WILL affect how people treat you. Each week you should make a small list of reasons you love yourself. If you don’t have time to do that, then just think about it! You are your number one supporter!

3. Take time for yourself.

Each week you need to have you time! Just time to either reflect on how your week is going, or even just take a nap. Being around people all week can be tiring. Having alone time is essential to mental health and your well-being. So even if it’s just 5 minutes a week, take some well-deserved “you time”

4. Balance your time wisely.

Life is all about balance. I know this is something I struggle with, especially being a full-time college student. Balancing a social life, homework, and honestly just getting enough sleep is HARD. Making a planner or even making notes for yourself about what you need to do can help you be more organized and less stressed.

5. Splurge a little.

Each week you should reward yourself just for surviving it! Regardless of whether the week was good, bad, ugly, or even if you don’t think you deserve to splurge on something little… STILL, DO IT. It could be getting ice cream or some well-deserved chipotle. When I said a little… I meant it. I know money doesn’t grow on trees but if an ice cream cone could make you smile, then why not do it?

If you can do/think about these things each week, I believe that it will not only make you less stressed, but it may even make you happier than you were before. Life is all about being happy and doing things that make you happy. Once you start prioritizing yourself and making sure you are doing the best you can then maybe, just maybe, your life will become better. Take time for yourself always and you’ll start to see how much it affects you!