So, your friends go out, and you go out. You’re exhausted, but you keep going. If you don’t participate, you almost feel like you’re completely left out and can’t even regain that same sense of community. You feel like you have to go in order to dodge that fear. Don’t get me wrong, you have the time of your life, but you are physically and mentally exhausted. But you can’t escape that possibility of the detrimental feeling of being “left out.” You don’t want to see the pictures the next day of all of the laughs your friends had without you. You don’t want to hang out with them again and miss all of the inside jokes. Regardless, you don’t want to feel left out. You don’t want to feel “lame” for snuggling up in your cozy bed for just a night rather than putting on lipstick and your biggest smile to have fun, once again, with your friends. I mean, it’s college, right?

Yes, it’s college. Yes, you should have fun. But should you always have fun? Does getting rest make you antisocial?

It’s okay to stay home tonight. It’s okay to give your body the rest it actually needs.

Don’t ever feel silly for taking care of YOU for once. Sometimes curling up to your favorite movie, eating too much junk food, and spending time alone is perfectly okay. In the words of John Mayer, “I’m perfectly lonely.” Being content by yourself for a brief moment of your hectic life is not only calming but healthy. The only way to make your life the absolute best it can be is to first take care of yourself.

So, spoil yourself. Take those nights in where you lay in your bed so long you wonder where the day has gone. Read a book, binge watch a Netflix series, or maybe just stay in the bathtub all day long. But, no matter what you do, it doesn’t matter. Because it is FOR YOU. It’s okay to be a little bit selfish with yourself. How else will you recooperate for the nights you do have endless amounts of fun?