I’ve recently been exploring the idea of self-care and what it entails. What I’ve found is that everyone loves to reward or brag about not sleeping all night, or being so busy they don’t even have time to shower. Don’t get me wrong I’m the type that likes to stay busy but there’s also a time and place to slow down and practice self-care.

Our society and our friends and our media tells us to brag about pulling an all nighter or eating so much fast food we have no more money. It’s also this fun idea to see who has the least amount of money, to see who’s struggling the most. But, I don’t get it? Why do we want someone to struggle? Why do we want to see someone pull an all nighter and struggle to stay awake the next day? Why do we think we’ve become a real college student when we have .51 cents in our account and want to brag about it on social media?

I’m guilty of these things too but I’ve come to realize after doing my research on self-care that this isn’t the way to live life. So you may not have much money because you’re in college but why not try to take care of yourself? Why make yourself so miserable and staying up all night when you know you have to work the next day?

My freshman year I would stay up till late hours in the night just to brag to others that I stayed up that late. I thought going to bed early was lame. I thought eating a salad in the food court made me look dumb or stupid, instead of scarfing down pizza or soft pretzels. I abandoned all my ideas because I thought people would judge or look at me funny. I was in college and there’s this idea and atmosphere around me that if I don’t stay up late or I don’t eat unhealthy that I wasn’t a true college student. Looking back I’ve learned from those mistakes. What makes you a real college student is being in college, simple as that.

So, as a college student we may not be able to take care of ourselves as much as we want but even doing little things can help us. Maybe 20 minutes of just listening to music can help us focus on our homework more or help us distress for a little bit. Find ways to let yourself relax and distress even if its only 20 minutes.