I once heard the concept of treating yourself as if you were a child on days when you need to rest and recuperate. I think itās based on the idea that everyone still has an inner child that needs to be looked after in some way, but sometimes weāre so overwhelmed by having to be an adult (cleaning, cooking, studying, emailsā¦) that we neglect that side of ourselves a bit.
Depending on how you're feeling on your self-care day, you can literally just do exactly what you want - your dream day - but in a way thatās measured and will allow you to slip back into your routine for your upcoming exams.
For example, my dream day during an exam season would be waking up relatively early, having a really nice breakfast, reading a book in the morning and then having lunch. After a quick call with someone who I love, I would then go swimming, before going home and watching a favourite movie of mine while eating a few of my favourite snacks. Then Iād just prepare a few things for slipping back into my exam routine and go to bed pretty early.
I guess the point is to try and see which part of you needs to relax more (your body, your mind) and to allow that to happen. I hope that this makes sense and that itās helpful to you! And good luck with your exams :-)
Jun 23, 2024
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Try not to completely give into depression and let everything in your life go. If you have an LSAT coming up and need a job, maybe you just need to prioritize one to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Having a singular focus is really helpful because itās less overwhelming and confusing. And making some sacrifices is better than burning out and failing everything. Can the job possibly wait? If not, I would say its really helpful to create a schedule for yourself. Youāll see that you can get a lot done in a day and still have tons of scheduled time to relax and rot in bed. But remember that rotting in bed feels soo much better when you know you spent some time making your life better. Doing nothing will make your day feel empty and meaningless. And it gets harder to get out of because you get used to it. Even spending an hour on a goal is an accomplishment. Even if you spent 10 hours on your phone, and one hour on a goal, in a year you would have way more going for you than if you spent all day on your phone. Most people are awake for 16 hours, so you could spend 8 hours being productive and still have around 8 hours to relax in bed. Schedule your day so you get a lot of relaxing breaks, so work doesnāt feel so painful. Stick to a predictable schedule. Make sacrifices in any areas that arenāt a priority. Like definitely say no to plans you donāt have time/energy for. And donāt see days that donāt work out as a failure. Like I said, even if you spent 10 hours in bed, just get 1 hour in and count that day as a success. Then you can at least say to yourself that the day couldve been worse. Donāt wait for yourself to have more energy, just use the small amount of energy you have because it kind of regenerates itself and the more productive you feel the more energized youāll feel. I also recommend taking as many not destructive substances as necessary to get yourself going like even something like drinking more coffee than usual can give you that initial boost. And antidepressants can really help if you think you might be depressed and arenāt on them already
Aug 22, 2024
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Iām not gonna get into my whole night routine but know that I am a mother of two young children and while that makes it harder to do some kind of wind down nightly ritual, it is not impossible. I will note that because of our work schedules, we are working during normal dinner time, so I make dinner in the afternoon and usually eat that big meal early and have more of a lunch kind of situation later.
My projection is that everybody hates when I recommend meditation, but I recommend it because it actually works. You donāt have to do it for a long time, but doing a guided meditation for even five minutes can help Relax your mind and body. Yoga can be very meditative while also moving your body, so kind of a two birds one stone situation with that.
Iām a big water person so a shower and bath will immediately relax me. Journaling at night has at time been very useful, or laying down and listening to an album. I actually just recently started using a sound machine that plays a thunderstorm because I felt it helped my 5 month old and we all like it.
What is your day like that you are going to the point of exhaustion and then passing out? Are you not scheduling time outside of work to have to yourself? Are you psychologically emotionally avoiding feeling things so you donāt actually want to relax? A nightly ritual doesnāt have to be longer complicated, just different from what youāre doing the whole rest of the day.
Building new habits and changing your routine is hard. Start small and donāt bite off more than you can chew. Start by changing one thing and once you have that down, add in or take away something else.
Sep 8, 2024
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Itās kind of annoying that the self
care that I want: giving myself grace, taking off from work, and spending time relaxing on the couch, doesnāt make me feel less anxious and overwhelmed? But somehow a 7am shower and list of to-dos does? Absolutely infuriating knowing that all of the face masks, bath bombs, and āhealthyā snacks mean nothing in the face of my brain panic; But tossing my entire bones and skin sack into the shower, even though the process makes me feel like a sad wet cat, does more for my brain chemistry after the fact than any of those things ever could.
Itās very annoying that self care means taking care of your selfās most basic needs, not engaging in a little treat.
Aug 9, 2024
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I was at work in my restaurant and heard this song playing and literally had to stop to look it up. The only way I can describe it is like if your best friend were a guitar and you just got your heart broken and so they wrote you a song to make you feel better lol. Anyway, itās called Girasoli Nella Neve (which means Sunflowers in the Snow in Italian) and somehow the artist only has 92 monthly listeners???
Jun 11, 2024
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Itās one of those moments where you look at the baby sister that you grew up with and realise that youāre both becoming young adults in your own right. Nothing compares to dancing at 4 am in a Berlin nightclub with someone who you used to have dance parties with in your living room whenever your mum was out of the flat. All those moves you practiced? Their time has finally come! And what makes it even better is the absolute freedom that comes from it - knowing that you couldnāt care less what other people think, because you get to dance with your sister, and that makes you the luckiest person in the room š¤
Jun 16, 2024
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For some reason, the past few years Iāve had this obsession with completely ignoring the existence of spring. Oh, itās the first of May? Then summer is officially here! But no, why should I ignore one of the most important seasons of all? If summer is the goal, then spring is the journey, and we all know that itās the path that counts not the destination. And once Iād made this realisation it took such a heavy weight off of my shoulders; I realised that I actually had some time to shed my moody winter persona, and to slowly crank up the outgoing summer persona who wants to speak to absolutely everyone and do absolutely everything. So for me, spring is officially the best season of the year, and itās made me feel like having an amazing summer in 2024 if within my own power, and not something that I have to blindly hope for.
Jun 16, 2024