• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

You are here: Home / Life / Mental Health / College Taught Me Self-Care Isn’t Selfish

College Taught Me Self-Care Isn’t Selfish

January 16, 2020 //  by Amber Bardsley

Shares2FacebookTweet

Self-care. If you’ve been on YouTube at all in the last few years, you hear all the bloggers talk about self-care and the importance of a healthy work-life balance. Going away to college for the first time makes anyone scared, and I certainly was. I went from a high school with about 100 people in my graduating class to Florida State University, a big party school with over 30,000 students. For anyone going into a place that big, you might find it easy to get overwhelmed and sucked into an unhealthy lifestyle. I’ll tell you how I learned I needed to take care of myself.

Before going to college, I pretty much had only one form of self-care.

I played multiple sports, so any time I felt stressed or overwhelmed by my schoolwork I always had that three-hour-long practice to look forward to after school to work away any worries I had. Once I got into college, that all changed.

I think every person going to college feels overworked at some point or another, and the stress just gets to you so much that you don’t know what to do with yourself. I felt this way in my sophomore year of college. My coursework got more rigorous, and I started to cut time away from the extracurricular sports I played, but I didn’t realize at the time doing this took away from my only real stress-reliever. Soon my days were dedicated to doing my classwork, and any real free time I had got eaten up by any chores I needed to do, like cleaning my room, doing dishes or other things like that. I worried more about my classwork to the point where I stressed about getting stressed, and everything felt like it got piled on top of each other.

As time went on, my classes stressed me out way more than they needed to.

can't sleep
giphy.com

I still got the grades I wanted, but I always felt high strung, and that at any moment a grade would drop, and I wouldn’t get to fix it before the semester ended. I’ve always been the type of person to have trouble sleeping, but this definitely impacted my sleep schedule, and most days I woke up more tired than when I went to sleep. I would go to bed stressed and wake up even more stressed. I even scared a campus barista one day when I came into the Starbucks at my usual time and asked to add four shots of espresso to my coffee. She probably thought I lost my mind.

coffee
giphy.com

Honestly, most of my stress really boiled down to two things: not planning out my time effectively and procrastinating. This ensured that I didn’t have enough time to do both my school work and enjoy myself. On top of that, I didn’t do anything to help calm me down during the day and center myself.

My skincare routine ended up as one of my first self-care routines.

It was more than just washing my face in the morning and at night. I know it sounds silly but starting and ending my day by doing something really simple like taking care of my skin did two things. First, the skincare routine helped clear up my skin and gave me a boost of confidence I really needed in college because for whatever reason my skin started acting up. It also gave me about 10 minutes or so in my day where I could slow down and collect my thoughts.

giphy.com

Doing very small things to ground myself when I felt stressed really helped me in the long run.

It actually really helped my school life, because I started and ended each day with a clear head, which helped me both focus during the day and sleep better at night. On days I couldn’t work out I started stretching before I got out of bed in the morning and before I slept. On days I had tests, when I got home at the end of the day, I cleaned the clutter left behind from hours of studying and would treat myself to a face mask or celebratory food like mac and cheese or a batch of freshly made cookies. Before I thought doing small things for myself made me selfish, but I realized it just made me human. Now I can recognize the anxiety and stress I feel for what they really mean: I’m not taking care of myself properly.

giphy.com

I know what many people say — taking care of yourself takes up too much time, or maybe too expensive, it doesn’t have to work out that way. If I notice I feel stressed, which usually presents itself by tight muscles in my shoulders, after every hour or studying or doing work, I’ll let myself have a five-minute break where I’ll quickly do some stretches to try and relieve the tension. Other times where I have more time for self-care, I might light a candle and read a book for a while, maybe do a face mask or clean a space in my room if I have the time. Planning time in your day to take care of yourself, even if you only have time to sit and collect your thoughts for a couple of minutes, or maybe listen to that podcast you’ve been wanting to hear truly makes a difference, and maybe it won’t solve everything, but it will definitely help more than it will hurt.

Shares2FacebookTweet

Filed Under: Back to School Mental Health

About Amber Bardsley

Amber is a senior at Florida State University double majoring in creative writing and criminology. If she isn't writing CM articles, she is probably playing mario kart with her roommates or eating her body weight in mac and cheese.

You May Also Like

mean girls

Is That You, Regina George? 10 Warning Signs You Have Toxic Friends

I'm on break

What Does It Actually Mean When You Say “I’m on Break”?

Five Reasons Why You Should Become a Morning Person in 2021

Chill Colleges

CM’s Top 10 Most Chill Colleges in the Country

It’s Okay If Your Grades Fall Behind During a Pandemic

winter blues

How to Help Your Friend Conquer the Winter Blues

Reflecting on Fall 2020: How to Recover from One of the Hardest Semesters

guy online

The Transition to Online Classes: A New Struggle or a Desirable Change? 

ADHD or the Enemy? At Least My College Helped Me

Counseling at a table

Seeking Counseling in College: Why Your Mental Health Will Thank You

Go Back or Stay Home? Impacts of COVID on an International Student

Woman stares out window.

How The Pandemic Made me Realize I’m Not Okay, and That’s Okay

10 Self-Care Tips and Tricks for Success: COVID-19 Edition

people worshipping jesus

What Finding a Church in College Taught Me

shy student, blonde female reading blue book

The Confessions of a Shy First-Generation College Student

Stuck at Home? Check Out These 10 Lifestyle YouTubers for Inspiration

It’s Impossible to be Perfect in College, but That’s Okay

The Dangers of Being an Overachiever All Your Life

Battling Poland Syndrome: How I Learned to Love My Flaws

Thinking About Transferring Schools? Here’s My Experience

student sitting in Pepperdine plaza at sunset

CM’s Top 10 Most Peaceful Colleges

fear

Fear is Uncomfortable: My Experience at a Crossroads

laziness

Pushing Through Quarantine Laziness

social media

How To Maintain A Healthy Relationship With Social Media

Previous Post: « Top 10 UT Austin Traditions That Prove Students Bleed Burnt Orange
Next Post: How to Become an EMT EMT»

Primary Sidebar



Trending Posts

Chill Colleges
2978

CM’s Top 10 Most Chill Colleges in the Country

climate change protest
308

Top 10 Colleges Where You Can Make A Difference in the Climate Crisis

food buffet
304

Top 10 Colleges with the Most Delicious On and Off Campus Food Options

64

The 10 Best Organizations You Should Donate To in 2021

41

Why Pixar’s “Soul” is Groundbreaking: Lessons for 2020 and Beyond

Featured Chapter: UCLA

Footer

logo

College Magazine is the national daily guide to campus life. Our articles for college students feature university rankings of U.S. colleges, college guides, academic advice, college prep, career advice, student health and collegiate dating tips.

Written by students for students, by a team of journalists from universities nationwide, we’re on the pulse of the college experience.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

Majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

Intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

Money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

Travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

Shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

Copyright © 2021 College Magazine · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.