Self-Care is Essential for Stressful Times

Hello, my name is Lauren Scott, and I’m a Junior here at McMurry University. If you don’t know me from my renowned Herald articles (joking), you might have seen me wandering around the Ryan Fine Arts building, or maybe you’ve seen me onstage performing with McMurry Theatre. Perhaps you’ve just seen me on campus, stressing about my paper that’s due in a couple of days that I haven’t even started. If you know me, or if you don’t, I’m sure we can all relate to being stressed this time of year. And if I may further that assumption, we can all relate to not always taking care of ourselves when things get busy.

Self-care if a “luxury” I feel many tend to sacrifice (myself included), in order to make time for other things. However, today we will be discussing how self-care is essential to bring balance, breath, and relief to stressful semesters like this one! It can be extremely hard to let yourself indulge in self-care, especially when other things rank higher importance on your agenda (homework, jobs, rehearsal, etc.) But while all of those things are important and unavoidable, it is impossible to invest yourself fully in those commitments if you don’t take care of yourself!

I talked with fellow student Evelyn Van Houten, a sophomore Theatre major and Sociology minor, about her feelings toward self-care. She says, “to me, self-care means taking time out of my day to relax myself.” Self-care doesn’t only look like an extravagant spa day, it can look as simple as taking time to read a book, sitting down and making art, it can even look like taking an “everything shower” (the girls know what I mean) and watching reality TV!

Van Houten says, “I try to keep a similar routine every night so that it is something I can look forward to. Every night I shower and watch a show before I sleep!” She says that maintaining this routine is something that brings her peace when things get hectic, and when she doesn’t get to participate in self-care she feels “off.” “I’ve learned that my day does not feel complete without my personal time!”

I know that taking time for self-care is much easier said than done. I struggle daily trying to dedicate time to take care of myself. After 2 ½ years being in college it is still so hard to regulate, but I have found solace in dancing, super-hot baths, and the occasional girly face mask. Even though I don’t get to indulge in excessive amounts of self-care every day, it has proven essential to incorporate a little daily in order to keep my momentum and motivation thriving! Van Houten leaves this interview with a final thought for college students like herself: “self-care is important because many of us are super involved and constantly busy. It’s important to find time in the day to focus on you and not on other people, or the things you need to get done, or the places you need to go. I think my mental health would be worse if I didn’t prioritize self-care.”

I agree with her 100%. Self-care looks different for everyone, but I encourage you to give yourself time to breath and relax, you deserve it!