I’m a relatively sane person. I have good grades, a job, lots of extracurriculars, and wonderful friends and family. Upon assigning the newspaper staff to try something new for 30 days, I decided to do it to. I spent a lot of time thinking about crazy things to do. Eventually, it dawned on me that I could actually do something that benefits me. I realized that with all of my fun and rewarding priorities, what I move to the backburner most frequently is my own comfort and happiness. So, I decided to practice various methods of self care for a month. After doing copious amounts of research, I classified self-care into three different categories: the health and wellness category, the spiritual connection category, and the “treat yo self” category. At the beginning of the year, I began my journey to become a happier person through self-care. The first leg of my expedition was the health and wellness category. For this, I tried getting at least eight hours of sleep every night, packing healthy lunches, and committing to a daily workout routine. The sleep aspect was wonderful. I woke up every morning feeling rested and energized, my skin looked nicer, and I didn’t feel the inner monster that escapes out of me most days at three PM. The sad part is that I don’t have enough time to do my homework and sleep enough at the same time, so that aspect of self-care is more doable in the summertime. Packing healthy lunches in advance was such a life saver, they were filling and hearty, plus, I wasn’t spending so much money on food, so my financial situation was great. The workout routine is where I fell short. My lack of time mixed with my adjusted sleep schedule made it difficult to keep to this one. On the days that I did work out, I noticed a change in my mood, so post-experiment Lauren will be revisiting that. Part two of the self-care experiment was spiritual connection. I committed myself to journaling, which I loved, and took time out of my day for meditation. The meditation bit was really intimidating to me at first, but after a few days, I found myself looking forward to my daily meditation. It feels like a bath for your brain, and you come out of it feeling rejuvenated and cleansed. The last and most fun category was to “treat myself.” For this part, I took a look at what I was spending my money on and assessed if it brought me joy. For the most part, I spent it on food that wasn’t that good, gas, and random small things that I forgot about the next day. I decided to save a little more, buy less pointless things, and spend my money on things that made me happy. At the end of this experiment I would say that it was a success. While life caught up with me a little and I couldn’t devote as much time to certain aspects of life that I wanted to, it was a great jumpstart to 2018, and I can’t wait for a year of more self-care.
- by Lauren Halverson