By Jake Zabski
I chose to go home for the college’s 10-day remote period. This choice that felt like it took me a lifetime to decide to do turned into one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life as a college student.
The first two weeks of this semester felt like a blur to me. I did not seem to feel as focused or attached to my work or my general life on campus as I had before. Everything seemed so dull. The weather wasn’t necessarily appealing either and with the looming scare of cases rising and a general feeling that I just wanted time to stop so I could catch a break, this semester was not off to a great start for me. I was already planning a mental health escape trip home within the coming weeks, but I did not know that what I had needed would appear right in front of me during the last ten days.
On my drive home, amidst the stress and anxiety of what I was either leaving behind or what was looming in the future, I decided to make an unplanned stop on my way home. Home for me is Milford, Connecticut which is about two and a half hours away from campus on a good day. This unplanned stop on my way home was the beautiful Narragansett Beach in Rhode Island. A place that I have a lot of memories attached to, and if you don’t know me personally really any beach is my ultimate happy place. I decided to go for a walk on the cold beach as a way of trying to calm myself down. After this walk, I realized that I felt more relaxed after being outdoors and finding time to clear my head and this is something I continued once I got home.
Every day that I was home, I’d find the time to go for a walk. Whether it was walking my dog, or going for a solo hike, I made sure to carve in time to be outdoors. I noticed each day that I craved and looked forward to my daily walks, and they helped me unwind from the hectic remote life, and also of course it became a healthy exercise habit. In my hometown, we have some great beaches and parks to take walks in which made it all the easier for me to do. My plan for the rest of the semester on campus is every day to find time to go outside and go for either a walk or a run. Even if it’s just a ten-minute walk to grab a coffee or to walk around the quad, it’s still better than nothing.
By prioritizing my mental health throughout the next few weeks and finding ways to push myself to feel happy and comfortable on campus, my goal is to listen to my body and intuition more. I want to be able to learn when to take a step back and put away the distractions and ignore the noise. Over the course of the ten days, I found that by listening to my heart I got much more out of my daily life. We as college students I feel do not often give ourselves breaks when we need them the most. We are always working, socializing, or catching up on sleep. Especially during the pandemic, it’s almost encouraged that we just keep working to ignore the noise around us. This shouldn’t be the way to live though. It’s important to find time to check in with yourself. Ask yourself, is my current work or schedule giving me stress? Should I maybe hold off on this assignment until I feel more calmed down? Is this essay really more important than my mental health?
My advice when you start to feel the stress from work is to do an activity that isn’t school-related. Watch an episode of your favorite show. Drink a nice hot cup of tea. Treat yourself to dessert at dinner. Find one thing in your day that will make you happy. Right now it may be difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but we are getting closer. Whether your end is warmer weather to return, summer break, finally getting vaccinated, etc. these are all things within reasonable reach from us right now. If you are struggling, just know that you are not alone. I encourage students who feel similar to how I felt to take time off. Check-in with your mind and have a conversation with it. Make sure that your mind is healthy, as well as your overall body.
Photo courtesy of Jake Zabski
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