The Power Of Implementing Self-Care Into Your Daily Living

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Whether its work, family responsibilities, and social commitments, we often put our needs last. Yet, self-care is essential not only for our physical well-being but also for our mental and emotional health. When we take the time to care for ourselves, we are better equipped to show up for others and face life’s challenges with resilience and grace.

Why Self-Care Matters

Self-care is more than just a trendy buzzword—it’s a vital practice for maintaining balance in our lives. When we prioritize self-care, we:

• Boost Our Mental Health: Regular self-care helps reduce stress, anxiety, and feelings of overwhelm. It promotes relaxation, clarity, and emotional stability.

• Enhance Physical Health: Taking care of our bodies through exercise, proper nutrition, and rest increases energy levels, strengthens the immune system, and improves overall health.

• Improve Productivity and Focus: When we feel good physically and mentally, we’re more focused, creative, and productive.

• Promote Emotional Resilience: Taking time for self-care fosters emotional awareness, helps us cope with tough situations, and builds a healthy mindset.

Incorporating self-care into your daily life doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. Below are practical ways to integrate self-care into your routine, making it feel like an enjoyable part of your day.

1. Start Your Day with Intention

The way you start your day sets the tone for everything that follows. Begin your morning with mindfulness to help center yourself. This could be as simple as:

• A few minutes of meditation or deep breathing: Taking time to focus on your breath or reflect on what you’re grateful for can calm your mind and set a positive tone.

• Writing in a journal: Reflect on your thoughts, goals, or intentions for the day. Writing allows you to clear your mind and gain clarity.

• Stretching or yoga: Gentle movement gets your body energized and ready for the day ahead.

2. Make Healthy Eating a Priority

Food is fuel for both our bodies and our minds. What we eat directly impacts our mood, energy, and physical health. Try to:

• Incorporate more whole foods: Aim for meals that are rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats.

• Stay hydrated: Drinking enough water throughout the day is crucial for maintaining energy and focus.

• Practice mindful eating: Rather than eating on the go, take time to savor your meals. This encourages better digestion and helps you appreciate what you’re nourishing your body with.

3. Move Your Body

Exercise is one of the most powerful forms of self-care. It not only benefits your physical health but also releases endorphins that improve your mood. Aim for at least 20-30 minutes of movement every day, such as:

• Walking: A simple walk outside in nature can refresh your mind and body.

• Dancing: Put on your favorite music and dance around—it’s fun and a great way to get your body moving.

• Strength training or yoga: These practices build strength, flexibility, and resilience.

4. Set Boundaries and Say No

One of the most important aspects of self-care is learning how to protect your time and energy. Saying no to things that drain you, while saying yes to things that nourish you, is vital for maintaining a healthy balance. Consider:

• Evaluating your commitments: Reflect on your current obligations. Are they truly aligned with your needs and goals? If not, it may be time to set new boundaries.

• Prioritizing rest: Saying no to extra activities when you need time to recharge is essential.

5. Practice Self-Compassion

How we treat ourselves matters just as much as how we treat others. Self-compassion means being kind to yourself, especially when things aren’t going well. It’s about acknowledging your struggles without judgment and offering yourself grace.

• Be mindful of self-talk: Challenge negative thoughts about yourself by replacing them with affirmations or kinder words.

• Treat yourself like you would a friend: When you’re feeling down or stressed, offer yourself the same kindness and support that you would a loved one.

6. Make Time for Relaxation

Relaxation is a crucial part of self-care that often gets overlooked. It’s important to make time to unwind and recharge. Some relaxation techniques include:

• Taking a warm bath: A bath with essential oils or calming salts can help soothe your muscles and ease tension.

• Reading or listening to music: Engage in activities that allow you to escape and give your mind a break from stress.

• Spending time in nature: Whether it’s a walk in the park or sitting outside for a few minutes, nature has a calming effect on the mind.

7. Get Enough Sleep

Sleep is the foundation of well-being, yet many people sacrifice it in favor of other responsibilities. Quality sleep is essential for mental clarity, mood regulation, and physical health. To prioritize sleep:

• Set a consistent sleep schedule: Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

• Create a calming bedtime routine: Engage in activities like reading or practicing relaxation techniques to signal to your body that it’s time to wind down.

• Limit screen time before bed: The blue light emitted by screens can interfere with sleep, so try to avoid them an hour before bed.

8. Nurture Your Relationships

Self-care isn’t only about taking care of yourself—it’s also about surrounding yourself with supportive, positive relationships. Spend time with people who lift you up, and make sure you’re also offering kindness and support in return. Consider:

• Reaching out to loved ones: Whether it’s a phone call, text, or visit, connecting with people you care about strengthens your social support network.

• Engaging in meaningful conversations: Sharing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences helps deepen your relationships.

9. Engage in Activities That Bring You Joy

Incorporate hobbies and activities that make you feel alive and fulfilled into your daily routine. Whether it’s painting, gardening, playing an instrument, or simply spending time with pets, engaging in something you love nourishes your soul and promotes a sense of happiness and fulfillment.

Self-care is a daily practice that goes beyond indulgence—it’s a vital component of living a balanced and fulfilling life. By making small adjustments to your routine and prioritizing your needs, you can nurture your body, mind, and spirit. Remember, taking care of yourself is not selfish; it’s necessary for you to show up as the best version of yourself in every aspect of your life.

Incorporating self-care into your daily life may take time and practice, but the benefits are well worth it. Your well-being is the foundation for everything else in your life—so take the time to invest in yourself. You deserve it.

Let us know in the comments how you practice self-care!

The Nervous System and Anxiety by Darius Fennell

For one who is very well acquainted with debilitating anxiety, I had to quickly learn what was happening inside my mind and body. I was inspired to understand the following:

1. How is the nervous system related to my anxiety?

2. How does the nervous system function?

3. Can I leverage understanding the nervous system to improve my anxiety?

You can think of the nervous system as the body’s electrical communication system. These communication systems are all over the body and transmit all types of messages. The messages I had become overwhelmed with were panic, dread, fear, and danger. These were ongoing, intense, and lasted for months and I desperately began to read and research as much as I could in hopes that I could find peace again. My educational background is engineering, but I quickly focused on the autonomic nervous system which is composed of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The sympathetic nervous system is associated with fight or flight while the parasympathetic nervous system is associated with rest and digest. While I was very well acquainted with fight or flight, I wanted to know more about finding ways to cooperate with the parasympathetic rest and digest and came across the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is located at the brand stem and extends down to the gut and is a critical part of being able to relax. This is done by improving what is known as vagal tone or the vagus nerve activity. There are several ways to do this:

• Slow breathing exercises

• Cold water exposure

• Gargling

• Humming

• Exercise

Some of these seemed silly to me at first but as I tried them, they actually worked. With consistency and practice, I began to create my own anxiety toolkit which I talk about in my book, Leaving Jupiter: Navigating Your Anxiety Recovery. There is no magic pill or quick fix when it comes to anxiety but understanding the nervous system is a crucial component. Along with therapy, diet, exercise, rest, hydration, and many other tools, practicing vagus nerve stimulation has been a game changer and a major part of having a lasting recovery. Which method would you be willing to try

Darius Fennell is a mental health and therapy advocate, published author, speaker, and coach. He recently published Leaving Jupiter: Navigating Your Anxiety Recovery and The Leaving Jupiter Daily Journal available on his website and Amazon. You can find him on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook under the profile Beyond Anxiety (@beyond.anxiety_) 

When The Holidays Are Not Your Cup Of Tea...Do This

Here is the gut wrenching reality. Everyone does not care for the holiday season, and that is okay. Typically when you think of celebrating the holidays you think about the dinner spread, laughter, joy and memories that will last a lifetime. You think about who you will see, how college is going for some folks, new relationships and babies that are crying or being carried around from one family member to the next. You think of the lights, the coziness in the house and the love that is immersed in the room. It’s a pretty good feeling, however, not everyone has this experience. Some people are reminded of family drama, unforgiving arguments, unwanted memories, and grief from something or someone they lost in the past. Which is often remised every holiday season.

More times than not people are be forced to be around someone who has hurt them in the past, or feel they are people pleasing because “family” wants them to come, despite how they may feel, (especially if they are young and don’t have a choice in saying where they are going for the holidays). There are also people who are reminded that they do not have the necessary things in order to have a good holiday season. In some instances this is a constant reminder of their short comings. Each year people are experiencing the holiday season for the first time without someone they loved, whether that person transitioned from Earth, or is no longer in communication with them. These feelings are hard to express, especially when society and media displays joyful music, happiness, and family traditions.

So what do you do if this sounds like you? I personally will say, feel those feelings. Too often people suppress their emotions. The response of, “don’t worry about that” or “it’s going to be alright,” is not something people want to hear. And we have to get out of the habit of saying those things. It’s not as if the person doesn’t think it won’t get better, they know that it will. But the feelings are on display and it’s imperative to acknowledge those feelings. And you can do this in one of many ways, express by crying, writing down your thoughts, talking to someone or taking a moment to sit in it. And when that moment is over (I am stressing moment as a few minutes or so). If you know the holidays are not your thing I would also encourage you to seek a therapist if you are not already doing so. Preparing and discussing what’s to come can help and oftentimes we are more concern leading up to the day, than the actual day in itself.

Few activities to follow…

1. Change the trajectory: you do not have to do what you did in the past. Make new memories with those you are close with, keep in mind this does not have to only be family you can reach out to friends too.

2. Set boundaries: if a family member wants you to do something whether it’s joining a family event, politely refuse. They should understand, if you feel they deserve an explanation, give it to them. But telling them you want to protect your peace and is good enough.

3. Volunteer: this can help bring cheer into your life. I encourage you to try it!

4. Do something untraditional: see a movie that is not focused on the holidays, take yourself on a mini vacation, whether local or travel somewhere warm where you are not reminded of the holidays. Those last minute trips are helpful and can make the best memories.

5. Do a virtual call: chat with someone online whether it’s someone you haven’t talk to in a while and talk about things that make you laugh!

6. Listen to your favorite artist: not everyone has a holiday album so you should be okay in listening to music that can put you in another place.

These activities are just a few things that come to mind. Most importantly understand that you are not alone. And we have resources to help you with that. Be sure to let us know which one you engaged in, whether it was a few or all of them!

How can you use AI to reduce revision stress - but without breaking any educational rules?

Preparing for a big exam will always involve hard work, but it doesn’t have to feel so stressful that it becomes overwhelming. Often, how effective and enjoyable your revision sessions are will depend on the techniques you choose to use. While it’d be great to have artificial intelligence (AI) do all the learning for you, claiming the work of others as your own will be classed as unethical use of the technology – however, you can use it to create a great study plan that’ll help you to achieve top marks in your exams. In this guide, we share a few of the ways you can use AI to make revision a stress-free experience, whilst also ensuring you don’t break any educational rules.

Effective study schedules

When you’ve got lots on your to-do list, it can be hard to know where to begin. Ineffective time management can really hold you back from completing the bulk of your work – while knowing exactly what you need to do and when you need to do it can help to significantly simplify the learning process by breaking each task down into more manageable chunks. Many students use AI to create personalized schedules that analyze their academic performance and personal preferences to recommend the best times for focusing on specific subjects. AI can also be used to set up automatic study reminders and alerts, to ensure study sessions and important deadlines aren’t missed.

Helpful learning materials

We all learn in different ways, and the study techniques that work for your peers may not always be the best approach for you. By allowing AI access to your study materials like your textbooks and notes, and teaching it your individual learning style, you can have the technology present the content in a format that is easier for you to understand and digest. This could mean asking AI to present written content as a visual resource, such as in a mind map or flashcards, or the opposite – having visual aids summarized in writing. You could also ask AI to convert your written study materials into an audio recording, if you learn best through listening. This will help your revision materials feel more accessible, and will help you retain more information.

Virtual tutoring and instant feedback

Practice tests can be an effective study tool, particularly if you have a peer present who can ask you questions and give feedback on the answers to you. AI makes this process much easier; by acting as a tutor, it can create questions based on your learning materials and then provide you with instant answers and grades – so you can use this method even when you’re studying alone.

Putting theory into practice

Not every exam will be a written one, and some qualifications will require you to demonstrate your practical skills in the subject in order to be awarded a good grade. Unfortunately, many students don’t have access to the equipment and technology they need to practice these skills outside of the classroom, which can put them at a disadvantage. Even those taking written exams can benefit from having more practical, hands-on experience, as putting theory into practice is a great way to solidify your knowledge and help you retain more information.

With AI, you can use virtual reality platforms to simulate any situation in which you’ll need to apply your practical skills. While it may not be the real thing, having access to such a simulation – like a lab, for example – can help you to familiarize yourself with the environment prior to taking your practical exam.

Educational rules to consider

Generally, academic institutions require you to use AI in a way that assists your learning, but doesn’t do the work for you – by relying too heavily on the technology, you’re at risk of plagiarizing the work of others. This can lead to serious consequences, such as having your work disqualified or being expelled from your college, as well as various legal implications and fines for your institution.

To ensure you’re not breaking any educational rules, consider creating an Ethical AI Checklist that includes what needs to be done before you begin an assignment, while you’re working on it, and after you’ve submitted it. For example, it might involve checking that AI use is permitted by your college, ensuring your assignment is written in your own words, and citing AI usage correctly once your work is complete. By having each of these steps written down so that you can tick them off as you go, you can revise with the assurance that you’re using the technology in a way that is helpful, not harmful.

Author Emily Turner

Emily is a student adviser with a passion for technology. She keeps up with the latest AI advancements to coach her students on how best to implement them into their studies. For more content from Emily visit studocu.com.

Having Trouble Speaking Up...Read This!

During my adolescent and young adult years, I found myself not being as vocal as I am now. This had a lot to do with my upbringing. Anytime someone in my community was not satisfied, it mostly ended in an argument or worse, a fight. I felt like if stating my issue or presenting my feelings to someone resulting in a scuffle, it wasn’t worth mentioning. I wasn’t a fighter but I have seen many fights in my day that escalated because of lack of communication.

Fast forward to adulthood I’ve learned that you can bring your concerns to individuals, but it all depends on how you present it. Most importantly you don’t want to be so high off emotions that the issues doesn’t get resolved. I also know I am not the only person who had challenges in this area, and so I thought it would make sense to brush up on my blogging experience and write about it.

I must say it took me some time to learn how to present my issues, and not because I was afraid or anything, but because I wanted them to get resolved and not linger. Now do I always get it right…no. But I do at least try. A lot of relationships end because of miscommunication, a lot of information is misinformed because of miscommunication. And this goes for EVERYONE, no matter your economic, race, or ethnicity. All in all, we have to learn how to communicate and speak up effectively.

4 ways to speak up effectively

1. Practice Assertiveness: listen, everything comes with practice. Even speaking up! One way I started being assertive is when I receive customer service. If there was something that I didn’t like, for instance if my food order was wrong, or they forgot to provide my beverage, I would let them know. I also provide compliments for anyone I see who is wearing something nice. Just speaking up in general gives you the motivation to want to speak up consistently.

2. Be Direct: how often are we not direct. We can fumble with our words a lot and beat around the bush. Making the person on the receiving end more confused or annoyed that you brought the conversation to their attention. That’s why it is important to practice. Write down what you want to say, and practice how you want to say it. There’s nothing wrong in doing that, if anything it can boost how you present yourself to others.

3. Seek Support: I am all about providing support. Talk to your friends and ask them how you can be more assertive. They know your personality best. They more than likely can provide you with feedback and let you know a thing or two about yourself.

4. Listen: this is a part of resolving conflict. It’s imperative to listen to the other person. They have a voice and it’s critical that it’s heard. And most importantly do not listen to respond, but listen to understand. This goes a long way!

These four tips helps me even today. I have more tips you can listen to on my podcast Going Thru W/Jamie. Speaking up is not something we are born with, it’s an action we all learned. As a child there were times when I wanted to speak up, or have spoken up and was shut down. I believe this is what inhibit me from speaking up for myself during my adolescent and early adult years. So if you have little ones, there’s a way you can teach them to be heard and vocalize how they feel. We don’t want to do a disservice to ourselves and our children. So check out the podcast and be sure to check out our magazine for more tips on better ourselves!

Let me know how you speak up when some things are not going your way. I look forward to reading them in the comments!

You Need To Take A Social Media Break...Here's Why

Here's the thing, social media is here to stay. No matter what you think or say, internet platforms are not going anywhere. At least not anytime soon. We have so many founders to thank of that. Although there are benefits to social media, as I am using this platform to share my thoughts. I am certain you find good use of it as well. But is there a thing of too much use of social media? And how does that not only impact OUR mental health, but our children, and the generation that comes after us?

If you are a millennial then you know we were the last group to enjoy those long those summer days outside, only to have our parents fuss at us when we came back in the house. The constant complaint, "you smell like outside, go get in the shower," was something I became accustom to hearing. We partaken in double dutch or watching basketball games from neighborhood teams for bragging rights. Everything now is organized sports and you have to pay at some capacity to participate. We seen the shift from paper to computer real quick, and technology appears to evolve right in front of our eyes. I think many of us have a love hate relationship with technology, but no matter how you slice or dice it, you will eventually be on a platform sharing your thoughts, looking for long lost relatives, or joining some kind of group to help you with some kind of challenge you are facing.

Despite it all, I see the good in social media, but it has its flaws. Just like anything else. The scrolling from one platform to another can cause you to waste so much time doing nothing (Unless you are doing research and to a degree that can be suspect). The unmet expectation can lead one feeling distraught, discouraged, and disinterested in something they think is their passion.

As a mom I sometimes find myself (or I did prior to this) scrolling after midnight when the kids were asleep. I found it as my "me time," but to only notice how I was comparing myself to someone's glam life. Someone's 60 seconds of highlights they posted on social media had me in my feelings to the point I started to give myself the side eye. I was wondering...what am I doing with my life?

Not to mention being a founder of a mental health magazine, producing issues quarterly and helping people display their work on a platform. Those 60 seconds made me feel like I was not doing enough, and that's the issue with social media. At least one of them.

Another thing I found myself doing was the fear of missing out. Don't let a video go viral. It lead me to doing research to find the original content and check out the person who went viral. Check out a few of their videos and become hooked. Causing me to take the eye off of my own path and focus on someone else.

Lastly I was tired a lot. And when I say tired, I mean tiirrreeeedddd! Knowing I have to get up in the morning to go to the gym, just to find myself mid day not being able to function or concentrate due to being so into whatever Tic-Tok video Instagram Reel that I engrossed myself in the night before. Now I know I am not the only one who HAD these challenges. And if you are dealing with them today, I want you to realize that you too can detox from social media.

Detox Anyone?

1. Take social media breaks!

2. Limit your time on social media, allow only a certain amount of time at a time.

3. Do something productive. Allow your attention to go towards that thing you have been putting off.

4. Practice mindfulness, live in the moment. Go outside and get some fresh air...it's free! Even if that means to sit outside for a second, go on a 10 minute walk or a drive.

These steps has helped me and I am certain it will help you. Let me know about your social media journey. Have you done a detox? How long do you find yourself online even when you don't want to be?

I'm curious to know...let's chat below!