I once heard the concept of treating yourself as if you were a child on days when you need to rest and recuperate. I think it’s based on the idea that everyone still has an inner child that needs to be looked after in some way, but sometimes we’re so overwhelmed by having to be an adult (cleaning, cooking, studying, emails…) that we neglect that side of ourselves a bit.
Depending on how you're feeling on your self-care day, you can literally just do exactly what you want - your dream day - but in a way that’s measured and will allow you to slip back into your routine for your upcoming exams.
For example, my dream day during an exam season would be waking up relatively early, having a really nice breakfast, reading a book in the morning and then having lunch. After a quick call with someone who I love, I would then go swimming, before going home and watching a favourite movie of mine while eating a few of my favourite snacks. Then I’d just prepare a few things for slipping back into my exam routine and go to bed pretty early.
I guess the point is to try and see which part of you needs to relax more (your body, your mind) and to allow that to happen. I hope that this makes sense and that it’s helpful to you! And good luck with your exams :-)
Jun 23, 2024
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I recommend the Pomodoro technique during studying or writing papers - 25 minutes working followed by 5 minutes of rest. Do that 3x. During those 5 minutes, step outside or sit by a window, enjoy the sun on your skin, and look out into the distance. Avoid doing anything that stimulates your mind (i.e. reading, looking at your phone, etc.) because the point is to rest your mind. After your 4th round of 25 minutes working, take a 30-minute break. I recommend 25 minutes of something fun - a show, a book, a game, etc. - and then the last 5 minutes resting your brain before jumping back in.
While working, enjoy a yummy treat! Something you can snack on or sip to bring some pleasure while you study/write. Maybe music if that's not distracting (wordless music is probably better, but everyone's different).
You could also change up where you study to spice it up (library, friend's place, cafe, etc.).
When you finish an exam, celebrate! Do a solo date or celebrate with friends. It can be as big or small as you want. You deserve it!
May 30, 2025
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Try not to completely give into depression and let everything in your life go. If you have an LSAT coming up and need a job, maybe you just need to prioritize one to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Having a singular focus is really helpful because it’s less overwhelming and confusing. And making some sacrifices is better than burning out and failing everything. Can the job possibly wait? If not, I would say its really helpful to create a schedule for yourself. You’ll see that you can get a lot done in a day and still have tons of scheduled time to relax and rot in bed. But remember that rotting in bed feels soo much better when you know you spent some time making your life better. Doing nothing will make your day feel empty and meaningless. And it gets harder to get out of because you get used to it. Even spending an hour on a goal is an accomplishment. Even if you spent 10 hours on your phone, and one hour on a goal, in a year you would have way more going for you than if you spent all day on your phone. Most people are awake for 16 hours, so you could spend 8 hours being productive and still have around 8 hours to relax in bed. Schedule your day so you get a lot of relaxing breaks, so work doesn’t feel so painful. Stick to a predictable schedule. Make sacrifices in any areas that aren’t a priority. Like definitely say no to plans you don’t have time/energy for. And don’t see days that don’t work out as a failure. Like I said, even if you spent 10 hours in bed, just get 1 hour in and count that day as a success. Then you can at least say to yourself that the day couldve been worse. Don’t wait for yourself to have more energy, just use the small amount of energy you have because it kind of regenerates itself and the more productive you feel the more energized you’ll feel. I also recommend taking as many not destructive substances as necessary to get yourself going like even something like drinking more coffee than usual can give you that initial boost. And antidepressants can really help if you think you might be depressed and aren’t on them already
Aug 22, 2024
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I’m not gonna get into my whole night routine but know that I am a mother of two young children and while that makes it harder to do some kind of wind down nightly ritual, it is not impossible. I will note that because of our work schedules, we are working during normal dinner time, so I make dinner in the afternoon and usually eat that big meal early and have more of a lunch kind of situation later.
My projection is that everybody hates when I recommend meditation, but I recommend it because it actually works. You don’t have to do it for a long time, but doing a guided meditation for even five minutes can help Relax your mind and body. Yoga can be very meditative while also moving your body, so kind of a two birds one stone situation with that.
I’m a big water person so a shower and bath will immediately relax me. Journaling at night has at time been very useful, or laying down and listening to an album. I actually just recently started using a sound machine that plays a thunderstorm because I felt it helped my 5 month old and we all like it.
What is your day like that you are going to the point of exhaustion and then passing out? Are you not scheduling time outside of work to have to yourself? Are you psychologically emotionally avoiding feeling things so you don’t actually want to relax? A nightly ritual doesn’t have to be longer complicated, just different from what you’re doing the whole rest of the day.
Building new habits and changing your routine is hard. Start small and don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start by changing one thing and once you have that down, add in or take away something else.
Sep 8, 2024
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It’s one of those moments where you look at the baby sister that you grew up with and realise that you’re both becoming young adults in your own right. Nothing compares to dancing at 4 am in a Berlin nightclub with someone who you used to have dance parties with in your living room whenever your mum was out of the flat. All those moves you practiced? Their time has finally come! And what makes it even better is the absolute freedom that comes from it - knowing that you couldn’t care less what other people think, because you get to dance with your sister, and that makes you the luckiest person in the room 🤭
Jun 16, 2024
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For some reason, the past few years I’ve had this obsession with completely ignoring the existence of spring. Oh, it’s the first of May? Then summer is officially here! But no, why should I ignore one of the most important seasons of all? If summer is the goal, then spring is the journey, and we all know that it’s the path that counts not the destination. And once I’d made this realisation it took such a heavy weight off of my shoulders; I realised that I actually had some time to shed my moody winter persona, and to slowly crank up the outgoing summer persona who wants to speak to absolutely everyone and do absolutely everything. So for me, spring is officially the best season of the year, and it’s made me feel like having an amazing summer in 2024 if within my own power, and not something that I have to blindly hope for.
Jun 16, 2024
I was at work in my restaurant and heard this song playing and literally had to stop to look it up. The only way I can describe it is like if your best friend were a guitar and you just got your heart broken and so they wrote you a song to make you feel better lol. Anyway, it’s called Girasoli Nella Neve (which means Sunflowers in the Snow in Italian) and somehow the artist only has 92 monthly listeners???
Jun 11, 2024