My Top 7 Tips to Support Your Well-Being at School
Before becoming a psychotherapist, I worked in higher education as a residence director and academic program coordinator. Years later, I still remember the back-to-school rush with exhausting clarity. Falling into bed after 11pm, my mind would race with tasks for the next day. The alarm clock rang way too soon and my emotional, mental, and physical health often took a backseat to meet the demands on my doorstep.
But did it have to be this way? After studying emotional regulation and understanding my own tendencies to over function, I know now that there are alternatives to a hustle-until-you-drop pace of life. In this post, I draw from research-backed practices to offer my top 7 tips for supporting your well-being during the back-to-school whirlwind.
Whether you’re a student, educator, administrator, or source of support for of any of the above, I hope these tips invite new ways to incorporate more emotional support into your life. And while you’re here, allow me to say a sincere thank you for centering learning, curiosity, and growth in your life and the lives of the people you encounter. We’re all better for it.
Ready for the top 7?
Put yourself to bed.
This might be the most important one of all. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, but the research is clear: we all need sleep in a major way. Sometimes transitioning from high levels of mental activity and into sleep will be the most challenging part of your day. So here’s what I recommend: Stick to a wind-down rhythm. Start by setting a time to start getting ready for bed each night. Change into sleep clothes. Wash your face, brush your teeth, and turn down the lights. Choose a light activity like a slow yoga flow, journaling, listening to a sleep story, or reading a book (probably not your textbooks!) will ease the decompression shift from your school and work day.
Expand your emotional vocabulary.
Describing our feelings is harder than it sounds. Am I…frustrated? Disappointed? In anguish? Or just…hungry? For this reason, many of us don’t grow up implementing a wide vocabulary for our emotions and we miss out on a chance to acknowledge a major part of our lives. Instead, we replace emotional experience with thoughts. Don’t believe me? Try asking a few people how they feel about a situation and see how many respond with “I think…” or perhaps “I feel…” followed by thoughts instead of feelings. . If you get stuck, start with the Big 6 derived from Dr. Paul Ekman’s research: happiness, anger, disgust, fear, surprise, and sadness. If you’ve got the Big 6 down, here’s a great feelings inventory to go a step deeper into your emotional world.
Walk your talks.
And I don’t mean metaphorically. Quite literally, try walking when you’re talking. Bilateral stimulation through movement is a fantastic way to bring an embodied connection to your thoughts and emotions, and, thanks to the additional boost of blood flow in your hippocampus, walking and talking can improveyour memory retention. This tip doubles as a great study method. Invite a classmate (or a student in your life) on a talk walk. Share what you’re learning for at least 15 minutes. If you’re an educator or administrator, try walking with a colleague or supportive person at the end of the day, recounting what you learned and what challenges you’re facing. You’ll be surprised how a walk impacts information retention and focus.
Nature soak.
Nature is our home for a reason. The benefits of spending time outside in nature are too many to name here, but research on the impacts of nature cites stress reduction, improvement in working memory, reduced risk of mental illness, and greater overall well-being as just a few of the advantages. Put these benefits into practice by soaking up nature’s goodness for at least 30 minutes every day. Reading in the sunshine, walking to class, or taking a coffee break outside will do your whole self good.
Expect imperfection.
Let’s be honest: we need a major perfection recall at all levels of our educational system. The overwhelming climate of meritocracy rewards error-free performance at every turn, subsequently downplaying the immense value of failure. Discouraging failure is a misstep, especially when we know it’s a key factor in making new discoveries. If learning is truly your goal, try shifting away from a standard of perfection and allowing for daily imperfections. A miscalculation, a miscommunication, or simply getting less than a perfect score on a paper are opportunities to step back and recognize what you’re in school to do: Learn! Educators and administrators, you’re a part of this mix too. When you move through moments of failure with transparency, vulnerability, and accountability, you poke a hole in the overblown emphasis on perfection, academic and otherwise.
Connect to your support base.
Who’s in your corner when classes are over? Write down the names of a few of people who have your back. Connect with one of them at least once a week through a quick email, FaceTime call, or (and this is wild, I know) a handwritten card! Calling in the support you need during the school year helps you remember you’re not alone and you are loved for more than your academic and/or professional capacities. And, I’d be remiss NOT to add: therapy can be an amazing resource for you, too. Many schools offer short term, no-cost therapeutic services for students (and in some cases even staff and faculty!). Connect with your school’s counseling center or with a longer term therapeutic relationships outside of the school setting where you can receive mental health support during this intense season.
Undercommit.
When the school year starts, the loudest message you’ll hear is to sign up. For what? Literally everything. Study abroad programs. Committee advising. French club. Sports teams. You name it. So if you’re the type to overcommit, I invite you to make a list of every opportunity appealing to your desire to say “YES!”. Let this list be as deliciously long as your brain can handle. Revel in all the possible enjoyment you could get from an overflowing schedule. Then (and this is essential) cross out 90% of those great opportunities. Pick one, maybe two, extra commitments for the year. Pick none and you’ve hacked this exercise. Why? Because committing to your learning is enough. Going to classes is enough. Working a job to pay for school is enough. Forming new relationships is enough. Remembering to eat regularly is enough. Getting a good night’s rest is enough. Be committed to absorbing a few core experiences so you won’t have to face the exhaustion resulting from overcommitment.
There you have it: my top 7 back-to-school tips to support your well-being. I hope this post gave you inspiration for the journey ahead. Feel free to bookmark this page and revisit these tips when you need a gentle refresher. Any back-to-school advice you’d like to add? Leave a comment below. If this post made a difference for you, I’d love to hear from you. Send me a message through my contact page. Take good care!
