This the fourth full week of classes for our students and stress has already crept in. First year law students who were enthusiastic about the beginning of the law school journey are now working hard and trying to balance all of their responsibilities. More assignments are due in legal writing and doctrinal courses now include some challenging material. Students are trying to maintain their sanity and humanity while balancing the demands of their checklists and trying to do one or two things they enjoy. Moreover, students are trying not to be too distracted by the various news reports about tragedies and events in our backyards and around the world. With students feeling a number of emotions, self-care is essential.
Here are my top five self-care considerations:
- Check-in with your emotions. It is helpful to sit by yourself, quietly, and name what you are feeling. Don't judge your emotions but simply name them, claim them, and maybe even feel them so you can let go of the negative ones.
- Boogie down. Select your favorite upbeat tunes and dance or sing at the top of your lungs. This helps you reconnect with positive emotions and gets your body moving.
- Unplug all devices. For about an hour daily, turn everything off. Turn off your computer, put your cellphone on airplane mode or silent, and shut off all electronics with alarms or alerts.
- Be selfish. Weekly, do something just because it makes you happy. Have something to look forward to particularly if you have a very demanding week.
- Mute the negative. If you have negative people in your life or individuals who fill your social media feeds with sad or negative information you might want to mute them. You may have close or long term relationships with these individuals so you might not want to delete them. You can temporarily or permanently block their information and go from there.
(Goldie Pritchard)
