Hi, my name is Gregory Cox! I’m a third-year student at Temple University, majoring in public relations and minoring in content creation. Aside from being a college student, I am also pursuing a modeling and DJ career. I have been modeling for about two years, and I picked up DJing in my first year of college. If you want to see any of my content, you can follow my journey @Drreamkid on Instagram.
Guest-written by Georgory Cox
Hello to all new and returning college students! Sometimes as college students, we tend to neglect our well-being, needs, and self-care frequently. Most times we can get caught up with classes and the different tasks we face each week on our to-do lists.
As college students, I believe that we need to first understand our mental health comes first. How you take care of yourself internally matters because it affects how you show up in the roles you play in your life. If we are not our best selves internally and mentally, we can’t expect to give our all to the different responsibilities we face each day.
With this article, I will share self-care tips and routines that will allow us to be our most productive and happy selves through our journey this semester. This is not to say that we won’t struggle and face challenges as we go through this semester, but that we do have each other, tips, and resources. I’ll share some that I have used and know will help us on our journey to graduation and success.
Sunday Reset Routine
So now that we have laid down the basics of our time together, we can jump right into our first tip/routine: a Sunday Reset Routine. Essentially a Sunday Reset Routine is a list that you can create digitally or by hand that is separated into categories with tasks of your choice.
For example, one category can be self-care, a highlight point to our success in college. In this category, you would create bullet points with tasks that correlate with the week ahead. Whether scheduling a haircut, drinking a glass of water, wearing a face mask, or cleaning your room to create this, I recommend using Notion.
Notion is an application you can use via any phone or laptop, allowing you to organize your life. It will enable you to create and edit pages in which you can add a mini to-do list to the pages you create.
I also recommend creating a Sunday Reset Routine playlist on your streaming service of choice. I personally use Spotify. Your playlist can be songs that make you feel good and dance, or overall songs that calm you and put you in a relaxed mood. This routine allows you to create new self-care habits, but it also trains your mind that every Sunday is your day. Your day to prepare for the week ahead and allow time to be one with yourself doing things that make you feel good and your spirits happy. Give yourself time to be ahead of the game and operate through your week head-on and stress-free.
Journaling
Now although we don’t have much time in our day, my second tip that I recommend for the beginning of this semester is journaling. Journaling has helped me clear my head and cleanse my emotional palate countless times. Most times we think we can keep moving forward with the thoughts that constantly cloud our mental state instead of taking the time to clear our head before getting the day started. What I found works best for me is taking 10 minutes from my morning dedicated to journaling and 10 minutes at night to wind down and jot down my day and how I feel. I recommend getting your journal from target because they always have cool styles to pick from or customizing your journal online with a template of your choice.
Campus Therapy
To conclude, I recommend that you take advantage of the therapy resources that your university provides. Therapy is often seen by some people, especially in college, as something we don’t need. The benefit of having someone you can discuss your concerns with who has a different perspective will always be helpful. Temple, Drexel, and Upenn offer individual and group therapy sessions for free with the only requirement being you have to be a student at the university. It is my hope that these tips will be helpful to you, and I am looking forward to our journey together this semester.
***