Taking time for yourself

University can be a very overwhelming place and you may feel pressure to be socialising or working every moment of every day. I want you to think to yourself, when was the last time you had a day off? On top of that, when was the last time you took a day for yourself with no worry or guilt?

I often find myself allowing myself time off but I have to get back to it the next day or I can have the afternoon off if I work in the morning. You shouldn’t need to have this sense of ‘deserving’ a break, if you feel you need one, have one. Personally, I’ve been really enjoying taking time for myself lately. Yes, I love meeting up with people and I’ve been doing uni work to prepare myself for third year but I want to get into a habit of enjoying my own company. It doesn’t have to be anything big, I read about people ‘taking themselves on a date’ and just sitting alone in a restaurant with no phone or laptop but I feel that’s a very daunting prospect for me. Maybe I’ll get there one day. For now, I like to take myself on a walk or just go shopping alone (I’m loving charity shops at the moment as they’re both sustainable and cheap which is helpful on a student budget). It’s so good to just be with yourself, it gives you a chance to think things through while getting some fresh air. I find that if I try to reflect on things before bed, which I often find is the only real chance I give myself, it’s not the best time to do so. Just going and doing something more randomly, I feel calms me. Plus, if I ever have a day where I wake up feeling like I really don’t want to do anything, going for a walk can set me up nicely for the rest of the day.

As with so many things, it’s all about finding the right balance for you. Maybe you prefer to plan when you’ll take a rest day so you can get all your work done around it. You may however, like me, prefer to just take them when you feel like you need one on the day. You can just move any work you had planned that day to another. Uni can be a stressful place so you need to look after yourself. Of course, if you feel like you are really suffering with mental health it’s a good idea to reach out for professional help which you should be able to get advice on through your uni. I am no expert on this and I’m not saying taking alone time will make everything better, its just something I find helps me. Remember, while people may make it seem you need to be constantly doing something productive at uni, it’s okay to take time for yourself.

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Relaxing with a book

Personally, I find reading to be the perfect hobby. You get so much out of it; it helps you expand your vocabulary, allows you to learn and takes you to another world. Of course, there are so many different genres to chose from and though I do have favourites I try to read a wide variety. The main reason I added a book section to this blog is to help readers find books they want to read and I felt it would motivate me to keep reading. I find that I’ll go through phases where I won’t pick up a book but once I do I become once again emerged in the world of fiction. That’s not to say I don’t ever read non-fiction but I find myself less inclined read it and more drawn to historical fiction (typical history student) and crime and mystery novels; so you’ll be seeing a lot of those. Now that I’ve been spending more time at home I’ve found myself to be reading a lot more and I can spend hours turning the pages of a great book. I’ve even joined an online book club! Lockdown is the perfect time to get suck into reading, think about all those book you’ve been wanting to read thinking ‘if only I had time’ well, now’s the perfect opportunity. Submerging yourself in something that’s thought provoking or takes you to an imagined place will also allow you to keep your brain working now that university has broken up for summer and allows for a productive break from work. There’s never been a better time to snuggle up with a nice cup of tea and a novel, especially before bed when if I wasn’t reading I’d be on my phone or laptop which is not the best for a good night sleep. So, why not ask your friend for a great book recommendation?

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I am currently reading ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ by Lionel Shriver, so look out for a review on that very soon! If you have any book recommendations or want to see me review a particular book let me know in the comments or reach out to be through social media. There’s nothing like a good book recommendation.