Brandi Abrams

As the semester begins we love all of our classes, and our professors are so interesting, and we are planning to get all “A’s,” but then the reality of everyday life happens. We realize that our expectations of all “A’s” were a bit unrealistic. The little stressors of everyday life build up as the semester progresses, and before long that “A” we were getting is holding at a “B-,” and it feels like it takes everything we have just to keep going.

What if it didn’t need to be that way?

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress, and seemingly an enviable part of the college experience. As stress continues to build, it is common for students to begin to lose the interest or motivation that led us to start taking classes in the first place. Good self-care is a way to avoid burnout, and maintain healthy practices.

Every Monday there is a Self-Care Group here on campus. The group defines self-care as any intentional actions taken to care for one’s physical, emotional, and mental health. Self-Care is as unique as each individual, so the aim of the group is to introduce students to many different self-care techniques. These activities help students to determine which self-care activities resonate with them and most importantly how to integrate self-care practices into our lives in a stress-free way. Good self-care is challenging at best. It involves developing a practice of being kind to ourselves daily, and developing small soothing behaviors throughout the day such as walking on the beach, writing, drawing, or meditating. The group is run by two Masters level LCPC students from USM.

The Self-Care group meets every Monday from 3:00-4:00 pm in Howe Hall 201. It is free of charge for all SMCC students. You do not need to attend every meeting. Students are encouraged to drop in when they have time.