wellbeing

It’s been several weeks since spring break and we’re in the home stretch of the semester. In mid-March, I recall asking students and colleagues “Did you enjoy spring break?”, “Do you feel recharged?”, “What did you do to take care of yourself during that week?” While I received a variety of answers, most people shared that they relaxed or slept in and ultimately felt about the same several days after returning from the break. Hearing that the joy of a weeklong break dissipated within a few days disheartened me; however, I wasn’t completely surprised. This reminded me of the importance of rest, but also that we should be critical, creative, and strategic about the types of rest we give ourselves.

At the Mason Grad Insider, we’ve written plenty of blog posts about self-care, meditation, well-being, and resilience as a graduate student. But what about when that’s not enough? What can we do when we’ve realized that our mental health has declined; when there are issues we’d like to work through; or, simply when we decide we need a little extra support? This is where external mental health resources, such as counseling or group therapy, can come into play.

You may have heard the phrase “I’m so burnt out” before. You may have said this phrase yourself – before grad school or during. This phrase certainly pops up more frequently around this time of year, with final papers, exams, and deadlines approaching. But what is burnout?

Whether you have things under control or not, we all should find time to reflect on our resilience. At Mason, we define resilience as: Enhancing the capacity for successful adaptation in the face of stress, challenge, and adversity.

Oftentimes, as graduate students, we feel the need to continue as if everything is fine, or that taking time to destress will take away from time that we could spend completing another assignment. In actuality, not being aware and recognizing that you need and deserve a break could negatively influence both your health and academic studies.

So self-care has become a bit of a buzzword recently. But what does self-care actually mean? What does self-care look like for you?

One of the keys to remaining resilient is knowing when to ask for help and when to take time to – as one of my colleagues reminds me – “Take care of you.” You might be thinking this is a somewhat selfish approach, but in the end, if you cannot take care of yourself, you are less likely to be at your best to attend to your studies and take care of others.