One Day At a Time

Happy New Year, everybody! Now that we’re into our third week of classes I feel like I’ve finally been able to settle in and breathe a little. This semester is a big transition for me: I just came off of a concussion injury and (unfortunately) a semester off of school. I was really nervous starting out the semester. After taking last semester off I wasn’t sure how I’d do coming back: would I be able to keep up with the workload? Would the long days bring back my symptoms again? A lot of things have been mulling about in my head for the past few months leading up to the start of school, and the one thing that I can truly say helped is to take things One Day At a Time (also, if you’re looking for a feel-good comedy it is a GREAT show on Netflix). I never thought this concussion would affect me as much as it did (and I know you all are probably tired of hearing about it), but the one really great thing that it forced me to do was slow down. I’ve always wanted to keep busy, going a mile a minute, and while I’m still a busy person I find myself taking more breathers in a day, taking time for myself. I truly have not been this happy in years. While I know everyone’s lives are so different, there are a few things everyone can do to hopefully reset and start the semester off on the best foot. This semester I’ve been waking up minute by minute. What I mean by that is I let myself lie in bed for a minute, stretch for a minute and breathe for a minute. In total that’s THREE whole extra minutes you need in the morning. Doable, right? Another thing that I’ve surprisingly enjoyed has been planning my day. If you go back to my post called Life Over Stress, one of the main stress relievers was planning your days up to two weeks in advance. In addition to the two week planning, every night before I go to bed I review what the next day has in store... and I add a few enjoyable tasks. Whether it be a yoga class, changing the library or cafe I study at, or choosing to walk to the subway station to enjoy the sun, these changes shift my mood and give me things to look forward to. They may seem minuscule, but for me they were things I wasn’t capable of doing two months ago. My advice about recognizing and realizing the little joys of life might have some of you rolling your eyes, but making a conscious effort every day to try and be positive has really helped manage my days. Being a university student comes with so many pressures, and when you add on things like social dynamics or work, things get complicated really fast. Take the three minutes in the morning and smile at the sun and remember to just take it one day at a time.