Aaniin! As a student in a program that requires always having your nose in a book, I’ve found it personally challenging to make time for leisure reading. Don’t get me wrong—I love reading, but it almost feels like a chore.…
Community Engagement and Mental Health: Striking a Balance
I've been having a bit of a rough couple of weeks and I wanted to reflect on how I can potentially balance my mental and physical health, academics, extracurriculars, and community engagement activities moving forward. The first step is understanding…
My Trip to the Grocery Store: Healthy Eating on a Student Budget
Does anyone else find grocery shopping challenging? Now that I live off-campus, I’m fully responsible for grocery shopping and making all my meals. At first it was really overwhelming— I didn’t know how often to shop, what to buy, and…
The Power of a Growth Mindset
Things you might hear after a first year midterm: “That didn't go as planned.” “I failed.” “How will this impact by GPA?” "I'm not cut out for this." U of T grading rubrics can be unforgiving. After the first tests…
Taking Care of Yourself During Midterms
It’s that time of year where it seems as if I am catching up with my classes right before a midterm, while falling behind in others. This constant loop of work can be stressful and draining. Whether you have midterms,…
Lowering Stress: Journaling & Gratitude
I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend! Now that midterm season is upon us I thought it would a good time to share my experience with keeping a journal, as well as a gratitude journal (a week after Thanksgiving…
Balancing school, family, and friends: Family visits from far
Whenever my family asks me if I want to hang out with them, I immediately say yes. When my family visits me all the way from South America, and only stays for a week, I have to be careful when…
Nuit Blanche: A Night of Giving
Happy Thanksgiving! In the spirit of gratitude and reflection, this week, instead of reviewing a workshop on facilitation strategies, I wanted to share a cool experience I had with Art Starts on Nuit Blanche (October 5, 2019) that culminated in…
Finding the Balance Between my School Life and Social Life
As we put an emphasis on mental health this month, I decided to write about my struggles in trying to find a balance between my social/family life and school life. Last Sunday, my dad had a rare day off of work…
TAKE A HIKE!
Aaniin, I hope this blog post finds you well! As we continue to observe Mental Health Awareness Month at the university, I’d like to take a moment to share one of the ways I make time for my wellness. While…