Winter quarter tends to hit most students very hard, and as finals take over our lives, it’s easy to forget to take care of ourselves.
Yet, even when one keeps up on their kale salads, takes spin classes every week, enjoys a bath bomb and goes to Pirate’s Cove on the weekends, we can still forget to take care of one thing: our spirit.
Too many students push their mental health and wellbeing underneath the rug, deeming it as something unnecessary to take care of until those finals are finished, those bills are paid, those goals are crossed off of our to-do list; yet, it is usually in the hardest of times that we need that mental support the most.
We tend to believe that it is when we cross these finish lines — self-determined or otherwise — that then and only then will we finally be happy, finally be able to relax, to take stock of our lives. However, what we fail to realize is that by establishing these finish lines, they continually move or create more finish lines to cross. In a sense, by crossing off items on our proverbial to-do lists, we create even more goals, like our mental health, that need to be taken care of.
Most actions we do generally have cause-and-effect correlations. We study to do better in class. We work out to try to obtain a date. We eat well to not create future health problems. Yet something we fail to act upon is our mental health. The effects are real, but they are somehow seen as less important than other aspects of our lives.
Remember that there is absolutely nothing wrong with needing to talk to someone about issues pertaining to your mental health. You are not alone, you are not weak, and you are always worth saving.
Here are some further resources on campus and in San Luis Obispo:
- Building 27, room 10
- Hours: M-F 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- (805) 756-6181
- Building 27, room 136
- Hours: M-F 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
- On-Hours Crisis: (800) 783-0607
- After-Hours Crisis: (805) 756-2511
County of San Luis Obispo Adult Mental Health Services
- (800) 838-1381
- 2180 Johnson Ave., San Luis Obispo