How I Celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection”

That is right. We deserve to love, not only our family or friends but ourselves as well. Something I have learned thus far is that if we do not take care of ourselves nothing else will work in the long term.

Looking back into my first years of university I was so anxious and stressed about classes, homework, even English would make me nervous (it is not my first language). Nonetheless there were always ways for me to release my stress. For example in residence having fun with my CLs and mingling with friends. My parents would also encourage me to go out and have fun.

Something I have learned and encourage others to realise is that university has a lot of hidden gems, whether they are UVic residence events, good courses or amazing volunteer opportunities. To me one of them was getting my first job here in Canada. For my first co-op term in 2015, I was hired by Science Venture here at UVic and I still work for them. I am a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) instructor and, best of all, I am learning about things outside of my field of Biology!

Another hidden gem (at least to me) was a laser tag game that happened yesterday at the SUB (Student Union Building). I found out that it was the first one they had ever organized. Seriously, if you hear about another one of these events happening just JUMP IN.

I find that studying in sessions of 40-50 minutes with short breaks works best for me. So jumping into this game was the perfect opportunity to disconnect from my classes and just have fun. PS they even had fun music.

Now, my goal with this post is to encourage you to do more things besides studying. I challenge you to take a break, go outside for 10 minutes and enjoy our improved weather. Play laser tag. Volunteer for one of your professors. Go watch a movie in Cinecenta or apply for a co-op because you never know where these things might take you 🙂

This week is mental health awareness week on campus. Check out the Facebook page for this week’s events. They usually have events going on during the term — find out at UVic Student Mental Health Facebook page.

Finally, I hope this gives you some ideas of how you can take better care of your mental health <3 and how you can celebrate this week (and every day) in your own way.

Thank you for reading!

Peace and Love~