Honors students learned the importance of prioritizing mental health with Dr. Maria Richards during a Pizza Plus session.
Richards outlined four key points when thinking of mental health in terms of priority: basic needs, routine, boundaries and balance.
In terms of basic needs, Richards references Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, that certain lower-level basic necessities, like sleeping and safety, must be met before one can move to the next levels where self-esteem, purpose and self-actualization lie.
“The crux of that is the base of the pyramid, the basic needs,” Richards said. “As students, I encourage you to prioritize those basic needs, sleeping and eating especially. I understand that in the midst of finals and the midst of multiple papers and exams, sometimes those basic needs can take a back seat, but realize that your ability to meet those demands is contingent on these basic needs being met, so I caution you not to neglect your basic needs in the mindset that you just need to get these things done.”
Richards and colleagues at the counseling center frequently hear from students that they have a hard time falling asleep due to their minds racing and thinking of the next day’s tasks. Building a routine, and prioritizing it around sleep can help mitigate these inhibitors. While sleep is often seen as a light switch that can easily be flipped, Richards emphasizes the importance of seeing it rather as a “dimmer switch.”
Gradually preparing and transitioning the mind and body for rest can decrease the amount of time it may take to finally fall asleep. This could begin a half hour before target rest time and could include unplugging from phonea, journaling or reading.
Boundaries are particularly important to a student’s mental health, especially those that are ambitious and quick to say “yes” to tasks. Boundaries involve setting realistic expectations, particularly that it is okay to say no and turn things down.
Similar to boundaries, balance can be difficult as taking on too much can take away from the personal time needed for replening the self.
“When you’re asked to do something, resist the urge to say yes right away,” said Richards. “Get in the habit of buying yourself time by saying, ‘thanks for thinking of me, let me just think about it and see if I can make it work. I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know.’ Take time to really figure out if taking on something new would extend you.”
Richards also highlights balancing the things you have to do with the things that replenish or rejuvenate you to ensure that you can complete those must-do tasks.
Similar angles to taking care of mental health involve self-care. This means being kind to oneself and finding the activities and resources to keep ourselves emotionally fueled. For some people, self care can be taking a break, or watching a favorite comfort show or movie.
Self-reflection and self-validation are also factora in taking care of mental health. This means paying attention to what one might be feeling instead of bottling it or ignoring it to the point where it becomes a problem. Self-validation means not judging when feeling stressed or anxious.
“Give yourself the patience to experience and recognize that you are struggling, and then from there try to figure out and access supports and resources that are available to you. Whether it’s coming back to those self-care things or other support available to you,” said Richards.
Further, the more a person is connected with others, the greater the positive impact on mental health. Getting involved in things and trying not to fall into the trap of isolation can prevent detriments to the mind.
Richard also emphasizes self-compassion, which she states is more positive and valuable than the contrasting idea of self-esteem. Self-esteem is unstable and based on outcomes and performance; achievements are required to reach self-satisfaction. However, self-compassion is stable. It is present even when struggling, while self-esteem is not. It is being patient and kind to oneself, giving permission to struggle and to have bad days without judgment–the same compassion given to a friend if they were struggling, which, for ourselves, is not always intuitive or automatic.
“The biggest thing I took away from Dr. Richards’s session is in order to prioritize your mental health, you have to obtain a balance in your life,” said Jake Middleton, first-year biology-chemistry major. “For example, if you have a lot of assignments due in a week, it is good to spend a lot of time on those; however, your mental health can take a hit. So, if you can create a balance of work and take time for yourself, you can get things done without your mental health taking a hit.”
Megan Makovsky, P2 pharmacy student and student body president also felt the presentation to be beneficial as she finds herself very busy often.
“Coming to this event has given me good tips and tricks on how to better my mental health,” said Makovsky.