As the school year and our extracurriculars end, I know that most of us are feeling the stress of it all. I could give you a list of ways to stay calm and motivated during this last month, but I think most of us already know methods like eating, sleeping, and exercising well. These methods are effective, but I find it hard to simply do a list of things “well”. Towards the end of the year, simple tasks I once did with ease because of sports and school can seem daunting, so I wanted to share with you all the methods I use to maintain a healthy lifestyle when things feel a little out of routine.
My dad first introduced me to this method when we were at the airport on our way to Mexico. We arrived early for our flight and decided to relax in the airport lounge for a bit. I vividly remember reading a book and noticing something odd in my peripheral vision. When I looked over, I noticed my dad doing push-ups in the space our family was occupying. At the time, I was horrified. What the heck was my dad doing?! When I asked him, he told me about his body, mind, and spirit rule. Every day, he would find the time to do something for his body, mind, and spirit. No matter how busy or stressful the day is, he always makes it a priority to exercise all three parts of his person.
1. Exercising the Body
There’s not much I can really explain about this. Basically, at least once a day, try to dedicate time to physical activity. It can be anything from an hour at the gym, to a light jog to the bus stop or a 5 minute Youtube workout. Before setting a broad, and maybe even hard to attain, goal like maintaining an intense exercise routine for the whole of the month, making this goal into something you can easily add to your routine will make it so much easier to attain while still achieving! Completing smaller tasks or goals as simple as a workout a day with success can also give you the motivation to continue that momentum and complete other tasks or goals you have set.
Don’t take this rule too casually though! Every day, find a way to make your daily form of exercise challenging or interesting. The more challenging, the more beneficial!
For most of the week, I get physical activity from sports, but for the days that are a little more school-oriented, I have to prioritize exercising a bit more. My favorite times to squeeze in a quick workout are in the mornings before I take a shower or when I need a break from studying/homework. If you search for 5-10 minute workouts, I can guarantee you’ll have a wide selection of simple workouts to choose from. They may not be the most intense, but for those days where you just need to check off the “exercise box”, they’re perfect!
2. Exercising the mind
During the summer, it’s important to give our minds a proper break. However, avoiding tedious mental tasks you would normally confront, may not be the best option. It’s only going to make your transition back to school even more difficult. This is why it’s important for us to maintain a healthy level of more academic-oriented tasks during our breaks. Just like exercise, keeping your mind-gears oil can be made a little easier by prioritizing it at least once every day.
These tasks can be as simple as reading a popular book or reviewing last year’s math content to stay caught up. Learning a new skill may even fall under this category! For example, this summer I’m hoping to take on playing the guitar again.
3. Exercising the spirit
When I was younger and learned the importance of well roundedness, I never really understood what people meant by spirituality; I thought it was the same thing as religion. I am not a particularly religious person, so the idea of prioritizing spirituality felt like a big waste of time. However, during quarantine, I found myself getting more anxious and stressed. Even the smallest tasks would seem daunting.
Because of this, I tried utilizing some of the meditation techniques my dad taught me. To be honest, I didn’t notice a significant difference the first few times I meditated. But, after this exercise became a routine, I noticed how it influenced my improved mental health. Spirituality doesn’t have to be something as definite as religion or even meditation. Finding something to value or believe in that is greater than yourself or allows you to take a step back and reflect is what I think spirituality can be. No matter how busy your day is, finding a little bit of time in the day to express something like kindness or gratitude is more than enough to achieve this goal.
Taking care of my mental health falls under all three exercise categories for me personally, but I think it can fall most directly under the “spirit” category. Taking the time to care for yourself is necessary for any type of success. Simply taking the time to look outwards (aka exercising yourself spiritually), in whatever form you want, can give you the mental break you need to stay positive and healthy.
Brief Conclusion
With all of these exercises, it’s your decision how much time and effort you want to spend on each one. This is where you can experiment to see what works best for you at a given time. For example, exam season has made it more difficult to achieve my goals as extensively as before, so I modified it to meet my time frame easily while putting a bit more emphasis on my spiritual exercise. I hope you enjoyed my little pieces of advice! For those of you who have already completed exams: congrats! For those of us facing that final stretch: we’ve got this!