Courtney Keiser, LCC
Learning Content Coordinator
I know staying positive is WAY easier said than done during these hard times. And I am sure you are getting tired of being told to. But I am here to share some things I have started doing more often that have helped me maintain some degree of sanity and boost my mood.
- Create a playlist of music that gets you jazzed and energized. Play this music when you are getting ready in the morning. As cheesy as it is, my first song on that list is “I Just Wanna Shine” by Fitz and The Tantrums. Whatever your hype songs are, put them into a playlist and start your day off right.
- Drink ALL the water. The biggest thing I have noticed since drinking more water is that I rarely have headaches. And anytime I start to get one, I pump the fluids and it typically goes away. Obviously, this might not help everyone’s headache, but staying hydrated has many health benefits.
- Wear sunscreen when you go outside and moisturize your skin daily! This coupled with drinking water has helped keep my skin looking and feeling healthy. These are such simple things to help protect and nourish our bodies that I know a lot of us do not do regularly.
- Spend a little extra time taking care of yourself. Whether that be getting some exercise, cooking a meal at home, reading a book of your choice, or painting your fingernails. Allocate time for you. I know that is especially hard as graduate students, being that you always feel like you should be working on school things. But it is SO important to allow yourself time to reset and relax. You are human and can only achieve so much in a day. Give yourself a break.
- Pick up a new hobby. For me that was mushroom foraging. I always wanted to try but never made time to read up about different native mushrooms and when they fruit. With luck, and lots of hiking, I was able to find some morels this last spring! A nice beginner reference I enjoyed learning from is this guy’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcbf8wnyVJl631LAmAbo7nw
- Write weekly goals for yourself, they can be academic or personal. I bought a fun weekly task notebook from a craft store that has space for me to write five goals for each day. Writing my goals out helps me stay on track and keeps me accountable. It also helps me plan and structure my week accordingly.
- Help me make YouTube videos! I am in the process of creating a YouTube channel full of learning content to share with the GradSWE community. I want anything and everything you guys have! Want to make a cooking video? Talk about cultural fashion? Give a makeup tutorial? Present a research talk? Teach us how to unicycle?! If you are interested in collaborating with me to create your own video or have ideas/suggestions of videos you want to see please send me an email: Courtney.keiser@huskers.unl.edu
