Welcome to she persisted I'm your host Sadie Saxton a 19 year
old from the Bay Area studying psychology at the University of
Pennsylvania. She persisted is the Teen Mental
Health podcast made for teenagers by a team in each
episode. I'll bring you authentic
accessible and relatable conversations about every aspect
of mental Wellness. You can expect evidence-based,
Tina, proof resources, coping skills, including lots of DBT,
insights and education. In each piece of content, you
consume, she persisted Offers you a safe space to feel
validated and understood in your struggle.
While encouraging you to take ownership of your journey and
build your life worth living. So let's Dive In.
Hello, hello, and welcome back to she persisted and so excited.
You're here today, I asked you guys what solo episodes you
wanted in the next couple of months and this was the most
requested. So I'm super excited to bring
this resource to you. Today, we're going to talk all
about how to maintain your mental health, as a college
student. So I've broken it down to some
categories. I think I have it pretty summed
up, effectively. So we're going to go over
routine relationships, rest, Recreation, and resources.
And I feel that if you stay on top of these, Areas you are
putting yourself in great shape to be able to stay on top of
your mental health. These are all things that are
tried and true that I've tested out this year, things that have
worked for me. I'll talk about things that
didn't work as well, and also makes in bits and pieces that I
learned from dialectical, behavioral therapy, going to
treatment all of those things that I still use today, we are
also going to answer some of your questions at the end about
navigating mental health, while in college, so stay tuned to the
end to answer your guides his questions.
So the first thing that we're going to touch on, His routine
routine is huge, because in college, you have a lot less
structure in your day, in high school.
You're getting up at like 7:00. You're in school until for you
probably of extracurriculars. Then you have dinner, you're
really don't have a lot of freedom over your die unless
it's on the weekends in college is really a complete 180 from
that. You have a couple of classes
sprinkled throughout the week but there are odd breaks.
You're not scheduled from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. like you are in high
school. And so it's on you to come up
with a routine that supports your All of your mental health,
your academics and any other goals that you're trying to
pursue. So the first thing that comes to
mind when I think about routine in college is your class
schedule. And there were a couple things I
wanted to mention here that I was never told before going into
college, I thought would be helpful to mention because
again, it's so different from from high school.
These things wouldn't even cross your mind, but it's super
helpful to know, going into college.
So when you're choosing your classes, I have a couple of
pieces of advice. The first one is to talk to
people that are a year or two above you and are trying to go
into a similar major or field. So if you are a stem major and
you're doing pre-med, there's going to be like a really set
track of what classes you're going to take what electives
you're going to take. If you need those exactly what
level of math and chemistry and bio.
So talking to an upperclassman or someone who's done that
before can really help you understand what other people in
your class are going to be taking.
So that it's easier to make friends with people that are in
your year in similar classes going through the same thing.
And then you don't end up in like some random elective that.
Yes, you do need. Take but most people take senior
year so ask people that are on your similar major, what they
did for class schedules, what? They wish they did differently.
A really good example of this is that pain.
We have to take a writing seminar and it's a lot of like
basic writing skills and we it's on a different topic but almost
everyone takes it as a freshman. So yes, you need it by the end
of your four years, but most of the people in the class are
freshmen. And if you wait, you're stuck in
a class with a bunch of freshmen and you don't have friends in
the class, it's not as enjoyable.
So it's really important to kind of be aware of those things.
So, ask around, see what would be effective.
Another thing here is to see what people thought of classes,
I don't know about every single school, but at Penn, there's
this website called Penn course review.
And people rate the professor's, the difficulty of the class, how
much work you're going to do. And really just all around if
it's a good class or not, which professors, they liked best on
which classes were not easier to succeed in, but you felt more
set up for Success. So either ask other students
that have taken the classes before.
I'm sure there's like some random Reddit thread out there
about these classes but that's another really helpful thing
that going into college. I was like, whatever.
Like it's all college class like it's all the same subject.
Like if I can stay on top of the work, it'll be okay.
But having a good professor and having a syllabus that is really
well put together and course materials that are really well
thought out really is like night and day and setting you up for
success and it's a much more enjoyable experience.
If you have a great professor and a well-organized class, the
second point, I To make here is about spacing out classes.
This is another thing that's totally weird going into
college, is that you're picking your courses.
So for pain, they have you do for classes.
The first semester and then they have, you do five, the second
semester. So that's less than you're doing
in high school and the way it's structured, some of them meat
like once a week or twice a week and it's not every single day.
I have found that myself and a lot of my peers have been able
to make us that you're not necessarily taking classes on
Friday. I love that.
If you could optimize for that great and then Other tip I would
add here, which I found was like night and day for being able to
stay on top of work and not become overwhelmed as like
capping out like two or three classes a day.
So not taking like for back-to-back classes on one day
and then having literally no classes.
The next day, I found that really difficult to against you.
On top of work. Make sure that all my homework
was done feel like I am keeping up a good momentum and not
getting burnt out. So my recommendation would be
like two to three classes per day.
Look at your schedule. Think About that.
It's really easy. But oh, I got that.
Like they wouldn't offer the classes.
If it wasn't possible to stay on top of that.
Like, it's fine. That there are seven
back-to-back classes all on Monday, but give yourself some
Grace, like, you've never done this before.
These are different classes and you've taken in high school.
So be intentional, make things a little bit easier on yourself,
if you can, and then you can ramp things up.
Second semester, if you need to. And then the last thing I want
to add here is just like physical health Tech days.
If you're not feeling well, mental health days are okay to
take. This is something that I know
you've probably seen tons of legislation about in high
schools, and in elementary schools.
But it's an important thing to remember in college as well,
especially when you're really overwhelmed and stressed, out
and struggling being able to take a day to recharge and
really be more effective in your classes.
And in your schedule going forward, can be something that
has been really effective and Powerful for me to utilize this
year. And Mom and Dad.
Are you listening? Yes, I do go to my classes.
I'm just saying just like you take a physical Today, mental
health days are okay, too. And then the last thing I'll add
here about classes is to schedule work and studying time
into your day, again, similar to high school.
Like the work and homework time is scheduled into your day.
Probably at night because there's no other point in the
day when you could do it versus at colleges like you have three
to four hour blocks in the middle of the day.
Maybe there's days when you only have classes in the morning so
you have so much more time to figure out what you're going to
do with your day. So schedule and study blah, Box
that you don't mess. Make that commitment to
yourself. And it doesn't mean that there's
always going to be ton of stuff for you to do, but you can start
getting head on readings. If you get behind on work, those
are great opportunities to make up that work.
But schedule it in for yourself because it's not magically going
to happen. And I found that having less
structure in my schedule means that it's kind of more difficult
to get things done and hold myself accountable.
So, schedule, those things in pack your schedule.
So, it's like, okay, I gotta work on this homework now or
it's not going to get done, and that sense of urgency can be
helpful. The last thing that I I will
know it's similar to class scheduling.
I wanted to add a couple of tips that I've found to be really
helpful for organization and staying on top of things for
organization. My favorite online like digital
planners have been a sauna and notion.
They have different interfaces and it's kind of just like what
works best for you but I will go in at the beginning of the
semester and enter all of my assignments that I have do.
So I can see them laid out on the calendar and that's been
crucial for me to be able to stay on top of work.
That's another thing that's totally different.
High School, is that a lot of your teachers will make the
homework and the deadlines available at the beginning of
the semester. So you're able to really plan
out your time and see what the workload is like.
And it's not like a random surprises.
Oh, you actually have like 37 pages of reading that wasn't on
the syllabus. There's a lot less uncertainty
there. I also love a physical planner,
I think that's super helpful for me to stay on top of things, in
addition, to working on using a sauna and notion Asana.
I did second semester notion. I did first semester, I really
like a sauna and I'll post like a pros and cons.
Cons of both of these on Instagram if you guys are
interested, but it's again. Really what works for you, and
what interface you prefer, but I love a physical planner and then
to stay on top of my schedule. I love Apple calendar, but I've
have it integrated with my Google Calendar and I don't know
anyone here at college, that doesn't have an apple or a
Google Calendar, or at least a physical calendar saying, like,
when their classes are, and when they have to be it, I don't know
club meetings because again, your schedule is a lot less
structured than it is. In high school and so you have
to write these things down somewhere.
You're never gonna remember. I also want to add related to
class schedules before the first day of your classes.
Like first and second semester, I highly recommend walking to
the buildings and figuring out exactly where your classroom is.
If you are like great at directions, love that for you,
I'm not and college campuses can be crazy confusing.
So that was really helpful for me to know exactly where I was
going for my class and it wasn't like I was running late and
going to be the last person to get there and overwhelmed
because I don't know what's happening.
So that was a tip my friend and I walked around and not decrease
so much stress the first day of school and then the last thing
I'll add kind of related to technology.
That was just weird coming into college is that everyone does
their math on an iPad? No one used iPads at my high
school to do math, you used a pencil and paper and then I took
a math class here this semester and no one used pencil and paper
and I was like this is really strange.
So I just Wanted to give you that little bit of information
in case you're taking tons of stem classes and you're like, do
I prepare to do things like by hand?
Or is it going to be more digital that has been my
experience? If you were curious few last
things that I'll mention for routine is morning and night
routine, I think these are two opportunities to really set
yourself up for success and either recharge for the day or
boost, your mood, before you go into any of your classes or
interactions with other people. I really love my night routine
and my morning time I feel like I've done A pretty good job
about making it a time of day that improves my mental health,
whether it's, like reading a book.
I really like before bad or watching a TV show, or doing my
skincare routine, drinking coffee in the morning, your day
again is going to be really crazy.
Things are stressful in college and really taking those two
times of the day to check in with yourself and give yourself
a moment to like, breathe, relax.
It's going to be okay. Has been a game changer, and I
highly recommend and Going to touch more on sleeper teens and
the rest part of the episode, but that does go hand-in-hand
with the night routine. If you last thing that I'm going
to add for routine is meal. So this is like dining Halls,
you are managing a budget. Probably for the first time with
like Dining Dollars versus meal swipes, snacks are totally
different than being at home in my experience.
And then you also are like living in your dorm room and you
have tons of more snacks and access to those kinds of things.
A tip that I wish I would have known last semester is to have
like two or three things that I love for each meal that I can
pull from really easily. So for lunch, we have this place
that's in my dorm, it's called McClelland and they have these
teriyaki, chicken bowls, favorite thing.
I know that I can grab that really quickly and get lunch.
Even if I'm running between classes, same things, they have
like meal swipes so you can get a sandwich.
It's grab-and-go because again, your schedule is going to be
crazy and sometimes you're like, I don't even know what I'm going
to eat lunch. Or do I have time to get dinner
before I had to this club meeting.
So having a really set list. Of places where you can get
dinner. Lunch breakfast, Etc.
Is really helpful because it can be so overwhelming.
Like it pain, I think there's like six or seven tithing halls
and there's retail and you have food in your dorm and you could
doordash something like there are just so many options that it
gets really complicated and overwhelming, so figure out what
you like and make sure that you remind yourself of those easy
options when your schedule gets busy, like, especially during
finals. And then the other thing that I
found to be really helpful for me, which I I wouldn't have
expected expected going into this year, is that I really like
to do breakfast in my dorm. So I do like coffee.
My favorite breakfast is doing like, Greek yogurt with fruit,
or I'll do cereal and that's great because I'm not a morning
person. I'm not going to get up like 2
hours before my first class to go and sit at the dining hall
and have a sit-down breakfast. And then go to my class.
I'm like, eating like right before I go, and if I don't eat,
I'm starving. And then I'm hangry and I can't
pay attention. So, having little things in your
dorm that are nutritious and are fueling For the day and you
don't make breakfast a second priority because you're like, I
have to get to class. I don't have time.
That has been a game-changer for me to have those ingredients in
the dorm room and it's been something that is simple and
decreased stress. I know I already said that was
the last thing, but I have one more thing to add here, which is
resetting at some point during the week College.
Again, you're living by yourself.
So you're probably managing like cleaning by yourself.
You're doing laundry. You might be like, getting
groceries, really not a ton of groceries, but like you're
stocking up on snacks and so I found it to be really It for my
mental health to like clean once a week.
Whether that's like tidying and all like wiped out.
Like the surface says I'll do my laundry and I'll kind of reset
for the next week and it makes me feel a lot less overwhelmed.
I feel more on top of things. I feel more in control and less
like, oh my God, things are just so overwhelming.
Like there's nothing that feels like in order or in place.
So I don't necessarily do a set day of the week, but I like to
pick. Okay, this weekend, I'm going to
make sure my laundry gets done and I tidy up my dorm room.
I have my breakfast and stacked going into the week and that's a
really adulting moment, but it's found.
I found it to be very effective. The next pillar that we're going
to dive into here is relationships.
So we're going to talk about roommates, making new friends.
And the last thing is going to be utilizing relationships that
you already have for support, which I think is something
that's really important that we kind of forget about.
So the first thing is roommates. Most of the time there, you can
either go random, or you can choose a roommate, what I did.
Ed going into freshman year, was I chose a roommate if you are
applying to college this next year, oh you just applied to
college. There's probably going to be
some students that will start an Instagram page are just called
like you pain class of 2025, and there was like a UPenn roomies
account. And so people will introduce
themselves and talk about like what their interests are and
maybe like what their routine is like and what they're looking
for on a roommate. And then what I did was I DM to
bunch of people and I was like, Hey, like I'm trying to get to
know people before we get on. Campus.
I would love to do a FaceTime call and I didn't say like I'm
looking for a roommate because I was like that seems like a
little, not aggressive but I was like, let's just bag trying to
get to know people for we get on campus.
Would love to talk basically and it would up was definitely
outside of my comfort zone. But I definitely was grateful
that I did that because I at least had like a couple of
familiar faces. At least could be like oh my
gosh. Wait like I've talked to you
before where there are people to ask about like what they're
doing the first weekend or how their classes are going or do
they know? Where this certain building is
that you're supposed to have a class.
So, yeah, I recommend reaching out to people asking to
FaceTime. You will figure out like who you
connect with and who you're like I don't think I want to live
with that person. If that is the route you were
trying to go, maybe you have mutual friends with someone at
home that you want a room with. I have had multiple friends that
went random and that worked really well for them.
I want to add here that living with someone can be really
stressful. It's someone that you most times
haven't known for your entire life.
You probably have different beliefs and routine.
And preferences of like, how clean you, like the room or
like, what time you go to bed and so can be really stressful.
And if you are coming from living, like in your own room,
or having more of your own space to be living with someone can be
overwhelming and it can be more difficult to recharge and feel
like you get time to yourself to be able to re-energize and
relax. I think no matter how things end
up like, you can always worst case scenario switch.
There's always next year. I think it's great to put
yourself out there and try and find someone that you're To get
along with maybe it will be your best friend.
Maybe it won't. That's okay.
And I also just want to again add that caveat that living with
someone could be really stressful and that's okay.
So give yourself more time to be able to recharge take care of
your own mental health. And then that will allow you to
show up more effectively in your relationship with your roommate,
also relating to roommates. I thought found it very helpful
to coordinate, like decor and dorm items before we got to
campus. So figuring out.
Like, who is going to have a, get a mini fridge who is getting
a microwave, like, do we A match, the colors were betting,
which may be like, I literally couldn't care less but like, at
least the furniture kind of stuff that was very helpful to
figure out another thing. If you, there are multiple
buildings that you can live in, ask people that went to your
college. Look up on YouTube.
People normally look like, oh, this is like the fun dorm to
live in, or this one's for social, this one's more quiet.
So, ask around and see what the reputations are because it's
difficult to figure out before you get on campus.
I feel like a good example of this is on the Penn campus.
There is this dorm called K, check And it's like very far
from everything at least in my opinion, it's like two or three
blocks away. And most of the dorms are pretty
Central and they do have a dining hall with within the
dorm. It's, you're like, that's nice.
It's one of like the newer dorms compared to like the quad which
I live in. And so from an outside
perspective, you like this could be great.
But then you're on campus and you're like, if you're studying
in the library until 11 p.m. walking two to three blocks in
the dark in Philadelphia at night, probably isn't
preferable. So ask around, do your research
and people are going to be honest, they're going to be
helpful, especially if you have people that went your high
school. That went to the college, ask
them and I'm sure they will be super supportive and helpful.
So, friends, this is a really big overwhelming thing for a lot
of people as they transition to college.
For the most part, pretty much everyone around you is new, you
don't know a lot of people. Again, I found it really helpful
to dm with people on Instagram. Add them on Snapchat before you
get to college. College the first couple of
weeks, I recommend pushing yourself outside of your comfort
zone and like saying hi to everyone, introducing yourself,
getting people's numbers being like, hey, I'm Sadie.
Like what, what's your major like, what classes are you
taking? This is where I'm from like,
let's get coffee sometimes or some time and even if you don't
necessarily follow through, or you're like, I do not want to
make my schedule, insane with all these commitments.
You've at least established a foundation for the relationship
and even if it's like 4 months from now.
You're like, oh my gosh, we never got coffee.
Like let's go do that. You've again lay that
Foundation, the introduction has been established.
Maybe they'll be in your classes.
Maybe you will be studying for the same test next semester.
You never know. So that is one way to make
friends, I highly recommend asking for people's numbers on
the first day of class I use this way more than I thought I
would be like, oh, do you know what homework is tonight?
What do you think is going to happen on the quiz?
Or even just asking people to study?
I feel like the first day is when it's least
anxiety-provoking to do that as you get further into the
semester. It's like I don't want to ask
them. We've been sitting next to each
other for five weeks and we've never spoken.
Why would I ask them for their number now?
But asking people because you never know if there's like a
question on the math homework that you're so confused about
and you need help on having your number could be really helpful
and people are going to be so willing to offer that today's
episode is brought to you by teen counseling, as I mentioned
therapy was a huge part of helping me feel supported and
effective in my transition to college and making sure I was
staying on top of habits and reaching.
Cause that I wanted to and also being able to check in and vent
and get support when I needed to.
So, teen counseling is an online Therapy Program with over 14,000
licensed therapist in their Network are better helps program
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like depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, and so
much more. All via talk text and video
counseling from your home. So depending on what level of
support you're looking for, they're able to meet your needs.
So if you are interested in In finding a new therapist or
swallowing therapy for the first time you can head to teen
counseling.com CSU. Persisted, you're going to fill
out a survey about what you're hoping to work on in therapy.
So maybe that is have it setting.
Maybe that I was working through anxiety, about starting College
next year, maybe that is staying accountable.
And on top of the assignments, whatever it is, you feel about
in the surveys that they can match with a therapist that
specializes in that area. So if you are under 18, you will
then put in your parent or Guardians emails that they can
consent to treatment. It is a Burbank email.
All it says is a CD or whatever your name is.
It's hoping to work with a therapist from Teen counseling,
not of your information disclosed in the survey is then
told to your parent or Guardian. HIPAA is enacted, of course.
And I tried it sent the email to myself so I know it works.
So, in case that was a concern, just wanted to explain what that
was about. So to start therapy, can go to
teen counseling.com. She persisted again, that is
teen counseling.com. She persisted to find a
therapist today. Another great way to make
friends is To join clubs. I feel like this is really
different at every school for pain.
Be clubs are very professional and people joked, like the clubs
are harder to get into than the school itself because everyone's
competing against each other again, very professional.
It's like Consulting clubs or differently business things.
I am in service dog Club. It's my favorite thing ever, I
get to walk dogs and play with puppies.
So things like that, figure out what your interests are.
You will meet people that have similar interests to you and
that is another way to get social events on the calendar.
So you have Ways to interact with people and connect.
And there's always that option there.
Another thing that is so different from high school is
that it's like very normal and okay, and Casual to ask people
all the time to get, like, coffee or study or grab dinner.
I think in high school like that you were probably more
established as friends if you were going to dinner to grab
coffee or to spend the afternoon studying you probably like
classes together. You hang out at lunch at
College. I feel like that's a great way
to start a relationship. It's just start to get to know
people. There's been multiple times
where I'm like, I think I this person's nice like I had one
conversation with them and I'd like to want to grab coffee or
do you want to grab dinner and then we'll either have a great
conversation and up talking for two hours or it's like okay
didn't really connect with that person but it's great.
Now I know. So that is something that I
highly recommend doing. And again, like I mentioned you
and if you don't put something on the schedule setting, the
foundation is great because then, if you need it later on
and you're like, I'm feeling really isolated.
And I wish I had more people to connect with you've Lay that
foundation for yourself, and you can follow up and get those
needs met. The last thing I'll add here is
that Snapchat bit mogees are going to be your best friend.
You're going to meet so many people at the beginning of
college and you're not going to remember anyone's names, you're
not gonna remember their major, you're not going to remember
what they look like, but Snapchat gives you a nice little
graphic so you're like, oh I met, I don't know, Sarah and my
philosophy class, but I don't remember what she looks like
look on Snapchat and at least it jogs your memory and it's super
helpful. And the last thing here, Is
using relationships that you've already created for support.
I think especially in the first couple weeks of college, I was
just like 100% in the moment. I wasn't like calling combos.
Much are connecting with other people because you're just so
focused on navigating what's right in front of you, but
you've likely made a lot of relationships in your life with
people that love and care about you and want to support you.
And so if you are feeling stressed out, if you're feeling
overwhelmed scheduled into your day, your routine to call your
family. We are friends and connect with
people to boost your mental health.
And then you'll be able to show up more effectively in your
classes and your relationships on campus, and continue to
strengthen those as well, rest. This is another key one.
The anecdote I have here. Is that every single time I call
my dad? He's like, why aren't you
studying Sadie? And I'm like, do you realize how
many hours are in a day? How many hours?
I have other things to do and it's very important to get rest
and to take time away from Classes and studying or you will
burn out very quickly because college is a lot of work, it's
no joke. It's a lot of studying it's a
lot more independent in high school like you are.
The one that is putting in the hours if you want to do well and
this the structures aren't there as much as they are in high
school. So because of that it's even
more important to build rest into your routine.
So I find it really helpful to have like time off from school
so whether that's like a cut-off time at night, we're like after
11 p.m. I'm not going to work on
homework because it's not effective.
You know, like right around a mess, a until 4 a.m. and get up
and go to class the next morning or you're like Fridays, I am not
going to think about schoolwork and then Saturday and Sunday.
I'm going to be in the library and that works well for you.
So make sure to take time off emotionally, mentally stress
wise because again, it can lead to burnout really quickly and
that's something I found to be very effective for me.
Sleep is a huge thing. You just won't be able to show
up as the best version of yourself.
If you're not getting enough sleep, you won't be able to
perform academically, you won't be able to pay attention.
You won't be able to learn. You probably won't be very
enjoyable to be around socially. You will fall behind on things.
So sleep is key. And again at something that you
are in charge of and that you have to prioritize yourself, I
have a whole episode that goes into depth on sleep, hygiene and
sleep routines, and what works for you, but highlights are to
have a consistent sleep schedule.
So, Get up and go to bed at similar times.
It's okay if it looks different than High School, like if you're
not a morning person but great, I'm going to get up by 10:30 and
that's your goal or you're like, okay, I'm gonna go to bed by 2
and that feels like a good goal for me.
So it doesn't have to look like. Okay, I'm going to go to bed at
9:00 p.m. and I'm going to wake up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym
and like that's not the goal, here we are.
Just looking for some semblance of consistency.
We are looking to get enough hours so that you can show up in
these other areas of life that are important to you.
Another thing, I An ad for sleep is nap, Snaps are more easy to
get in college than they are in high school because you're not
in class all the time. They are slippery slope.
I love a good nap can mess up your sleep schedule, their pros
and cons are gonna have to do some trial and error, but for
me, I that's something I'm very mindful of, I pay attention to
because again, it can mess up my sleep really easily and get in
the way of my schedule and staying on top of work.
And the last thing we'll add with rest is to take time to
recharge. I feel like the first couple of
months weeks of college, you're really quickly going to
understand if you're more extroverted or introverted.
And by that I mean if you feel recharged when you're in a group
or when you're by yourself for me, I'm definitely more
introverted. I like to spend time by myself
to recharge and then I'm able to show up in social situations.
I don't necessarily like get more energy from being in social
situations for super long periods of time.
So being able to recharge socially and kind of like half
my dorm room, be a safe space to have that.
And night routine to really be by myself and relax, and take a
breath. Is really helpful.
Meals can be another great option.
I'm not advocating to eat by yourself every single meal.
That's not a great idea. Again we are trying to stay
connected because it's good for mental health but if you're like
I like for me I like to do my breakfast to my dorm room.
Before I go to class that works really well for me rather than
like like I'm going to meet you at the dining hall at 7:00 a.m.
to my friends like that just wouldn't be effective for me.
My mental health and my schedule, same thing with like a
If you are super overwhelmed, and feeling stressed, and for
classes, and you have a break in the middle of the day, go ahead
and do like a meal by yourself. Maybe you like, listen to a
podcast, or you work on a reading that you're trying to
get done and taking that time to be independent.
And recharge is huge, especially because your social life will
probably look a very different, from what it looked like in high
school, which is based on the structure of your schedule, and
people are living by themselves. They're a lot more independent,
so building that time to recharge socially Into your
routines. The again, you don't get burnt
out is huge. The next area we're going to
talk about is Recreation, I wish there was a better word for
this, but it starts with our so we're going to go with it.
We're going to talk about Hobbies free time exercise.
And then also related to exercise is walking.
So for hobbies, this is a huge thing in college and I think
it's something that people struggle with going from high
school to college and high school, you likely have like a
lot of clubs you were involved in or maybe you were an athlete,
but you're not an athlete in college.
Are you wearing like Student Government things like that?
And so then once you get to College, yeah, you're still
taking classes, maybe you are an athlete, but those hobbies and
extracurriculars are no longer strictly built into your
routine. I think it's super important to
keep incorporating them because they're great for your mental
health, to build Mastery and accumulate.
Those positives is something that is great for your emotion
regulation, but it's something that you're being more
intentional about. So for me, the things that I
make time for is or sighs. I really like to make time to
read or watch TV shows that are really like the podcast is like
kind of work but also that's a huge thing.
That is a hobby for me. I mentioned service, dog Club
playing with the puppies and going on, walks with them is
another huge thing. That brings me a lot of Joy.
So be intentional about that and other great way to get those on
your schedule and have that level of accountability is clubs
and making friends with people that have similar interests as
you do. So, if someone else is really
loves listening to Casts were using that example, you are
listening to a podcast, maybe that is, you know, I'm going to
give better example. So if someone else really loves
like one of my friends and I we are both watching the
Kardashians and every single week after the episode comes
out. We're like what did you think
building that accountability with someone else keeps you on
top of those hobbies in those moments that bring you Joy and
improve your mental health? The other thing here to add is
free time, you're going to have so much more free time than you
would in high school. Whether that is the and whether
it is time in between classes, whether it is night where you
finish school way earlier, it's something to be aware of an
intentional going into college. I think it makes sense to kind
of like put some thought and like okay what is important to
me in a week? Like is an important to me that
I spent time outside. It's important to me that I get
dinner with friends during want to prioritize exercise how much
of my prioritizing studying and then breaking up your schedule
to reflect that. Like, I mentioned earlier, free
time can be overwhelming for me when I have more.
Time. It's hard to stay on top of
work, so kind of being mindful of that of one, the free time
becomes like an endless pit of procrastination versus something
that allows you to relax and recharge and show up as a better
version of yourself exercise. This is another one, especially
if you were a student athlete in high school but you're not in
college. You gotta, you gotta motivate
yourself or it's not going to happen.
This is definitely been a goal for me this year, especially
second semester. I started by being like, I'm
gonna go and exercise so I I can sleep better.
Like that was the only motivation.
I was like, if I get this movement in, I will be more
tired when I go to sleep and I will sleep better and I don't
want to be tired. That was the goal and now it's
more. Like, I enjoy that moment.
I will like watch TV or listen to music and I can check it off,
my to-do list at something. It's very reinforcing for me.
So set, like a really small. A manageable goal.
Maybe you're like, I'm going to go to walk for 5 minutes.
Maybe you're like I'm gonna do one of those like ten minute ab
videos on YouTube, whatever it is and stay consistent.
That is the goal here. Stay consistent instead of like
one time going to the gym for three hours and you're like, wow
that was great but you never do it again but yeah, it really
does set you up for success in a lot of areas of your life,
whether it's your physical health, it's your sleep.
It's your ability to stay focused and learn in your
classes, and it's also a great way to spend time for yourself.
And for a lot of people, it's a way to recharge and boost your
mental health, Baseline. The other thing that I want to
add here is walking different from.
This is different from college campus.
To college campus. But at least at Penn you walk
everywhere and this is super different from at home where the
like the high school campus which was much smaller like
yeah, you'd walked your class but you really going downstairs
in the building, I find it really helpful to pay attention
to my steps. It's kind of a indicator of what
I did that day. If I get like, more than 7000
steps, it means that I probably went to the library.
I got work done. I ate outside of my dorm room, I
probably saw a friend. I spent some time outside, all
things that are really good for my event.
Paul. Where's if I get less than that?
It's probably like I got like five hundred steps and I was
working in my room all day and napping on the weekend so that
has been a really helpful indicator for me and a goal to
set. It's also a really great way to
unplug feel less stressed about academics and social stuff and
you also get to see more of this new place that you're living in.
I feel like there's so much to Philadelphia that I haven't
explored that I want to continue to and walks are really great
way to do that. The last are that we are going
to go to through is resources. The a star that we are going to
cover is resources. These are going to be pretty
basic resources. These are not like extreme
mental health intervention. I need lots of support
resources. If you are looking for those,
you can send me a DM on Instagram, you can send me an
email. The first step that I would
definitely recommend taking its talking to your counseling
center at your school, talking to your parents, a family friend
that you trust and they can definitely redirect you further
but resources to lean on just to maintain your Baseline mental
health and set you up for success.
I recommend Past relationships therapy's been really helpful
for me. There are a ton of on campus
mental, health support, and most schools, and then content.
So we talk about past relationships, building
conversations into your routine with people that improve your
mood and help you feel seen and validate it.
And supported can be really helpful and allow you to show up
as a better version of yourself in your relationships.
On campus therapy has been swinging the distance.
So helpful for me to navigate the transition, stay on top of
goals. I'm setting for myself.
Whether that is like, so, Studying for a certain number of
hours each week or trying to get more exercise or staying on top
of my sleep, that's just been really helpful to have in my
routine. And again, a preventative
measure to maintain my mental health, most schools will have
on campus mental health support, whether that is like, tech
support counseling. There's a lot that will be like,
video or audio calls ours is called caps like something
Psychological Services and they're costly talk.
About it. There's posters everywhere.
So, a lot of campuses will have resources available, if you need
them, or you need someone to talk to.
And then the last thing that I want to add Kier is content.
I think that having content that you're consuming that supports
your mental health is really effective.
So whether that is podcast books, maybe it's a TV show,
making sure that the ways that you're spending your free time
is improving your mental health rather than deteriorating.
It is something that I try to be mindful of.
So before we dive into the questions, the takeaways here, R
for mental health advice for college.
Students is really creating a foundation so that when things
aren't optimal which will happen, we all have our low
moments, it's going to be okay. You've set up relationships
resources recreational activities and moments of rest
to be able to regulate your emotions navigate.
Stresses it arises and make it through.
And I think something that a lot of us do is we are like well I
I'm sure that if I was feeling a lot of anxiety know how to cope
with it, but we don't actually practice that I feel like this
is an approach where you are building these things that are
good for your mental health into your routine.
So that when you're really struggling, if you're feeling
really depressed, you're like okay, but it's already part of
my routine to exercise. I'm motivated to do that part of
my routine to get dinner with a friend.
It's part of my routine to consume content, that makes me
laugh. And all of those things will
help improve your mood. So, preventive, improving your
Baseline. Practices is something that I
highly recommend for college students.
And also So, give yourself Grace.
There's no way that you can expect yourself to know how to
navigate this because you've never done it before.
It's okay. If it takes you three years to
figure out what routine works for you and what class balance
and what relationships makes you feel really good.
And what work-life balance is most effective in, maintaining
your mental health. So give yourself Grace, it will
take time, that's okay. That's expected, trial and
error. If you are trying your at least
moving in the right direction. So yeah, give yourself Grace,
create an effective. Station ask for help when you
need it, listener questions, you guys have submitted these on
Instagram, I wrote them down and I'm going to answer them.
The first one is how to make time for healthy habits.
We talked about this in a bunch of different areas whether it's
like sleep, exercise nutrition. I think the biggest thing is
scheduling it into your schedule and really, making it a
priority. I know you've probably heard
that 37 thousand times, but like I said, when I have more things
on my schedule, it's somehow easier for me.
To make exercising a priority or make getting that small homework
done, a priority or grabbing lunch with a friend.
It's more overwhelming when there's nothing on the schedule
for the day and I'm like, my only goal today is to edit a
podcast and work out, and it just doesn't happen.
So fill your schedule with things that do improve your mood
and keep you busy, and that in turn, I feel makes it easier to
maintain the healthy habits on habit building.
A great resource and book for that is atomic habits.
I love that book. I've been reading At this
semester and I keep going back to different parts to try and
incorporate them into my routine.
But there are so many different insights there about how to
build habits, what ways of building habits are more
effective. What reinforcements work, what
doesn't? So, I highly recommend reading
that if you're a struggling with habit building, but recap is
basically like make it easy and make it attractive.
So, make your habits easy to do. Like we're not setting a goal
of, I'm going to go to the gym and run 12 miles Vic.
I'm going to go to walk for five minutes.
It's today. And likely, if you're walking
for five minutes like, why not 10, why not 15, and make it
attractive. So, again, I feel like my goal
is to exercise, but that's what enjoyable for me.
Be like while I exercise, I'm going to listen to my favorite
podcast, or I'm going to call my friend and we're just going to
laugh and have a great conversation while I'm walking
on the treadmill walking outside, whatever it is so easy,
attractive, are the keys for healthy habits and that can
really be applied to any aspect of Health and Wellness.
Next question is the most unexpected stressful moment.
This is hard. I feel like there was a lot of
things that were stressful about the first year of college, but
they were expecting like, move in.
Like you're moving. That's very stressful.
Finals week, very stressful studying for a test that's
coming up very stressful. I would say.
One thing that does bring overwhelmed that I wouldn't have
anticipated is being independent.
I was very excited to be living away from home and having more
Independence. But there's also like that
caveat of everything is on you. Like we just talked about all
these different ways to maintain your mental health and if you're
not Engaging in those practices or habits and routines and your
mental health suffers, that's on you.
And so that's something that can be really stressful to know
that. It's like that you were the one
that's responsible for your success.
No. One else is the blame.
Can't go anywhere else. If you don't succeed, whatever,
that definition of success looks like for you.
But I think that adds stress that I didn't necessarily
anticipate and I think this is really well said, an episode
that came out a little bit ago with Jill and Dave Henry, it was
number 94, For all about staying healthy in college, and that's
more physical health. But have really helpful episode
to listen to and they talked about how most college students
say the thing, they were most excited for was the
Independence. The most thing that was most
stressful Was the independence and I definitely agree with
that. The next question is, how to
adapt to a new environment and have changes in people food,
schedule, Etc. What is really unique about
going to college is that it's like a blank slate and they
talked about this anatomic habit, how that is the upper 50
opportunity. Start building new habits for
better for worse. If you get to college and you're
like, I'm going to make it a goal to go on a walk every day
outside. It's good for my mental health
and you do that great. You've built this new habit
because you're in a new environment, but if you get to
college and you're like, okay, whatever I'll do that next week
and you build this habit of not doing that and staying in your
room all day. Every day.
This new environment has facilitated at that new habit,
that's been established. So, I like to see it from a
positive perspective and that it's this great new.
Tunity to build habits that you've been wanting to add into
your routine, into your lifestyle for a while whether
that is studying relationships exercise, these different areas
of Health. I think it's a really great
opportunity, and it's also important to know that you are
also susceptible to building bad habits as well.
But with changes for people food schedule, Etc.
My advice there is to create a mental health Baseline and
Foundation, that allows you to navigate those things, even if
they don't go well and still be Okay, so even if your schedule
isn't ideal and you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed, you have
a morning and I routine asleep routine that keeps you, okay.
Maybe you're like this isn't great yet, we'll get there but
you are okay. Same thing with food after the
first couple of weeks here like this, so overwhelming, I don't
know what to eat or how to eat, but you're maintaining these
other aspects of your mental health.
It will be okay. Same thing with people and also
adding here leaning on old relationships to help you get.
Those needs met like, validation connection Community, Etc.
The next question is, I'm not a college student, but how does
mental health and college differ from high school?
It's all on you and high school again.
It's a lot more structure. There are things in place to
help support you and your mental health, whether you realize it
or not. So it's For Better or For Worse
that you are now completely independent for me, I think it
was really great. I think being independent and
living, a college has been good for my mental health.
It's allowed me to build routines that support my mental.
Health is allowed me to pursue things, that bring me a lot of
Way, I love it. I really truly do love being on
campus and it's very easy to end up in an environment that
doesn't support your mental health.
If you're not prioritizing, like, sleep, relationships,
physical aspects of your health, your classes.
All of those kinds of things can get very overwhelming, very
quickly. So, the biggest difference is
that it's all on you and it's your responsibility to build a
life that supports your mental health and if you Don't there
probably will be consequences and that's a tough pill to
swallow but that has been the reality to my experience.
But again there are so many ways to build a life that is great
for your mental health college campuses.
A lot of the times are really amazing.
There's so many things to do, so many people to meet so many new
things to try. And again, you have so much
Freedom over your day. There's so much potential to
fill it with activities that bring you Joy and improve your
mental health. You just have to choose to do so
and follow through last question is what to look for and how to
Colleges that value, mental health and have good supports.
So two things I'm going to do, there are two pieces of advice
that I'm going to give you. The first is just making sure
that they have basic counseling services.
So if you needed them, could you make an appointment tomorrow
with a counselor if you needed to?
Could you get free therapy on campus if you needed to, could
you see a psychiatrist? Like, what are the student,
health services that are set in place?
What are the free counseling services available?
That should be on their website school love.
Young about mental health support.
So you should very easily be able to find that and that's a
box to check, make sure that's available.
And again, most schools should have that the second thing and
the second piece of advice that I would give is to know yourself
and what works for you. That's location.
Whether if you are like, really prone to seasonal affective, NE
smell disorder, depression. If you get really depressed
during the winter or maybe go to California, if you do well in a
city being surrounded by people, don't go to college in the
middle of nowhere. Go to the community aspects on
campus, what events, take place, pain is a place where people
don't really go to go to sporting events people go out a
lot, some schools will be more centered on Greek life.
Some schools are schools like ask around, get more information
there, figure out figuring out what routine works for you what
class schedule works for you and what will add to your mental
health, rather than taking away. And and again, I truly do
believe. It's what works for you?
Like pain is a school where Are people.
They struggle a lot with mental health and it's something that
the student population is talking about a lot.
And I, like I said, pain has been a great place for me,
somewhere, where I feel like my mental health has thrived and
it's because I feel like I've been able to build a routine and
habits that have supported my mental health.
So, you have the capacity to build a life at college that
does support your mental health. And I don't think that where you
go will determine that, but again, making sure that the
resources are there if you ever need them.
And then looking internally, And being like, okay, what is going
to set me up for success and how can I do that and taking those
steps? So, to recap, we talked about
routine relationships, rest, recreation, resources, and we
answered your questions. All about, maintaining your
mental health and college. I really hope this episode was
helpful. If you guys enjoyed it, make
sure to leave a review, an apple podcast and Spotify share with a
friend or family member. If you share on Instagram tag,
me it out, she persisted podcast and I'll repost and give you a
little shout out. Out.
But yeah, those are my mental health tips for college
students. If you are a high school
student, I will link the episode.
I did for high school students down below and make sure to
comment your mental health advice on Instagram.
When I put up a post about this episode.
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