Hey everyone!!! My name is Anish Gangavaram and I am a second-year student at the University of Cincinnati. I am majoring in Medical Sciences, and I hope to be a physician in the future.
As a freshman in college with over a decade of school behind me, playing tennis on the national circuit, and attempting to have a “normal” high school experience during the pandemic, I have experienced my fair share of struggles. I still remember to this day having a breakdown on a public bus and crying in my father’s lap after suffering a back injury that made everything just too much. At that moment I thought all was lost…
BUT then, I was introduced to yoga to help my body, and I inadvertently found a new method of self-care! I was doing yoga for hours a day and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED it. The calming sensation that yoga provided spread through my body like a rejuvenating charm. To this day, I still take time to do yoga every week.
More recently, one of my favorite self-care activities is to journal every day about the fun, sad, frustrating, and exhilarating things going on in my life. This really helps to ground my thoughts and soul to my body. Another one of my favorite self-care activities is to go outside and run with the cool wind echoing across my body. Moreover, I love to try new things and recently acted, with no acting experience whatsoever, in a student-led film. This is something that I have never done before, and I had no idea what to expect which made this so relaxing and fun. Additionally, I really like to cook/bake and try new recipes. This provides a sense of adventure and relief that provides so much satisfaction whenever I am able to do it.
Self-care is different for everybody, and can CHANGE over time! Ultimately, it is important to experiment with different self-care activities and see what works best for YOU. For me, yoga, journaling, and running really help me to find peace and take care of myself, but that may not work for you, and that is OKAY! Learning to find what works for you is part of the self-care journey, and each step you take forward in this journey is an investment in you and your happiness.
I hope this post showed you some new ways to practice self-care and inspired you to keep going through your self-care journey!