Hi all! I’m Samantha Kayne, 1N5’s newest Social Media Intern. I am a sophomore at Indian Hill High School. I play lacrosse, basketball, and field hockey. One of my favorite parts about playing high school and club sports is becoming a part of a community. Outside of sports, I am extremely passionate about my education.
Being a person everyone can count on is something I also value. As a high schooler whose schedule is always overloaded, it is essential that I engage in self-care (even when I have little time on my hands). I have grown to realize that if I do not make time for myself, it becomes difficult to help others and fully engage in my activities.
My basketball coach once told me to “be where my feet are.” This phrase grounded and encouraged me; however, it’s easier said than done. I struggled for so long to figure out how I could accomplish this. Without self-care, I get distracted and distraught and end up finding my worth in my performance in sports or my grades in school when self-worth comes from within. I hope this blog will help teenagers, and even adults, realize how important finding and doing self-care is.
I take care of myself by engaging in activities that I feel no pressure doing. As an athlete, I used to take long runs to clear my mind. However, I always felt pressure to be at a certain speed or have perfect endurance. While everyone is not the same, this form of self-care turned out to be more degrading than beneficial for me.
I encourage you to find what allows you to be truly relaxed and stress-free, even for a half hour or an hour a week. For me, this is baking and giving away my baked goods. With baking, I love how I both get to be in control (measuring the correct amount of ingredients) and not in control (just following directions). I feel such a sense of satisfaction when I’m finished. When I share my treats with family and friends, the best part is seeing the smiles on their faces.
For teenagers like me, social self-care is critical. Social media puts so much pressure on teens to look, act and feel a certain way–all the time. Social self-care is more like self-preservation. I always surround myself with “no effort” friends—friends that you don’t need to look or act a certain way to hang out with. Friends that respect me for me. Friends that don’t say critical or unkind things to me. I recently heard about a study by WeightWatchers that revealed that women say at least eight critical things about themselves by 9:30 am! With this backdrop, surrounding yourself with people who accept you as you are is key.
I invite you to find a form of healthy self-care that lets you express yourself and relax. Let go of the misconceptions that you are “too busy” for self-care or have to do a certain kind of self-care to get it “right.” You need to set aside time for self-care so you can be grounded and your mind can be “all in” while engaging in work, participating in sports, being with family, or just hanging out with friends.
What does self-care look like for you?
Samantha