Hello! My name is Sophia Hunt, and I am a general intern with 1N5. I am currently a senior at Miami University studying Psychology, and this fall I will begin graduate coursework for Miami’s combined Masters of Social Work program while completing my senior year.
As I prepare for some of the busiest years of my life, I’ve found myself thinking about the transition back to school and how I can take better care of myself through it. I’ve always found the shift from summer back into the school year a little overwhelming, which has made me reflect on one question: How do we hold on to the habits that help us feel our best when life gets busy again?
This summer gave me something I don’t always have during the school year, which is time. I have had time to slow down, spend time with the people I love, and focus on myself. I have had the opportunity to build healthy habits and really notice how they affected both my physical and mental well-being.
One thing I’ve learned this summer is that investing in yourself doesn’t have to mean making huge changes. Sometimes, it’s the small habits we practice consistently that have the greatest impact. For me, that habit was going on walks.
At the beginning of the summer, I wasn’t looking to completely change my life. I simply wanted to take better care of myself. I wanted to move my body more, spend less time sitting inside, and build habits that would help me feel healthier and more confident. Walking seemed like a good place to start.
Before long, walking became much more than exercise. Some of my favorite memories this summer came from long walks with some of my best friends, Lindsey and Delaney. We explored different places, caught up on life, and spent quality time together. Other days, I walked with dogs or with my family. Walking gave me a reason to get outside, but it also gave me a way to spend time with people I love and take a break from everything else going on.
One of my favorite accomplishments this summer was walking a half-marathon. At the beginning of the summer, I never would have imagined myself doing that. Looking back, I realized it wasn’t one huge decision that got me there. It was simply choosing to show up for myself each day.
I realized the biggest thing I gained this summer wasn’t just the miles I walked. I learned how much these small changes could affect the way I felt. There were plenty of days when I didn’t feel like going for a walk. I wanted to stay inside, watch TV, or take a nap. I realized that having encouragement from my walking buddies made it harder to say no or tell myself I would do it later. More often than not, the walks I didn’t want to go on ended up being the ones I felt the best after. I even realized that I gained more energy from getting outside and that instead of a nap being my “recharge,” I could feel even better if I went walking. I learned this summer that motivation doesn’t always come before action. I used to wait for the days when I would wake up and be eager to exercise or go outside, but that rarely happens. Instead, I learned that sometimes taking the first step is what creates the motivation. Knowing how I would feel afterward made it easier to keep showing up.
Walking wasn’t the only way I tried to invest in myself this summer. I also started putting more effort into cooking healthy meals and being more intentional about the choices that made me feel good throughout the day. Having more time allowed me to cook for myself, try different meals, and pay attention to how taking care of myself physically affected how I felt mentally. I was making a more conscious effort to take care of myself and find habits that made me feel happier, healthier, and more energized.
I also realized that self-care isn’t always exciting or picture-perfect. Social media often portrays self-care in a pretty way: elaborate or seemingly hard-to-follow routines, expensive products, and having everything figured out. For me, self-care looked much simpler. It was texting a friend to see if they wanted to join me, taking a dog outside, making a meal, or spending time walking, even after a long day.
What made the biggest difference wasn’t doing something extraordinary; it was simply showing up for myself consistently. There were days I skipped walks or didn’t stick to my routine, and that’s okay. What mattered was choosing to come back the next day.
Now that summer is coming to an end, I’ve started thinking about what all of this will look like when I go back to school. Like I mentioned earlier, the transition back to school can be overwhelming for me, and it usually takes me some time to settle back into a routine. Going from the freedom of summer to suddenly having classes, assignments, deadlines, and responsibilities can be a big adjustment, especially this year as I balance my senior year with graduate coursework.
In the past, this is usually when healthy habits become harder for me to prioritize. I’ve noticed that when I stop prioritizing myself, I don’t necessarily become more productive in other ways. Sometimes the opposite happens. During the busy parts of the school year, I can start to feel tired and unmotivated, and it becomes easier to take a nap instead of going to class or putting off an assignment until later. Once I fall out of my routine, it’s easy to push things off, eventually making me feel even more overwhelmed. This summer has made me realize that taking time for myself isn’t taking time away from my responsibilities. The habits that make me feel healthier and more energized may actually help me show up better for them.
This summer, I had the time to figure out what taking care of myself looks like for me. As I head into the school year, I hope these habits can help keep me grounded when things start to feel overwhelming. I know taking care of myself won’t always look the way it did this summer, and that’s okay. Instead of giving up on these habits when I can’t do them perfectly, I want to find ways to make them fit into my life. Most importantly, I want to remember that making time for myself isn’t taking time away from everything else. Taking care of myself can give me the energy and motivation to show up better for the other parts of my life, too. Self-care doesn’t have to be complicated to make a difference. Sometimes, it’s simply about making time for the small things that help us feel like our best selves, even when life gets busy.
What habit do you hope to bring into the next season of your life?