Transcript
00:00:03 Speaker 1
Welcome back to the I‘m doing Fine podcast. My name is Emma. I go by, she, her.
00:00:10 Speaker 2
My name is Katie pronouns are she, her.
00:00:13 Speaker 3
My name is also Katie and I go by the pronouns she, her.
00:00:15 Speaker 4
and I'm, Lexie and I also use she her pronouns.
00:00:20 Speaker 1
We are now mid semester in the school year. Today we're talking about healthy mindsets and how we cope with stress during this time of year. Before we talk about that, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and like talking about our favorite Thanksgiving food, me I personally love having sweet potatoes, bread rolls. For my family I make layered Jello.
00:00:44 Speaker 3
And yeah, yeah.
00:00:45 Speaker 1
Yeah, that's so good.
00:00:47 Speaker 1
And I'm not very. I'm not a turkey person, but I love ham and I love spending time with my family during thanksgiving.
00:00:56 Speaker 2
I can sorta relate. I like don't like thanksgiving food at all.
00:00:58 Speaker 3
You guys are so weird.
00:00:59 Group
Laughing
00:01:02 Speaker 2
I don't like Turkey. I don't like stuffing. I don't like cranberries. I don't even like cheese. So like all I really eat is like potatoes and rolls. And then, like, I wish we could have Chick-fil-A or something.
00:01:15 Speaker 3
That is a crazy statement
00:01:19 Speaker 2
I'm really excited for the upcoming break because. I get to go to Colorado this year. To visit my people. See just a bunch of my cousins. See my grandparents and normally we host Thanksgiving here in Michigan, but it'll be different. Another cold Steep and skiing. And I'm just excited.
00:01:23 group
That sounds like so much fun. Yeah.
00:01:26 Speaker 2
I am jealous of the Colorado situation.
00:01:28 Speaker 4
I'm definitely on the opposite end of the spectrum. I look forward to thanksgiving all year long I could eat it all the time. I love it, wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly. But my favorites if I had to pick would be green bean casserole and then Turkey. But specifically, Turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce like together in one bite. Like I need it together.
00:02:05 Speaker 3
No, I don't. I don't like like cranberry sauce.
00:02:06 Speaker 4
Okay
00:02:06
I don't. But
00:02:07 Speaker 4
Okay okay
00:02:07 Speaker 3
like all the rest of that sounds so good. Like when you said that you would eat Thanksgiving all the time. There was a phase that me and my mom and my sister would make Thanksgiving twice a year.
00:02:08 Speaker 4
That's so fun.
00:02:08 Speaker 3
Like, we have full Thanksgiving dinners.
00:02:08 Speaker 4
Thats so fun.
00:02:25 Speaker 3
We would have like a whole Turkey, like in July like it was so awesome.
00:02:29 Speaker 2
I would do that.
00:02:30 Speaker 3
But my favorites are mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. And like usually we just do a small Thanksgiving with me and my mom and my sister, and it's honestly super nice. Like, we can do whatever we want to.
00:02:42 Speaker 2
Do and then Black Friday shopping, yeah.
00:02:44 Speaker 1
Oh, I love.
00:02:46 Speaker 4
And then Cyber Monday Cyber Monday shopping.
00:02:50 Speaker 4
Cyber Monday is crazy.
00:02:53 Speaker
Have fun on cyber Monday, I do
00:02:54 Speaker 4
Thanksgiving and the holiday season in general is such an exciting and meaningful time, but it can also mean colder days, final exams and seeing family which can absolutely be stressful. The four of us wanted to share a little bit about our own struggles during this time of year and what we do to cope.
00:03:16 Speaker 4
So, for me, I absolutely find myself struggling to balance schoolwork and my personal life all the time.
00:03:24 Speaker 3
Same.
00:03:25 Speaker 4
Specifically when it is cold and dreary outside. It just feels like I never have enough time to get everything done. Like I'll go to bed and I'm like, wow, I still have, you know, five things on my To Do List that I just didn't get to. And that's really stressful. So I noticed my mental health and overall mood dip when it's cold and cloudy like day after day after day and I am in therapy, but something else that I've implemented is scheduling my tasks out on my calendar so that I can see like that. I do have time, you know, like based on like the hours. In the day like I could get this done, you know? And that's really empowering. And then I also just spend as much time outside with my dog as possible. Especially on sunny days, rare sunny days, sunny day, but this time of year can be can be tough, but there are absolutely resources here to help you.
00:04:25 Speaker 2
I 100%. Sympathize, and I agree with that. Like, especially with it getting dark at like 3:00 PM it. Seems like yeah, like what are you guys doing?
00:04:33 Speaker 2
Yeah, like.
00:04:34 Speaker 2
The weather is colder it's raining. It seems like every day, and honestly, it's just so hard to be motivated to just go outside even and do things. And it's been especially difficult this time of year. It seems like projects are ramping up. We're getting ready for exams. It seems like all we can think about is school, maybe jobs, writing papers. I mean, I don't know. I've been getting ready for, like, grad school and thinking. About that and it's just. Hard to be motivated to even do things we enjoy. I've been like struggling to do. Like hobbies of mine that I like genuinely due to like take my mind off of all these stressors.
00:05:08 Speaker 2
And it's been just generally hard to like, cope and manage their stress. But one thing that actually was like kind of crazy to think about, that's been helping me is like, it sounds I I promise you it works, but sounds crazy, but it's like scheduling time in my schedule to worry. And that sounds really like weird. But like, if you're ever, like, going throughout your day and like, you might be in class and all of a sudden you like realize like, Oh my gosh.
00:05:31 Speaker 2
I am stressed about like getting into grad school. I always like say like OK no, Katie, like you were gonna worry about this. Later and when I do worry, I always like think of two to four things that like might be something to like, ease that worry. So, like, yeah, I'm worried about getting into grad school, but I already applied. I had great recommendations, and even if I don't get in this year, I can have a gap year that can help build my resume more. So I always like try to do that. And that's really like.
00:05:58 Speaker 2
Helped me, especially just with the extra stress. I've been feeling this semester, especially with just this. These classes that I've been in this semester have been more challenging than I thought, so I think that's a really important skill that I've learned and I'm hoping that you guys can take It with you. In this Time of year. And even the next semester as well.
00:06:19 Speaker 3
Yeah, I'm definitely going to start doing that because like in theory, that sounds perfect.
00:06:24 Speaker2
It's harder then it seems. I promise
00:06:26 Speaker 3
But I'm goanna get taken away and start worrying when I am not supposed to.
00:06:31 Speaker 4
I know, I wish I was as as disciplined as you were sticking to that, but.
00:06:37 Speaker 1
Yeah, I know for students this time of year can be stressful. This time of year, making sure I turn in all my assignments. Also having a balance between having social life and my academic life. This year I'm doing volunteer hours so I can make sure I'm getting all my hours done. and this past weekend was day light savings time. So I love having that extra hour of sleep.
00:06:58 Speaker 2
Ever going like? OH, it's supposed to be like. Yeah, 4:45, but it's only 3:45.
00:07:03 Speaker 3
No daylight savings messed me up. Jet lag
00:07:05 Speaker 3
Like I woke up at 8:00 AM on daylight savings time. I was like why am I even awake right now? Like its Sunday morning. It was crazy.
00:07:19 Speaker 1
And also keeping motivated as like the weather, as winter approaches, making sure you keep going, keep like not procrastinating. Like I know that I procrastinate which is so bad. I just try to get my work done and taking also taking time for yourself. Like spending time with friends or just like self-care, whatever you need to do.
00:07:43 Speaker 3
For sure. Yeah, I feel that procrastination.
00:07:49 Speaker 3
A high level like I really get it.
00:07:52 Speaker 3
Like recently, it's not been just about like my grades and getting homework done. It's like making ends meet, like paying tuition, paying rent, doing all that on time and like working to get that money. And then like also having time to be with my friends and just like relax.
00:08:15 Speaker 3
I just like. It's so difficult for me to maintain a social life and still like, be here like go to work, get my homework done on time and just do all these things. It's just a lot.
00:08:29 Speaker 3
But I've found that making a clear schedule for like work that I only work on these days, and if I pick up, it's only on this day. So like I have those nights where I know I'm not going to work. Where I can either relax, do all my homework then. Or just be with my friends like and it helps me expect what I get out of my day and like, even the week if I plan like my week. I can put aside time for homework.
00:08:59 Speaker 2
Yeah, I definitely agree that planning out like your week, to do list of what you're supposed to do helps you, like, organize your brain and thoughts. Yeah. And it kind of helps to know that, like, everyone has a tough time and struggles, but there are so many ways.
00:09:16 Speaker 2
That we can strategize and get through these tough times. And of course, the counseling center is here for you guys. If you ever are struggling or dealing with something that you feel like you might just need extra help or support with, especially during this mid semester slump. We're always here for you. But as we are wrapping up this. Episode of our podcast let us get to our mindful moments.
00:09:40 Speaker 2
Yeah, the past couple of weeks, something that has been helping me get my mind off of this stressful time of year has been, I have just been reading. I don't want to say a lot, but like intentionally reading at least once a week. I've been reading this book. I actually finished it in two days, so I guess I read a lot, but I don't know if you guys read the series, the knock Mount series by Lucy Score, but it's like things we never got over things we left behind the light and then this one I just read. Is like things we left behind. It's just like my favorite book I read of hers . It was like 500 pages over 500 and I read it so fast. It was so good. Highly recommend I just. It took my mind off of like school and put me in like a little happy land. And I loved it.
00:10:22 Speaker 1
Katie Happy land, yes.
00:10:24 Speaker 3
I've heard of that series, but like I'm not a huge reader.
00:10:28 Speaker 3
But yeah, so I recently. Recently meaning the past two weeks I've been going to the gym again. I went literally almost every day last year. Yeah. And then like, I just like fell into a little slump. I didn't want to go. So then I didn't force myself to go because, like, when you force yourself to go, you make a bad relationship with the gym. Right? So now I've just been going almost every single day, and it's so nice that, like, gives me time to like. Like, let out everything. Like if I'm running on the treadmill or whatever. But yeah, yeah.
00:11:06 Speaker 4
No, that's fine.
00:11:07 Speaker 4
I was really struggling because my roommates and I would want to hang out, but like we'd all have homework. So then we were like.
00:11:16 Speaker 4
Well, then we were turning in things late. So we were like, OK, we gotta fix. So now we all stick to.
00:11:25 Speaker 4
We all you know, there's like a time where we're done and it really motivates us to get our homework done because we're like, oh my god
00:11:31 Speaker 3
That's nice.
00:11:33 Speaker 4
Like 11 is when we're done and we really do stick to that and it's so motivating to me. And then I actually have time to do things I enjoy and like ohh watch a show or talk to my roommates or like.
00:11:43 Speaker 3
I love that.
00:11:46 Speaker 4
And it's just so nice. So that's been really helpful to me. I love that.
00:11:50 Speaker 1
I also love doing some like some coloring or some crafts to know like when I'm so stressed. During this time of year just taking some time to color just a fun activity to do and I'm.
00:12:02 Speaker 4
Its so mindless to
00:12:04 Speaker 1
And not worry about any troubles that are going on in my life.
00:12:06 Speaker 3
I'm a big color too, yeah. Would I have nothing to do at work. I'm you best believe I'm goanna be coloring, but yeah, so we understand how intense these past few weeks have been for everybody because we've been going through that too. We relate to you guys seriously because we're like, we're like, dying over here.
00:12:33 Speaker 3
We kind of are.
00:12:34 Speaker 3
We're in the trenches.
00:12:35 Speaker 4
We're fighting for our lives.
00:12:36 Speaker 3
We are, but realistically the UCC does have different resources that can help you, even if it's just one time or multiple times a semester. They're always here for you guys. Yeah. So thank you for listening to our podcast.
00:12:37 Group
Bye guys.