How to Care For Yourself in 2018

by Claudia Bishop

I belong in the category of people who tend to, on the 1st of January, use the phrase “New year, New me.” Only recently have I realised how difficult it is to actually keep up with this new lifestyle that seems to spring itself onto me every year. So this year I decided, instead of creating a whole new me that, to be honest, wasn’t doing such a bad job last year, I would start this year off by caring for myself better. This is a useful resolution that can be achieved and make you much happier.

I know that last year I left all work until last minute (resulting in a lot of unwanted stress) so I have decided that this year I will try to avoid this by using an app that will hopefully stop my procrastination. This app is called “Forest” and is £1.99 and grows a tree for the amount of time you spend off your phone. This means when you open your phone and try to go to a different app, the forest app sends you messages telling you that your tree will die unless you come back to the app. It is an oddly satisfying way of getting your work done and stops you from procrastinating on your phone.

When you aren’t doing work, it’s important to do something you enjoy to take your mind off everyday stresses and worries. Whether it’s singing, drawing, dancing, organising etc make sure you enjoy it because it’s always important to have a release to get away from school/work.

Another thing that I struggled with last year was self-esteem and being happy with how I was living my life and whether I was “fulfilling my potential”. Therefore, this year I have decided to see myself in a less negative light as everyone does things wrong and mistakes make us better people.

I encourage all of you to take a look back at 2017 and pick out all the negative parts and change the way you feel about them. This is used in CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) as a way of changing negative views into positive changes and improving your confidence in 2018 so that you can take better care of yourself this new year.