Spring semester is not only longer than fall semester, but can seem drearier. Students at the University of Maine at Presque Isle begin spring semester in the cold and snowy climate and then slowly transition into spring. This gloomy weather combined with heavy workloads can be stressful to students. Managing this stress can seem impossible. But mental check-ins can be more important during this time than any other.
Check in with yourself!
Cynthia Luce, a licensed clinical social worker, is a psychotherapist and provides counseling and therapy in Maine. Luce believes that accessing your needs is an important element of self-care. “If we don’t pay attention to what we need physically and emotionally,” she said, “we are ill-equipped to function at our best capacity.” Luce explained that people are taught from a young age to be kind to others. “But there might be times when we focus on the needs of others at the expense of our own needs,” she said. “We may have learned in our family or origin that taking care of others’ needs before our own is a way to get positive attention or prevent disharmony.”
Focusing on the needs of others becomes a problem when people begin ignoring their own needs. “We can become depleted of energy and wonder why no one has been attending to us like we attend to them,” Luce said. “We cannot expect people to read our minds or assume that they should know what we need unless we let them know.”
