High school can be stressful. Homework, exams, extracurriculars, socializing with friends—these are just a few of the many activities that make demands on your time, and fitting everything into your schedule can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’ve gathered five of our favorite habits to help you care for your emotions during these challenging and exciting years.
1. Take Brain Breaks
It’s easy to forget that the average attention span is just 15 to 30 minutes. If you’re trying to study for two, three, or even four hours at a time, frustration is sure to follow, and that frustration can eat away at self-esteem. Taking brain breaks at regular intervals is a great way to take care of yourself. During a brain break, avoid activities that may overstimulate you, and instead choose activities that allow for a reset: get up and move around, look out the window, focus on your breath for a few moments, or listen to some relaxing music, for example.
2. Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is incredibly powerful. In fact, according to the Mayo Clinic, practicing gratitude on a daily basis can improve sleep, mood, and immunity and can even decrease depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and the risk of disease. Gratitude can be as simple as naming three things that you’re grateful for every day—whether they be huge things, such as family, friends, and opportunities, or really small things such as a sunny day or a delicious cup of coffee. Practicing gratitude can have an enormous positive impact on emotional health.
3. Name Your Emotions
Go a step further than simply identifying whether you feel good or bad. Name your specific emotion: I am frustrated; I am discouraged; I am ecstatic. When you name your emotions, you actually shift the energy in your brain from the emotional center to the verbal center, which allows your pre-frontal cortex—the part of your brain that regulates emotion—to figuratively get back online and begin regulating again.
4. Use an Affirmation Statement
An affirmation statement is a simple “I” statement in present tense in which you name your strengths or a way that you want to be in the world. For example, you might say, “I am in control of my progress” or “I am kind to all the people around me.” Any of these statements of greater truths that you believe can help reset your mind or emotions when you’re feeling stuck.
5. Find a Grounding Exercise That Works for You
All of us experience stress at some point. The key is to be proactive about how you deal with that stress. Grounding exercises help to create a connection between your physical body and the world around you, which can in turn help you take care of your emotions and manage them in a healthy way. One common grounding exercise is mindful breathing: focus on your breath as you breathe from your diaphragm. Feel your hands rise and fall as you breathe, and count with each breath.
Alternatively, you may prefer a more concrete exercise such as the 5–4–3–2–1 exercise. First, find five things that you can see. Look around you and name them out loud. Next, find four things that you can touch, and then actually touch them. Take note of how they feel. Are they cold? Are they warm? Then, identify three things that you can hear. If you’re in a quiet space, you may even need to make three noises—perhaps rub your hands together or tap something, for example. Next, find two things that you can smell. This also may require you to move around the room in order to sniff items. Finally, identify one thing that you love about yourself, and say it out loud. Each of these steps will connect you to the physical world and give you a sense of control and power.
Each of these five habits will help you care for your emotions. You may want to incorporate all five into your daily routine, or you may want to try a different one every day. Either way, you’ll find they help you to be present and feel good about who you are as you move through all the challenges and excitement that high school has in store.
