This article was first published in August 2018.
You know it: life can be stressful.
Getting your results, applying for jobs, taking resits… All this can leave you tearing your hair out. You might feel too drained to do much, and that’s totally fine. However, entertainment and distraction are as important as resting. We’ve asked our coaches for their advice on all things self-care, with a sprinkle of tips on how to keep your self-confidence up.
In this short film, our coaches give their tips on how to up your self-care and self-confidence game.
"One thing that affects your efficiency and how well you're working is that downtime. If you look at any successful person, in whatever field you look at, they have something that they like to spend time doing outside of their work or their career. It's very important to find what it is for you."
"I'm partial to the occasional video game, but that really helped me. You don't have to be into video games. It can be drawing, it can be running, it can be exercising, playing sports, anything you like."
"I would recommend sports. Scientifically, sports are proven to improve your mood and health and well-being, so have something like that and it'll complement your work.
"Just make sure you have a schedule of 'this is when I'm working, this is when I'm revising, this is when I'm enjoying myself and relaxing'."
"Make sure you've got that time to yourself, as well as to revise. It's really up to you, but you need to find something you enjoyand then you can use the set of skills that you've learned from that in other places to help develop your own confidence. If you're like me, you're probably never going to be confident. Sorry to break it to you, but you're probably never going to be totally confidentin absolutely everything you do. Definitely, definitely fake it until you make it!"
If you’re not feeling quite right:
- Before you do anything else, check in with yourself: are you sleeping well? Are you eating the right things? Have you seen and spoken to other people in the past few days?
- Don’t deny yourself some fun! Whether you’re revising, planning for your first year at uni, or you have a deadline you can’t miss: you can’t work all the time. Don’t feel guilty about having some downtime
- But don’t confuse self-care with sitting mindlessly in front of a screen. That’s OK for a limited amount of time, but your brain and soul also need time with friends and family, being in nature, and meaningful me-time
- Everyone feels inadequate from time to time, but low self-esteem can be really upsetting. Every time you think something like: “I can’t do this”, challenge those thoughts. Would you speak to your best friend like that? You probably wouldn’t, so be your best friend!
- If you’ve tried giving yourself some TLC and you’re still not feeling great, talk to your GP – they will be able to help.
If you need support
You should always tell someone about the things you’re worried about. You can tell a friend, parent, guardian, teacher, or another trusted adult. If you're struggling with your mental health, going to your GP can be a good place to start to find help. Your GP can let you know what support is available to you, suggest different types of treatment and offer regular check-ups to see how you’re doing.
If you’re in need of in-the-moment support you can contact , where you can speak to a counsellor. Their lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are more links to helpful organisations on ±«Óătv Action Line.
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