How I, a College Student with Depression, have Found Better Mental Health
Hi, I have depression. It’s nice to meet you. I recently started school at Western Washington University up in Bellingham, WA. Shortly after getting here, I went to the Queer Resource Center’s Ice Cream Social event with a friend of mine. Neither of us are… particularly social people on our own, and I also can’t say that either of us have been doing well with our mental health up here. It’s been a struggle for both of us, and even more so with so few people we have connections with in a new environment.
While I was at that event, though, I met a lot of really cool people, and so did my friend. I haven’t kept up with any of the people I met there, but that night really changed how I approached meeting people and taking care of myself here.
I decided to start looking into how students can take care of themselves, generally be happy and healthy, and in what ways they can change their habits to do that better. I found some pretty simple things that almost any college kid can do to improve their wellbeing and maybe start to feel a little better.
1. Talk to people!
I found that someone just talking to people about what’s going on in their life was one of the best and easiest ways to feel better. And easier said than done, right? But at the end of the day, you’ve gotta realize that there are so many people out there going through the same things that you’re going through (Like me!), and that most of those people are just as willing to be your friend as you are to be theirs. You aren’t the only one struggling to find friends to talk to.
I’d also add that there are more people struggling than you might realize, too. As much as 1/10 students reported frequently feeling depressed to the 2015 CIRP The American Freshman survey, and more than 1/3 reported frequently feeling overwhelmed. So, chances are, if you start a conversation with someone, even if they aren’t experiencing what you are, they know someone else who is and will understand.
2. Relax!
Sometimes, you just gotta chill. It’s not the end of the world if you take a little bit of time off of working on your assignment to watch an episode of that show you’ve been catching up on, or hang our with your friends. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you need a break, you’re probably not working very well anyways. A little break can do wonders for the quality and speed of your work, and you’ll feel better and more motivated. See? It’s just the responsible choice!
3. Take Care of your Body!
It’s hard to feel good mentally when you haven’t taken a shower in a few days, when it’s been 16 hours since the last time you ate, or when the most active thing you’ve done in the last 2 weeks is walk to class and back. Just take a minute once a day and think: “What does my body need right now?”. If you can just keep track of that sort of thing, your mental health will probably start to follow at least a little bit. At the very least you won’t need to do that thing anymore, so there’s that.
While I know that a lot of what I just said seem like obvious things, they’re important. And believe me that I know these things won’t fix everything. I saw a therapist for two or three years in high school, and I still feel pretty awful most of the time. I know that what helps me the most personally, and what a lot of research I found pointed to, though, was those three things. They aren’t miracle fixes, but they help.
