As busy college students with fast-paced lives, sometimes people forget what their minds and bodies really need.

This is where the idea of self care comes in. YouTuber Sarah Hawkinson, whose channel boasts over 340,000 subscribers shared her thoughts about the importance of self maintenance for students.

“Self care is asking yourself, ‘What do I NEED right now’ not, ‘What do I need TO DO right now,'” Hawkinson said.

“Whether it be to rest, shower, meditate, clean, or something different,” Hawkinson said. “It’s whatever relaxes you and calms your mental and physical state. It’s also learning to say ‘no’ and putting yourself first. Sometimes selfishness gets a bad rap but it’s absolutely necessary in self care.”

Hawkinson, 27, started her YouTube channel with a focus on beauty and lifestyle. However, over time she started to focus on other topics such as mental health and psychology.

A recent graduate from Sacramento State University in California with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Hawkinson uses the knowledge she gained in school to create informative videos centering on topics of psychology.

The idea of self care has been very popular among the millennial community online, according to Hawkinson. While everyone can benefit from these practices, Hawkinson argues is important for college students to be aware of it as well.

“College students could absolutely benefit from self care,” Hawkinson said. “There’s this mentality in college that you need to maintain a social life, work, and keep a good GPA. There’s also this concept of ‘You can sleep when you’re dead,’ and I strongly disagree with this. You would put physical health first, so why wouldn’t you treat your mental health the same way?”

“Self care to me simply means putting myself first and being kind to myself. It’s a balance between doing what needs to get done and what you want to do,” Hawkinson said. “One of my favorite ways to practice self care is ending whatever work I’m doing by 7 p.m. and then the rest of the night is set aside for me time.”

Senior writing arts major Carly Forgach, said that although she is extremely busy and does not do much in terms of self care, she does manage to make time for it.

“The two things that are a really big part of my self care is doing my makeup and watching ASMR videos to relax before bed. They calm me down immensely,” Forgach said.

Senior psychology major Courtney Kratchwell also tries to makes time for self care, primarily by practicing yoga daily.

“[Yoga] can be challenging to fit into my schedule between class and working full time, but it has become an essential part of my day. Yoga helps me unwind and relieve any built up stress,” Kratchwell said.

Some other ways that Kratchwell practices self care is by making sure she is getting an adequate amount of sleep each night, keeping a journal of everything that she needs to do along with her schedule and choosing who she spends her time with wisely.

“Sometimes people don’t realize that the people who they spend their time with can have a huge impact on them and their health,” she said. “So by choosing wisely and really making sure you are around people that will bring the best out in you is extremely important.”

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