Whether you are changing states, towns, or schools you will always be able to find a group of friends no matter where you land on your road to self-discovery.  Between walking into your dorm for the first time and walking across the stage when they hand your diploma, you will develop a new understanding of what friendship means. Your friend group will become a math class you never thought you would have to take. From day one you will have to add and subject friends and also find the strength to rid yourself of toxic relationships. In college, you will help one of your best friends grow, study, build, and handle that nasty breakup; they will never leave your side. Growing up in the adult world it is sometimes hard to figure out what friends really have your back from the ones that are just there for the moment. If you become best friends with who you are than I can promise you will never be lonely. When you move away from your family or being lost in the world of responsibility, self-love could become a thing of the past. An idea that is now a lost pleasure, a self-care routine could change the way you look in the mirror and change the way you look in at your life. You don’t have to climb mountains or cure cancer to be amazing. Here are five ways to create a self-care routine in the easy cozy dorms.

College is a crazy experience. You are pushed out of the nest with new friends, places, and classes; on top of that you are now responsible for finding food to eat. Self–care isn’t going to be high on the priority list when you have other things such as deadlines and college football games to attend, but what would happen if you didn’t have to take any extra time in your day-to-day life to help strengthen your relationship with yourself? First let’s start with the understanding that self-care is the act of taking time for yourself, a point in the day or week where you are caring for the needs that you have at that moment and the time where you are the most important person. Self-care can be broken up in six sections physical, emotional, personal, social, spiritual, and practical. When considering creating your new self-care routine, the best thing to keep in mind that it is personalized to you, that there is no true list you need to follow, to have full control to make this whatever you want it to be.

When building a self-care in your dorm, the ideas may be limited and you may be unaware of options you have available in which to better care for yourself.

1.  Your self-care could start with something as simple as drinking more water each day. When looking for a self-care routine, you should add things that will make your mind and body feel better. So set a goal to drink two liters of water each day. This task is easy to complete and can be added to any pre-existing schedule you may already have.
2.  Other things that you could add into your routine that will help your mental mindset are things such as journaling. This is something that can added into your morning or evening routine. When journaling you can write anything from a recap of your day; some way to piece your feelings together when you are away from a familiar setting. You could also take a few minutes out of your day to write a list of things that you are grateful for. Journaling could help you sort out your emotions and deal with the transition of starting the college year.
3.  If you are looking for a self-care routine to help build a new-found love for yourself and a super easy way to kick start a new way of viewing yourself is to put lights up around the mirror in which you look at yourself. Trust me, this might sound stupid but if you change the lighting in which you look at yourself, then over time it will help bust the love you feel for yourself. DIY your room with your dorm with some fairy lights and watch the self-love and self-discovery grow on its own.
4.  Another building block to loving yourself is even easier than the last. Right before you walk through the door and start your super busy adult life, look in the mirror and say one thing you love about yourself. Complimenting yourself is one of the hardest things to do for we are our biggest critics. Look in the mirror and just tell yourself that you are beautiful, smart and deserving of LOVE!
5.  When in doubt dance it out! Being an adult is tough and everyone knows that, so give yourself a break. By yourself or in a group just dance, let yourself take a moment away from reality and just groove to whatever music happens to play when you click shuffle. The truth behind this is to just have fun and give yourself a space to store all your stress and frustrations that college or the real world may in tale.

“I have to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent, caring for myself is an act of survival”

– Audre Lorde