By KERRIGAN HUTTON
Tiger Media Network
Last Thursday in the Memorial Union Trails Room, students learned how to practice self-care and overall wellness. Students left with goody bags, as well as a deeper understanding of what it means to take care of themselves. The event titled “Self-Care Night” was curated by Social Work club member, Laurel Myers.
During the event, Myers listed the letters of “self-care” in an acronym while students followed along by writing down notes on a guided worksheet – Setting boundaries, Eating healthy, Laughter is good medicine, Fun, Counsel, Affirmations, Reflect, and Exercise/ emotion reset. Myers thought this would help students remember the components better.
To help her, Myers invited her mother, Shelley Myers, a Fort Hays psychology alum to give her thoughts on practicing wellness.
“She’s been very pivotal in my life,” Laurel said. “She’s been practicing self-care her whole life and been helping me learn as I learn.”
Myers and her mother demonstrated different exercises that relieve stress including intentional breathing exercises and focusing muscle groups. For instance, in one demonstration she asked the participants to hold out their arms in front of them while making a fist for 30 seconds. After relaxing, Myers said there should be a feeling of relief from any pent-up stress.
Myers is a senior majoring in social work as well as a certificate in leadership studies. For her leadership class “Field Work in Leadership Studies,” she was assigned to curate a service learning project that helps the community. With help from the Social Work Club, she was able to create an event she felt was meaningful.
“I think it’s important to practice self-care because I think it’s good to normalize it, especially for women,” she said. “There’s a lot of studies that say the majority of women spend less than 30 minutes a day taking time to themselves. I think it’s so important that we spread awareness and know that self-care is a need, not just something we like to do.”
At the end of the event, there was a raffle drawing for three students. Two were drawn that night as well as another drawn a week later after everyone completed the online exit survey to see if the advice had helped. Prizes included magnets with affirmations on them that Myers made herself as well as a skincare kit.
Myers is open to doing events like this again in the future.
“My goal is to host events like these to hold people accountable because I feel that it is so important to have that social element,” she said.
More information about other upcoming events with the Social Work Club can be found on their Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/groups/5059783587/.
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