At Inspirited Living, we’ve noticed that change is in the air! The light is changing …days are shorter, and society is shifting from the lazy hazy days of summer to the busyness of preparing; making ready for back to school. These changes can mean stress for so many of us, especially if new environments, new people, and new experiences have been difficult to navigate in the past.
Has anyone ever said that it’s possible to choose how we approach change?
We actually have an opportunity to choose how we experience new things, new places, new schools, new people. The question is: how can we enjoy the changes, manage our back-to-school stress, and make healthy inspirited choices? Lynne Bryan Phipps, Inspirited Living’s founder has some life advice that helps students of all ages to navigate the changes that starting a new school can bring.
1. Tune-In and Shift Perspective
In her latest short video, Lynne Bryan Phipps, Inspirited Living’s founder has some practical advice for how to manage new school stress from a healthy, inspirited, perspective. Lynne’s starting point is to shift perspective away from “how do I fit?” and “how do I fit everything in?” and even “am I good enough?”
Instead, try asking yourself these questions! How would I pick my classes, make friends, choose my clubs, decide what is for lunch if I asked myself, “what brings me joy?” and “what nourishes me?” How would it feel if you knew it was all going to be okay, and you just needed to listen to your mind, body, and spirit, to choose what feels best for you?
At Inspirited Living, we call that shifting perspective. Inspirited Living is all about choosing what inspires, uplifts, and supports us and our communities. It’s about the deliberate act of choosing joy and choosing to live, with inspirited values at the heart of everything we do. That includes making new friends, deciding what’s for lunch, and even deciding what to study. Here’s 5 more practical steps from Lynne Bryan Phipps to help navigate going back to school from a healthy—inspirited living—perspective!
2. Tune-In and Cuddle Up
What brings you comfort? When we are navigating so many things that are new, we can over-commit our time and over-extend our energy. So, it is really important to build our nest, our place to take comfort in. And, to have tangible reminders that we are safe and loved.
For some people, that means bringing our favorite pillow, our favorite blanket, our childhood toy (the one that has gotten us through EVERYTHING) with us to the dorm room. It’s really important to have something tangible that brings YOU comfort, something that you can bring with you to your new space, that helps you ground or be connected to your home.
Before you go, take a moment to look around your room right now. What do you like to hold on to, what do you like to cuddle up to, what helps you be aware that you are here in this moment? When we are grounded and calm, then we can value the opportunity to grow and to learn. When we feel safe and we comfort ourselves, we can choose to get the most out of the experience.
3. Tune-In: Support Your Quality Sleep
Going back to school can really do a number on our sleep patterns. Late night parties, late night study groups, late night study groups that turn into late night bonding sessions with our new friends! We know that we are supposed to put our screens down an hour before bed, we know that we are supposed to get on a sleep schedule… And, yet, before we realize it, our sleep hygiene has fallen away to the fear of missing out (FOMO!) and we are running on empty every day.
As Lynne Bryan Phipps says on Inspirited Living’s YouTube channel: “We underestimate the power of sleep to create a foundation for us to make more and more healthy choices. We function so much better when we are rested. In addition to helping all that new knowledge settle into our brains, we also have tolerance levels that are higher. When we are away from home, or in a new environment, we are able to approach people and situations from a much better perspective when we have enough rest.”
How do we get better quality sleep so we can better adapt to change? Luckily, some inspirited living mindfulness can help get your mind, body, and spirit back on a quality sleep track.
One of the simplest and most overlooked tools for better quality sleep is to set the scene: instead of collapsing into bed at the end of an exhausted day, ask yourself what a calm, comfortable, nurturing sleep space smells like and feels like? Do you have your pillow or blanket from home? Maybe it is a scent that helps you connect with your home and helps remind you how to slow things down and ground. The Inspirited Living lavender oils, cosmos oil, and even lavender chewing gum, all help us slow things down, cuddle up, and comfort ourselves so we can enjoy the back-to-school transition from a healthy perspective. The simpler and the more comforting the ritual, the more likely we are to make it a habit that supports us!
4. Tune-In: Embrace the Sleep, Nutrition, and Hydration Connection
Now we know that we can set the stage to get enough quality sleep, we can turn our awareness to how we nourish and hydrate our bodies when we are awake. It’s so easy to skip meals, eat poor nutritional-quality fast food, overload on sugar disguised as smoothies to get us through our long days, or forget to hydrate. Sugar, refined carbs, and caffeine seem to be everywhere on school campuses and as we become tired, our best intentions can be overcome by our schedules.
One action to take is to shift perspectives on nutrition and hydration. Start by asking yourself: what would bring me joy today? What delicious, tangy, zingy, soothing, smooth, and beautiful food would nourish all my senses? Do I want a taste of comfort because that helps soothe me? Do I want a little adventure to try a new recipe, new fruit, new dish because that would help me connect to my creativity? Do I want a particular smell, or color, or texture, because that would inspire, uplift, and support me?
When we approach nutrition and hydration from all of our senses, not just the feeling of hunger or the feeling of thirst, we are listening to what nourishes all of us. We can start from what the whole food, whole fruit, whole vegetable looks, tastes, smells, and feels like and then get creative about how to include that in our day. Tiny dorm fridges or shared kitchens might make it difficult to meal prep for a week, but simple choices like whole fruits that keep for a while give us the chance to make healthy nutrition a feast for our eyes, and tastebuds.
5. Tune-in: Turn Towards What Feels Healthy
Quality sleep and healthy food and drink choices are part of pattern of healthy things that will help your body to feel it’s best. And, those practical choices help your mind to feel supported, so you can keep making healthy choices in your new school.
Picking classes and where to live is just one slice of what a new school has to offer. Consciously turning towards what feels healthy for us is vital, too. For some people that means identifying the support that is offered at your new school.
- Is there a mental health service that you can reach out to before you arrive?
- What services does your school have for academic support? Can you find the building?
- When can you sign up for extra tutoring (and meet new friends who are also proactive!)?
- What spiritual and physical activities support your wellbeing? Is it yoga class somewhere calming, away from the crowds?
- Does your school have an emotional support dog who plays with students before exams? A quiet place to meditate and chill?
- Can you spend time with horses and dogs in a natural setting that helps you connect with what feels safe?
We often feel pressure at the start of the school year to commit to everything—to be part of everything! From an inspirited living perspective, you can make a choice to figure out the things that you enjoy and make time for what supports you.
When we are rested and nourished it is so much easier to notice and turn towards what feels inspiring, uplifting, and supportive. We can choose to move towards those experiences and those feelings. We can discover people that are new but also that you feel drawn to. From a mind-body-spirit perspective, those are the people that you’re going to learn the most from, the relationships you’ll get the most out of and the connections that help you grow.
6. Tune-In: Know what’s Enough and What’s Too Much
As we start new courses, and explore new worlds, perhaps the most important piece of new knowledge is about ourselves. We can use our awareness to know what feels like enough, know what feels like too much, and know how it feels when you need more of something.
This is an important shift in mindset. In a social media drenched culture, the world can feel very loud, very bright, very judgmental, and very intense. Only you can listen to your body, your mind, your spirit and know what’s too much for you.
Perhaps you tune-in and realize, “I’ve been with too many people for too long and I can’t see straight.” Or, “I’ve had enough to eat so let’s walk instead of a lunch study break.” Or, “I’ve had enough rest, so I’ll really enjoy cheering my friends on.” When we listen to ourselves, listen to where stress is stored in our bodies, notice when we’ve been taking care of ourselves, we learn limits and honor those limits for ourselves.
The more we learn to pay attention to our bodies and prioritize our wellness, the better experience we’re going to have. Please consider sharing this article with a friend, to support their inspirited journey, too. And, from all of us at Inspirited Living, have a great year!
