How To Participate
Scroll down to read our key messages, hear from experts in the field, try a new health behavior, and submit your reflection to earn your free t-shirt and enter the raffle for a 1 year subscription to Headspace.
Key Messages
Back to Basics: Breathe, Set Boundaries, Sleep Enough, Eat to Nourish, Stay Active
Relationships Matter: Invest in and connect with yourself and others
Problem Solve: When life happens, it's normal to feel discomfort. Work through it.
Give Yourself Permission: It's okay to ask for help
Own It: Acknowledge stress exists and know it can be managed
Plan for It: Arrange 'B' messages to fit your lifestyle (BSilly, BAuthentic, BGenerous, BNourished, BCalm, BActive, BConnected, BBalanced, BRested, BOrganized)
Reframe it: Be mindful, identify negative thinking patterns, and practice positive self-talk
Make Stress Your Friend: Visualize stress as a postive influence on getting through challenges
Assess: Be mindful of where you spend your time and evaluate the outcomes of your time investment
Prioritize: Time is elastic, it will stretch to accomodate what you choose to put in to it so determine what matters
Plan: Look a week ahead and plot your academics, self-care, and social life, to be flexible think 168 hours, not 24
Stop and Breathe: Create a center of awareness by accepting what is true of the present moment
Adjust and Assess: Reframe the problem from a more positive presepctive and take action towards something tangible
Dig Deep: Practice self-care, self-compassion, and reach out to your support system to help you through challenges
Listen
What messages do you receive related to your mind and emotional health?
Listen to these new perspectives, reframing the way we think about our health with the hope of cultivating more balance in our life.
Mental Health
In a society that's uncomfortable with emotions it can be hard to ask for help. Join us in ending the stigma of mental health by listening to Sangu Delle share how being honest about our emotions is not weak - it’s what makes us human.
TED Talk: Confessions of a Depressed Comic
BC Podcast: Let's Talk Mind & Mental Health
Resilience
Video: Listen to poems of resilience. Emi Mahmoud shares original poems about escaping the genocide in Darfur, talking about refugees, family, joy and sorrow, and asking, “Will you witness me?”
TED Talk: What trauma taught me about resilience
BC Podcast: Introducing Resilience
Stress
Stress is often made out to be the public health enemy, but research shows that not all stress is bad for you. Watch Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk to learn how to see stress as a positive influence on your life.
Ted Talk: How to stay calm when you know you will be stressed
BC Podcast: 12 myths about stress
Time
There are 168 hours in each week. How do you find time for what matters most? Listen to time management expert Laura Vanderkam share practical strategies to help "build the lives we want in the time we've got."
Ted Talk: Why our screens make us less happy
BC Podcast: Trying to form a new habit? Start small.
Do
Are you willing to do an experiment to help you feel better about your mind and emotional health?
We would like to challenge you to try something new in the hopes of building new skills for your toolbox.
Mental health can affect your daily life, relationships, and even physical health. Challenge the effects:
- Think, Write, Talk: Think about what's been occupying your mind, taking up space, and making you feel not so great - maybe it's a pervasive negative thought you have. Write it out and get your thoughts on paper - including a strength you possess that helps you reframe and get through these times. Then talk to someone about what you’re struggling with and be honest - whether it be a friend or professional, have a genuine conversation about how you are feeling and what you need.
Rest: It requires more than just sleeping. Read about the 6 types of rest you need. Staying busy is easy, but resting has become a challenge. Pick 2 ways you plan to rest this week and reflect on whether it helped you bring a feeling of control back to both your body and mind.
Resilience means knowing how to cope in spite of setbacks, or barriers, or limited resources. Practice emotional strength:
- Dig Deep with Self-care: Take care of yourself, yes this absolutely includes finding time to eat, sleep, and exercise and it also requires more than tending to your basic needs, it includes nurturing yourself with love and appreciation. Self-care is power, it is “an act of self-preservation” and buffers against stressful life events. Dig Deep and take the radical Self-Care checklist, see what you want to include more of.
- Savor the Positive: Spend 10 minutes bringing yourself into the moment to fully enjoy a present positive experience, spend time reminiscing about a past positive experience, think about what you're looking forward to, or appreciate and acknowledge what’s going well in your life. You may also choose to do something that completely captures and engages your attention - something you can lose yourself in, rather than something that lets you tune out.
Stress is defined as the way we respond to our environment or an event that happens; how we perceive a situation. Challenge your perceptions:
- Conquer Your Fears: What actions have you been putting off because you’re worried about what might happen? Read the article and complete the fear-setting worksheet. In the ‘Define’ column list out some of your biggest worries at the moment. In the ‘Prevent’’ column, write out what you might be able to do to prevent each thing from happening. In the ‘Repair’ column brainstorm things you could do to fix it if your worry came true.
Reframe Stressors: Since stress is a perception, we can perceive it as a threat or challenge. Turn a stressor or problem into a challenge: pick something that’s causing you stress and ask yourself how you can change the way you think about it. Read the common thought traps and identify where you may be getting stuck. How can you approach your stressor as a challenge/opportunity to learn and grow? What would you do differently? Write it down.
Time is elastic, it will stretch to accommodate what you choose to put in it. Determine where you spend your time and what matters:
- Fast From Media: Staying on task can be challenging when you are surrounded by constant distractions, just one click away. Go on a media fast for 2+ hours. See what it’s like to unplug from all electronics for a couple hours during your day. That includes your laptop, phone, TV, really anything that connects you to the outside world. Or maybe you want to try cutting out social media for 1 week. See how much time you have to dedicate to other components of your life, and how it improves your mental focus.
- Focus, One thing at a Time: Multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. Juggling multiple tasks cuts down on productivity and makes it harder to hone in on the important details. It's more about energy and attention management than time management. Make checklists and short-term goals - write down the top priorities for each day and address those things first. Set a time limit for each task: if you plan to do something for a certain amount of time, set an alarm to make sure you follow through. Give your full attention to what needs to get done and focus on staying present.
Reflect
What have you learned as a result of listening to new perspectives and engaging in new practices related to your emotional health? Submit your reflection to receive your free giveaway and be entered into the raffle for Apple Airpods!
Let's Talk More...
We want to help you find joy in your journey, wherever you’re at. We have many resources within OHP and throughout campus to continue this conversation—we’re here to listen, reflect, and help you set and achieve health goals that feel intuitive, sustainable, and balanced.