By: Christine Augustin, Founder and President of Roots to Ends

Is it sad to say that I didn’t learn the importance of self-care and self-love until I started my undergraduate experience at DePaul?

Hi! My name is Christine P. Augustin and I am a senior at DePaul, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sociology. I am a Peer Health Educator in The Office of Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW), a Psychology Peer Mentor, the founder of Roots to Ends (R2E), Miss Bronze Beautiful 2019 from Bronze Beauty Chicago, a Youtuber, a Natural Hair and Christian Blogger. Yeah, I know. I have my head dipped into many hats but I consider myself a well-rounded student because of this. If you’re a busy student like me, I know it can be hard to remember to take care of yourself. I also know, busy or not, practicing self-care should be a top priority. I believe that without self-care, we are not able to complete daily operations, take care of others, or truly feel happy.

One thing I learned in college is that self-care looks different for everyone. Dominee from Blessing Manifesting created this lovely flow chart showcasing the different types of self-care.

I work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. My only day off is Wednesday. I’d say I’m someone who is in-tune with my spirituality so I start off my day with prayers, either written in my prayer journal or spoken aloud. My prayers include who and what I’m thankful for, the people I care about and asking God to install fruitful gifts. In addition to this, I also pray for energy, strength, patience, peace, and happiness.

“I’ve learned that I gain energy from within so most of my self-care techniques are things I need to do alone.”

After prayer, I listen to gospel music or a motivational podcast as I get ready for my day. Since I am constantly surrounded by people, I make sure to take mental breaks by checking in with my body and my emotions. I also make sure that I bring my reusable water bottle and my lunch with me because when I become very busy, I tend to forget to hydrate and eat.

When I get home from a long day, I am usually socially drained and exhausted. So, I speak aloud and give God thanks. I try not to use my laptop – I make myself dinner and hot tea and then watch a comedy TV show. I am currently watching Workin’ Moms on Netflix and I love it. On my off days and weekends, I force myself to hang out with my friends (I’m a little introverted).

I also like to practice self-care by doing my hair. My hair is a part of my identity and so doing my hair + watching Netflix = happy hair, happy me. I listen and or watch sermons and I also try to go on solo dates with myself and just self-reflect. Sometimes, I will take long, hot showers. I also love retail therapy, so there are random days where I buy something expensive that I wouldn’t normally buy and THAT IS OKAY.

One thing that I have noticed is that your routine of self-care changes continuously and that is OKAY. We change and grow so, what worked out last year might not work this year. We are created to adapt to change so start off making a list of things that you do to take care of yourself and a list of things that you want to start doing and MAKE IT HAPPEN. Again, self-care is important because without that you cannot take care of others. #TakeCareDePaul

Shout out to the Career Center for inviting me to be a guest author for today. Thank you so much for this opportunity!