Secret Sauce to a Successful Week

By: Andrea Lauritsen

It’s Sunday afternoon, you look at your planner and calendar for the week. Your heart plummets just as fast as the rise of cortisol, the chemical responsible for stress. We all know that feeling too well, huh? What if I were to tell you that there is a way to avoid this from happening—a secret sauce if you will. Unlike the delicious Raising Cane’s sauce on Commonwealth Avenue, this sauce is intangible yet immeasurably effective at making the week ahead a lot less daunting.

The first ingredient to the secret sauce is to set time for self-care during the weekend. Even if you cannot give yourself an entire day to enjoy, set a designated time to focus on you. Whether it is reading a new book, shopping for sustainable beauty products at Lush on Newbury Street, or buying yourself a cup of coffee at one of the various Starbucks around campus, give yourself time to relax. So often, we are so busy during the week that we forget to do a physical and mental check-in. By designating time for self-care on the weekend, you are emphasizing the importance of your well-being, which is essential to beginning anything, especially an upcoming school week filled with classes, exams, and study sessions.

The second ingredient is to plan your week ahead of time. Waiting to do anything at the last minute is often very stressful and overwhelming. By planning out your assignments, it forces you to break everything down into the span of your week. This not only puts the pressure associated with procrastination to rest, but it forces you to get a general idea for which days are busiest, so you are not surprised on the day itself.

The third ingredient is to disconnect yourself from your phone. It does not need to be for a long time, but even five minutes of disconnection from the buzzing and beeping is an excellent way to relish in the serenity of the space you are in. While disconnecting, do a breathing exercise or two. This helps release any built-up toxins in our system and is a wonderful way to decompress.

Essentially, the secret sauce is made up of three ingredients—self-care, preparation, and disconnection. When all three are mixed, the final product is a positive attitude and a positive start to a five-day school week and weekend to come.