Hi everyone, I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe! Sending lots of virtual hugs and positivity 🙂

Thank you in advance, for taking the time to read! I have attached screenshots of what I did for my self-care activities.

The first screenshot is simply a cover page which summarizes how I deal with daily life stressors: nature and my parents. I also chose this design cover because I could somehow sense a hope of radiation through the bubbles during difficult times, my creativity has been acting in my favour these days!

In the second screenshot, you see many pictures from our beautiful campus. Due to severe mental health challenges such as depression and anxiety, I am thankful that as a part of the course, I engaged in a new self-care practice- walking more around campus since I live here because I completely isolated myself last year. The pictures that you see are some snippets from my walks on snowy days, on cloudy and rainy days and also when the sun is out! At times, when I feel stressed I also just look back at these pictures to calm myself down. Breathing in the fresh air and experiencing greenery has been so refreshing and it has helped me feel energized both mentally and physically! I wish to continue with this in the future since it has played a positive impact on my overall well-being.

I am an international student from India, and I am also a first-generation immigrant from my family, this means I am the first to ever move abroad to pursue my undergraduate degree and build a career. It has been a very overwhelming journey and over the past three years, I have faced innumerable challenges, but I am also grateful for the lessons I have learnt and the progress I have made. I am also grateful that I have two most important people with me who continue to support and care for me. In the third screenshot, those are pictures of my mom and dad in India, almost two years ago. I have also attached pictures of my mom (she loves taking pictures, my dad hates it) and just looking at them helps me feel peaceful, I miss them a lot. In the pictures, where you see a little baby in both my parents’ arms, that is me right there. Almost two years ago when I went back home, I took those pictures (and I do plan to take more from my ‘baby album’) which I treasure it with me on my phone. My parents are both working and at times calling each other face-to-face is very hard. So, I save all these pictures including the ones we take back home and when I feel sad and isolated, I look back into these pictures and it always helps me feel a sense of calmness and peace within myself.