UNC Healthy Heels

Ideas for How to Best Use Well-being Days

The recurring well-being days offer UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus breaks from classes to focus on mental health and overall wellness, and the first one of the semester is next week (on 9/5 and another on 9/25). For some, these days may add more stress – the typical rhythm of your routine is disrupted, you may fear that you’re missing out on fun activities, or you might just not know what to do with the extra time. We encourage you to use the extra time for YOU! Some ideas:

Reflect

Take some time to calm your mind, draw inward, and think deeply about your health and well-being. Be honest with yourself – it’s not about how you should feel. Consider what currently is feeding you, creating stress, pushing you past your comfort zone, getting you where you want to go, and connecting you with warm relationships. You could meditate, journal, go for a reflective walk or run – just take time to slow down and focus on your needs.

Do Self Care

• Sleep. Go to sleep a bit earlier and wake up when your body is ready.
• Eat. Use your extra time today to focus on eating yummy, nutrient-dense foods. Cook yourself (and your friends?) an amazing meal or gather people you adore at a favorite place to eat.
• Move your body. Spend time doing an activity that you like. Choose something that feels just right for today – you don’t have to push yourself hard, but take the time to do something active that you love.
• Relax. Read something for fun. Watch a show you enjoy. Snuggle under a blanket. Do something that lets your body and mind rest and recharge.
• Switch things up. Well-being days can be an opportunity to get away from campus. Explore a new trail, travel somewhere fun, make memories with your on-campus friends somewhere besides Carolina.

Set Up Your Environment for Success

How can you improve the environment of your space on the well-being day to better support your health for the rest of the semester?

• Bring in more sunlight. Move your workspace as close to the window as possible, strategically place mirrors, pull open curtains during the day.
• Remove clutter. Get rid of what no longer serves you and keep things that bring you joy. Start small – pick one drawer to clean out today.
• Incorporate your senses. Plants, art, photos of people or places you love, good smells, calming sounds – all of these can help you feel grounded, connected, and less stressed.

Help Someone Else

If you have the capacity for it, a well-being day is also a great time to support the people around you and strategize for broader impact.

• Support a friend. Do you know someone who has had a tough time recently? Reach out to them today to check in. Invite them to do something you both enjoy.
• Serve others. Choosing to help others also benefits the helper! Volunteering is an act of self-care and offers many benefits for your health including finding a sense of purpose and passion. And of course it also helps an organization or another individual! Seek out service opportunities on your well-being day if you can.
• Consider your communities. Use your influence for good in the spaces where you have some control. Consider how you can adjust to better offer structure, infuse flexibility, create a safe atmosphere, allow time for self-care, and advocate for systemic shifts in well-being on campus and in your groups.
• Learn and advocate. Use some of your day learning to be a better mental health supporter and advocate. Visit the Heels Care Network and explore to better understand the mental health resources available and how you can help. Consider connecting with an organization or training to be a better advocate.

The well-being day is for YOU to help yourself meet your needs, and if you have the capacity – a great time to help address the well-being of all community members. We are in this together here at Carolina. Thank you for being a part of our community of care!