By Deanna L. Garwol
It’s no secret that being a college student is taxing. Balancing challenging and thought-provoking courses with heavy workloads, a social schedule full of meetings and events for various organizations, a job, and regularly getting a full night of sleep is more difficult now than ever.
Besides balancing these tasks to the best of our abilities, our Jesuit education calls us to be men and women with and for others. For some students, this means partaking in domestic and international service trips. For others, it means seeking political justice for those who are oppressed. While these acts are essential to expanding our minds and hearts, this core value more importantly and simply calls us to love and meet others where they are in whatever ways we are able.
Aside from service trips and advocacy, embodying what it means to be men and women with and for others occurs in everyday actions. These are the people who make time to listen to peers who are struggling. These are the people who constantly volunteer to help at on-campus events. They do all of this with genuine servant hearts, even if that sometimes means not being able to take a moment for themselves. As those who strive to be men and women with and for others, we do this because we love to make others know that they are deeply , wholeheartedly supported and loved. Yet, we oftentimes forget to take a step back and love ourselves in the same regard.
I will be the first to admit that this is something that affects me. As someone who identifies deeply with being a woman with and for others, I know just how easy it is to fall into a rut of putting self-care on the back burner. As we always seek to do and be more for those who need us the most, we are not taking the necessary time to refill our glasses.
Self-care is not always simply lighting a candle and putting on a face mask, as many blogs and articles may portray it to be. Self care is being mindful of our own wants, needs, and desires and creating the time to enjoy even just a little bit of time with and for yourself. To be true men and women with and for others as modern Jesuit-educated students, we cannot pour out of an empty glass. If we do not take the time to treat our own bodies with the same respect, compassion, love, and dignity we bestow unto others, we will inevitably dim the light that shines brightly within us.
As men and women with and for others, it is time we start asking ourselves, are we making the time to find God in that which brings us peace and joy in the same ways that we find God in serving others? Are we showing gentleness and compassion to ourselves, as we do for those we serve?
Deanna L. Garwol is a communications studies major at Canisius College, class of 2021. She is a retreat intern with Campus Ministry.