Blog: Wellbeing isn’t a performance - students' mental health day encourages moderation

Demands from around you can be exhausting during your studies. Katri Holmi, the Vice Chair of OYY’s board, ponders in her blog how to bring more moderation and rest to everyday life.

This year, the theme of the students’ mental health day is moderation. However, in today’s society, moderation is very far away. It feels like expectations about what should be done come from all sides. You have to take care of your studies, possibly a job on the side, and there are also expectations for free time outside of studies and work. You should actively participate in a hobby or at least take care of your own health, when constantly changing health trends are gaining momentum. You should exercise regularly and sufficiently, you should invest in a healthy diet, and you should also take enough time for relaxation and recovery to be able to work hard.

 

I thought I’d share some of my own considerations regarding moderation. I myself have had to notice in my life how important moderation is. I only understood that when I had briskly completed my life, as I thought it should be done. Now, however, I believe that by nurturing moderation, I can reach a much more pleasant outcome than by constantly hustling.

 

With all these expectations coming from all around, it sometimes feels challenging to keep up. For many, even resting feels like a performance. In such a situation, moderation has been forgotten. For those who see even rest as a chore, the goal may be their own wellbeing and endurance. On a practical level, we are still at the heart of a performance-based and competitive society.

 

A good life is a traditional and down-to-earth endeavor. In a society that swears by efficiency, that too has become a competition. I myself aim for a good life, but I don’t want to achieve it by hustling, but by listening to myself. At the same time, I hope that this also creates space for others to live their lives for themselves – not for expectations from others. Tolerance towards oneself and one’s own incompleteness makes it easier in the pursuit of a good life. By listening to yourself, you are also more likely to achieve a life that is exactly the good life for you, and not just an image of what life should be.

 

What is reasonable for someone depends very much on the person and their current life situation. In my own case, I’ve noticed that it’s time to think about the limits of one’s own moderation if it’s constantly tiring or annoying. If I notice that I have slipped to the side of unrealistic hustle, I try to think about what is really important to me and how I could add nice things to support my wellbeing and energy levels. Sometimes the ”bad” choice of exchanging a day full of studies for the sofa and junk food is the best possible action from the point of view of moderation!

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