Fostering Community, Author at Fostering Community

5 Self-Care Tips to Practice This Exam Season

Since we are getting close to the end of the year, things are starting to get busy. With exams coming up for students, end of the year reports, or an influx of customers, it can be a very stressful time for a lot of people. The best thing you can do to prevent getting overwhelmed during this time is to take care of yourself. You can do this by checking in on your mental health, resting, and doing activities that bring you joy. Canadian Association for Mental Health (CAMH) has a fantastic infographic “Six Ways to Practice Self-care” which you can find here.

Here are 5 self-care tips that can help you get ahead of your stress:

Eat Healthy & Drink Water

It is important to make time for eating, even if you feel like there’s no time to take a break and finish studying. If you find that it’s difficult to remember to eat at the right times, you can try creating a plan and setting alarms or reminders on your calendar. Drink lots of water and have snacks throughout the day.

Get a Good Sleep

Sleep is necessary when we’re trying to use a lot of brain power. If you find that you do not have enough energy to get you through the day, check in with yourself about how much sleep you’re currently getting and if you could use more. 7-9 hours of sleep is a good amount of time to aim for.

Slow it Down

Take breaks! Your brain needs small breaks throughout the day so that you don’t overwhelm yourself. You could take some time to go for a walk, get a coffee, or listen to music. Believe it or not, it can help you get more work done when you take small breaks throughout the day.

Move Your Body

Sometimes going for a walk or doing a short activity that makes you move around can be beneficial. This can help release endorphins, which can help reduce stress. Even if you don’t feel like going outside, you should try your best to move throughout the day.

Socialize

Talk to your friends, housemates, or family when you can. Sometimes when we feel sad, we isolate ourselves. It can help reduce stress to talk to people you enjoy hanging out with and to surround yourself with your support system however you can.

Try some of these tips if you find yourself struggling to get your school work done, complete projects, and can’t seem to find time to relax. From exam season to the holidays, this can be an incredibly stressful time.

Education Support for Youth in and From Care

Are you a current youth in or from care looking for help with education? At Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, we truly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to pursue their education. The Foundation offers various programs that can help youth with application fees, scholarships, bridging programs, and more.

Check out the following programs that the Foundation offers:

Scholarships – If you are planning on attending a college, university, or trade program, consider applying for a scholarship through Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada. You can get up to $5000 for the academic year. Find out more details here or contact Amanda Ball aball@cafdn.org.

Bursaries – If you are planning on attending a college, university, or trade program, consider applying for a bursary through Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada. You can receive up to $2000 per academic year. Check out the details here or contact Amanda Ball aball@cafdn.org.

Campus Tours – If you are interested in touring the campus of a university or college and would like support, contact our youth employment mentor Asifa Malik asmalik@torontocas.ca.

HSBC Youth Opportunity Fund – Youth under the age of 26 who are (or were) in permanent care in Canada can apply for the HSBC Youth Opportunity Fund. This provides youth with an individual grant for education or employment goals such as tutoring for college or university, application fees, high school upgrading, and more. Learn more here or contact Jasmine Yiweza at jyiweza@cafdn.org.

3 of the Best Free Virtual Skill-Building Resources

Would you like to further your interests and skills using virtual skill-building resources? If you like to learn and keep your brain active, we’ve got you covered! For those subjects you love or that topic you want to learn more about, virtual resources can help you. From biology to history, you can expand your knowledge through interactive lessons.

Check out these 3 free virtual skill-building resources:

1. Use Codecademy to learn computer science, coding, and web development. You can take lessons in HTML/CSS, Python 2, JavaScript, Java, and more. Codecademy’s free and interactive courses offer you the opportunity to explore courses about skills you might be interested in pursuing further.

2. Visit TED, a non-profit organization that aims to make great ideas accessible and create conversation. These ideas are primarily in the form of short talks, under 18 minutes. This is a great resource to expand your knowledge of current events, hear advice from professionals, and listen to inspiring stories.

You do not need to create an account to access content on the site, however there are options for a paid membership.

3. Khan Academy offers free world-class education for everyone through a set of virtual tools. This organization produces short lessons in math, biology, history, economics, grammar, and more, in the form of practice problems, articles, and videos.

There are different levels of education with many topics in each. You can create an account or browse courses without one.

I have been taking the first year university course on world history, which is easy to follow. I enjoy watching the video lessons the most, so I recommend trying one if you find a subject that you’re interested in.

How To Get Comfortable Spending Time with Yourself

It’s a Thursday night, you’ve finished your schoolwork for the day and your friends are busy until the weekend. So, what do you do? You could pick up an old hobby or maybe cook a big meal, but it’s just not the same. It can feel upsetting when you can’t do what you wanted to, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t find something fun to do!

Whether it’s rest, relaxation, or fun, spending time with yourself doesn’t have to be boring. Betterhelp shares helpful tips to become more comfortable spending time with yourself. Here are some highlights:

Plan Ahead

Come up with a plan on how you want to spend your time. This ensures you know what you’re going to be doing. This can also benefit people who enjoy checking off to-do lists. For example, write down your plans on a calendar like this:

A calendar with an "x" on some days, and on one square there are the words "read comic books!" with a red circle around it.

This is simple and gets the point across. You don’t need to plan it like a meeting, but it is helpful to know what activity you’re thinking of trying.

Start Slow

Since this might be out of your comfort zone, it could feel a little awkward at first. Spend time alone in small time frames at first to avoid overwhelming yourself and giving up. Spend some time doing activities by yourself that you typically do not (for me this would be shopping at the mall or playing Mario Kart), and with time you will feel more comfortable doing things alone. This doesn’t mean you have to do things alone, this is just to help you feel more comfortable for when you do these things on your own.

Text that reads: "good things take time".

Try Something New

Trying new things can be scary, but it is also a great way to keep your mind busy. If you have always wanted to try doing a Rubix cube, borrow or buy one, start watching a YouTube tutorial, and give it a go! This is ideal for people who dislike awkward silence or tend to overthink when your brain is not active. If you feel nervous thinking about eating at a restaurant alone or seeing a movie by yourself, you don’t have to try this yet, remember to start slow first.

A chess board with a hand holding a brown pawn chess piece knocking over a white king chess piece.

Use the Time to Relax

This is the perfect opportunity to use your time to rest and relax. This could be taking a bath, putting on your favourite playlist, or going for a walk. If you’re always on the go and feel like you don’t have enough time to just recuperate, this could be a great way to spend your night.

A person in a hammock with a hat over their face and a book on their lap. They seem to be napping.

Take the time you need for yourself and try your best to enjoy it. Being alone can feel unsettling, but it is also a great time to reflect and learn more about yourself. You deserve to have a good time relaxing, reading comic books, solving a Rubix cube, and doing everything that brings you enjoyment.

Learn How to Manage Your Time with #bytelearning

Learning bytes are short courses, typically no more than 6 minutes, that are designed to be easy to digest. You can search Rumie’s library for the topics you would like to learn, then choose a course and start learning!

This week’s #bytelearning follows the theme #lifeskills. Take a look at the following learning bytes to learn how to better manage your time:

Find Your Work-life Balance begins with a reflection on your daily tasks, then helps you find a way to create a balance between work, school, and fun.

4 Strategies to Help You Find a Balance Between Your Part-time Job and School Work shares the best ways to find time for you, how to build a support system, and how to plan ahead.

How Can I Stay Organized with Multiple Project Timelines? This learning byte teaches you how to organize and manage your timelines through planning, prioritizing tasks, and rewarding yourself.

Rumie Initiative is technology company, a nonprofit organization, and a Canadian registered Charity. Check out the website here.

“We fill the gap between what you learned at school and what it takes to succeed by building the habit of lifelong learning.” – Rumie Initiative.

How Much Money Should I Be Saving?

The easy answer is as much as you need to feel comfortable and confident that you could pay your bills if an emergency happened. This is not always ideal or realistic though (especially with the current cost of living and inflation). I would start by saving as much as you can, for example $100 a month or 10% of each paycheck.

It can help to set goals, so that you can hold yourself accountable for the reasons you’re saving. I am planning to go to Europe with my friend next year, so I have started saving about $150 a month to prepare. Remember that your goals can fluctuate and so can your financial plans. So, if you find that your current savings plan is not working for you, try changing it up.

Here are some steps you can take to learn about saving:

Financial Literacy Training

Take control of your financial knowledge and learn about planning, saving, and more! This is a great way to keep yourself informed, especially in conversations about finances. Register for Financial Literacy Training with Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada here or contact Jasmine Yiweza at jyiweza@cafdn.org for more information.

Make an Appointment with a Financial Advisor

Book an appointment with a financial advisor at your bank for free. A financial advisor can help you with planning for the future, answer your questions about saving, and provide insight on investing. Many of these things do not need to be on your mind all at the same time, but it is important to remember that there are professional services for free that you can access when you’re ready.

Try These Budget Tools

Creating a budget can help when you are learning to save. This can help you track your spending so that you don’t have to use your savings if you don’t need to. Try the following tools to create a budget:

Mint, a free budgeting app you can download on your phone

Budget Planner, a free budgeting tool from the Government of Canada