self care

Don’t Forget to Breathe: Learning the Art of Energy Management

by Marissa Mosley, NU Scholar  

Click on our playlist to listen to soothing music as you explore this blog post!

In honor of Public Health Week and April being Stress Awareness Month, we chose to feature a blog written by one of our amazing scholars—Marissa Mosley! Keep reading to learn more about how to manage your energy to promote mindfulness and avoid burnout. Enjoy!

P.S. If you find this topic interesting, check out our Public Health Week Virtual Panel! The panel recording can be found here (passcode: JL+yuu7O). You’ll hear from student leaders across multiple programs as they discuss how culture plays a role in overall health. This year’s Public Health Week focuses on cultural health, community, mental health, food, & nutrition. 🌍

Hiking through the beautiful landscape of Hana, Hawaii, one of my favorite ways to replenish my mental/emotional/spiritual energy. 

We frequently hear of the importance of time management, but very rarely do we discuss the significance of energy management. The perfect plan does little to help us produce results if we lack the energy to follow through. Learning to manage your energy well can lead to greater productivity and a more balanced life. 

It is beneficial to know to what extent certain tasks drain you. In addition to requiring different amounts of energy, various tasks also require different types of energy. To maximize our ability to follow through with our plans, it is important that we understand the primary types of energy that we utilize daily.

If you are struggling to find the energy to take steps toward your goals, you may be depleted in one or more of the following types of energy.

4 Energy Types

  1. Physical: The energy that you use to do anything physical. 
  1. Mental: The energy that it takes to plan, create, contribute to conversations, etc. 
  1. Emotional: The energy that you use to process your emotions and relate to others. 
  1. Spiritual: For those who consider themselves to be spiritual, this is the energy that you use and receive for spiritual purposes beyond the physical.  

4 Tips for Managing Your Energy Well  

  1. Perform an Energy Audit
  • Take notice of your daily rhythms (the times of the day when you generally feel drained, and times of the day when you have the most energy). 
  • Pay attention to which tasks energize you and which ones drain you.
  • Figure out if your current routines are conducive to maximized energy. 

  1. Practically Prioritize
  • Keeping your energy audit in mind, create a priority list for the day. 

  1. Prepare 
  •  Each week, on a high-energy day, take time to prepare for your busy days. 

  1. Don’t Forget to Breathe 
  • Prioritize rest. 

We can take steps toward establishing positive routines and finding balance. As you navigate this chaotic season of life, please remember to take care of yourself. Do not neglect the filling of your energy tanks.

In managing your energy well, you will be better equipped to be a help to both yourself, to those who you love, and to the causes that are important to you.

Let’s keep the mindfulness going! If you use of any of these tips and post about it on your socials, be sure to tag @nationaluniversity and use our hashtags #NUfam and #NUCSEA so we can repost!

To keep up with the Center for Student Engagement and Activities, make sure to check out our Linktr.ee and monthly flyer which can be found on the “What’s NU this Month?” tab at the top of our blog!

community engagement

Women’s History Month, Guided Journaling, Social Media, and More! March Recap 🎉🌻📚

The Center for Student Engagement and Activities has had a busy March! As we’re wrapping up and preparing for the new month ahead, we wanted to share an ICYMI recap of all the fun stuff we’ve been up to!

We started off March by celebrating Women’s History Month with our Leadership Student Organization, OmegaNU. In honor of this year’s theme, Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories, we reflected on those who have helped us in our own journeys and inspire us to tell our stores.

We got competitive in a game of Women’s History Trivia.

And were inspired by these powerful TikToks!

@raquel_willis

Monica Roberts is BlackTransHistory. An awardwinning reporter and founder of TransGriot. #fyp #viral #journalism #womenshistorymonth

♬ emo girl – Machine Gun Kelly & WILLOW

In addition to this, we had the opportunity to support the NU Speaker Series, featuring the Women’s History Month-themed talk: Be Unstoppable by Julie Ducharme. Themes of love, learning from failure, among others were empowering! 

Following our Women’s History Month festivities, we had a Mentoring Webinar with speaker Prince Marshall where we learned how to make meaningful connections, develop as a mentor/mentee, and how to utilize the amazing benefits of our NU Mentoring Network (which you should definitely sign up for if you haven’t already!).

Speaking of webinars, we also had a Social Media Webinar where NU’s very own social media team—Jess Booth and Cloe Rehbein—taught us how to glow up our social media, create a content strategy, and use our social media to grow our personal brands!

If you haven’t already, we definitely recommend you follow NU’s social media channels. If you tag them and use our hashtags #NUfam and #NUCSEA, you might just be featured!

Both our Mentoring Webinar and Social Media Webinar recordings can be viewed right here on our blog under the “Event Recordings” tab.

Last but not least, we also took some time this March to pause and engage with mindfulness through our Guided Journaling Session on self-care. In collaboration with Student Wellness, the Whole Person Center, and our Mind + Body Wellness Student Organization, we reflected on what makes us feel alive, how community shows up for us, and how we can celebrate ourselves.

We had so much fun getting to connect with our students and NU Community this month and we hope you join us next month to continue the conversations, connections, and celebrations!

To avoid missing out on our future events, keep up with us on our CSEA Linktr.ee and be sure to check out the “What’s NU this Month?” page right here on our blog to view our upcoming events and the monthly student club meeting schedule!

adult learner, English learner, Parents

A Mother’s Journey

By: Lara Talib, President of OmegaNU
My mom and I eating breakfast together while we were in Turkey

Every year since I’ve been at National University, I try to write a blog post about Women’s History Month and talk about my immigrant story and how I came to be the person I am, and every year I find it to get harder to condense and articulate. This time, I decided to change up how I wrote this post, and talk about my mother. The woman who literally spoke me back to life when I was born. 

There are a lot of things about my mom that I know, and so much more I believe I’ll never know. My mother was born in Iraq in the 70’s, she had 9 brothers and sisters, liked to read and write, was extremely smart, and easily the favorite sibling if you asked any of her siblings. She would help cook and clean for the family and was super into continuing her education. When I was younger, the coolest thing about her was that her and her siblings were an even number and split down the middle, with five boys and five girls. When I became a teenager, the coolest thing about her was that she was a rebel librarian at her University in Iraq. Now, as an adult, I really understand that the coolest thing about her is that she escaped a war she did not believe in and remained true to herself through and through. 

My dad was an optometrist, and also a rebel, so when they came for my dad to go to war, my dad said absolutely not and my parents decided to flee, knowing that my mom was pregnant with me. They walked hundreds of miles from Iraq to Iran, where I was born on the border in a small little hospital that no longer exists (it was burned down). From Iran they went to Turkey, then from Turkey, they were able to get asylum to the States. I was two by the time Asylum was granted and then we touched down in Arizona, where we stayed until I was about 5. 

My parents and I at one of the safe houses during our escape

When we got here, my mom threw herself into re-educating herself and working odd jobs to help make ends meet. My mom would work nights while my dad stayed with me, and then vice versa. When I started school, my mom also started school. She’d always valued education, and still does to this day (she’s the one that pushed for my Master’s). She took classes to learn how to speak English because her biggest fear was that she wouldn’t be able to communicate with her child if she never learned. 

When we moved to San Diego in 2002, she continued her education at the local community college, and then at SDSU where she got her Bachelor’s in Women’s Studies. This is also the time period she became pregnant and had my brother. Even while pregnant with her second kid, she continued to work odd jobs and go to school. There were times when she worked 2-3 jobs while also doing school and continuing to make time for her family. After SDSU, she found a job working for the International Rescue Committee and a job opportunity came to her, but she needed a Master’s for it. Although she didn’t get that job, it was motivation enough to get her first Master’s at Alliant University. Apparently, getting her Master’s still wasn’t enough. At this point, she was a professor at Grossmont College, teaching Arabic. A few years later,  the Arabic department wanted to start integrating the program into the high schools and she became the first Arabic teacher at the high school level in San Diego. With this, came an opportunity to go back and get a second Master’s in Teaching, which she did… At National University.

My family in Julian 2019
Meet & greet with NU President Dr. Milliron

This is just a brief overview of my mom’s background in two of the most important parts of her life; the escape from her homeland, and the education she values so much. My mom is still a teacher at two local high schools and is working to continue building the program. She is still her siblings’ favorite sister, she is still a reader and a writer. She is still a die-hard feminist, and she is still the best person I know.