I started a new placement for my master's degree a couple of weeks ago. It has been exciting but also exhausting. The first weekend after starting, I had so many plans. My first thought was to push through and go to everything. I said I was going to go so I needed to get there.

Then I did something totally unthinkable for me. I said no to everything. I literally just didn't go to a single event so I could stay at home.

I felt so incredibly guilty. It's funny because I can tell other people to put themselves first and to take care of themselves. But how hard is it to take our own advice? I literally sat there in guilt for so long. Every once in a while I would try to convince myself to go anyways. I kept telling myself "it doesn't matter if you're tired, you're missing out!" And man, does social media ever let you know what you're missing out on.

Even though I didn't enjoy staying at home as much as I could've because of the intense feelings of guilt and FOMO, my body thanked me for the time off. It made me want to consciously make an effort to schedule one weekend of nothingness a month. I might miss out on something. But I would rather have the energy to enjoy the things I go to than drag myself to every single event.

I’m also going to try and be kinder to those who skip out on plans last minute. It doesn’t mean that they don’t want to spend time with me. Maybe it just means that they need to only spend time with themselves.