relaxation

Social Success

Contributing Author, Vanessa Lewis, the Student Services Manager, and is known for her sunny smile, warm welcomes, and for rescuing Charlie, the famous UAMS Cat.

Where do we find success? How do we find success? There is a perfect Webster definition for success yet I do believe how we personally define success is diverse. How we measure success can be multifaceted. When I think of success there are varying levels of success in my life. If I set a daily goal to drink 64 ounces of water and I do it, I feel like that is a small goal that I achieved! Bam! Success!

My Goal of Social Success

I was once told that I always had a frown on my face that made me look too serious and unapproachable. Whoa, that stunned me because I never thought I looked too serious. Immediately, I set a goal to smile more and strive to have a friendly presence. I made the term up in my head, “social” success! Now, years later I have people telling me that I am like their sunshine and I smile all the time. Bam! Social Success! These are just simple examples of some personal successes that I make every effort to accomplish daily. The method of small attainable goals can lead to empowerment for the larger life achievements. I acquired the confidence to start making strides toward weekly, monthly, and yearly goals.

Find Your Social Success

This juncture in your student life, I am asking you to implement your very own “social” success. Get more involved in what Campus Life and Student Services has to offer. Come network with your peers in the UAMS Student Center. It is a great place to have study groups, coffee, lunch, or relax in a peaceful atmosphere. This Valentine’s Day we will have a steel drummer playing love songs while you enjoy free refreshments. Next, you can manage March mania by going to a free event at Painting with a Twist on March 2nd. Furthermore, March and April we are extending the Student Center hours from 4 pm to 6 pm for your pleasure of studying together. This may be a small step you take with astounding social success results!

Enjoy Winter Break

With finals over,students are ready to rest and enjoy the Winter Break. It’s important to take time to have fun and relax so you can begin strong when the new semester starts, so here are four ways you should take care of yourself over the winter break.

Take Care of Your Physical Self

No doubt you want to have some fun during your break, but take time to get some rest and relax. You don’t want to return in January more tired than you were when you left. During the crunch of finals, many students don’t take time for meals or eat enough of the right foods. What you put into your body is important, so refuel your body by making good food choices. And, make time to exercise. While it is tempting to lay around watching movie marathons on Netflix, exercising consistently for thirty minutes three to six times a week will increase your ability to be proactive when you return to campus instead of reacting to all the outside forces around you. As a bonus, all the endorphins you produce will help you enjoy your break even more.

Take Care of Your Brain

After all the studying and preparing you do before your finals, you may think that you just need to empty your brain for a while. What you want to do it feed it; or more specifically, feed the creative side of your brain. Let’s face it; almost all your finals required you to use the left side of your brain. You had to practice logical thinking, accuracy, and analysis, and all that brain work has left you exhausted. To refresh your brain do something creative. Read a book, just for fun. Write in your journal, or blog, or just a letter to a friend or family member. Paint something, take some pictures, build in Minecraft, sing and dance, or play some video games. Do something that requires you to be intuitive, subjective, random, and creative. Rest the left side and enjoy engaging the right side of your brain.

Take Care of Your Spirit

Taking care of your spirit means to reconnect to your value system and the things that inspire you. This is a very personal form of renewal and people do it very differently. Some people immerse themselves in distinguished literature or surround themselves with great music. Others head outdoors to communicate with nature. Still others refresh their spirit through prayer and meditation. Whatever method you use, take the time to reconnect and recommit yourself to those things that inspire and uplift you.

Take Care of Your Emotional Self

Take some time to heal after the stress of finals. Spend time with people you enjoy: with family and friends who make you feel loved and secure. Perform at least one act of service, especially an act of anonymous service, where you will gain nothing more than the satisfaction of helping others. Make a difference to someone else on a small way. As humans, doing something that is meaningful and beneficial to others brings out the best in us and renews our emotional self.

You will find that the best self-care comes through finding the balance in each of these four areas. So enjoy your Winter Break, relax, and we will see you when you return in January.

Come Outside: Green Spaces at UAMS

Ever find yourself inside on one of those glorious warm sunny days when nature seems to beckon us to come outside? Maybe, like me, you weren’t raised in the city, and you need some fresh air and a chance to stretch your arms and inhale and exhale deeply. Maybe you miss the the chatter of the critters and the sounds of human living going by. It’s rejuvenating (it makes us young again) to smell the delightful aromas of the blooms or of a just-passed rain—you can almost taste the dewy sweetness. How nice to be caressed by the gentle massage of a breeze, to see green plants and birds on the wing, butterflies at a blossom. But, we live in a mini-city of concrete high rises and technological marvels. It’s not so easy to get outside and breathe free.

There are some green spaces around UAMS, don’t you know. Tucked here and there are some spaces where you might decompress for a few moments. You might even take your studies and work outside. I’ve located and noted places around the campus with benches, in some cases tables and shade. For the most part, these are also green spaces designed with a variety of plant life and often soothing water feature backdrops. Come outside and enjoy.

Green Spaces at UAMS

The gardens among the campus buildings behind the student center and the COPH building. There are 3 outdoor spaces, each of which is lined with greenery and includes benches:
- Between building 4A and building 5A.
- Between building 7A and buildings 2 and 3, next to 5A.
- Between building 7A and 6A, this is the “Legacy Garden.”
There are some shaded tables and chairs outside the student center (around the side of the building from the entrance).
There are benches on the hill behind and above I. Dodd Wilson building.
There are some shaded tables and chairs outside the Resident Hall Administrative Services building.
There are several balconies with tables and chairs in Rahn Education building. The largest (also the most used) is outside the Metro Deli 2 indoor seating area. It appears to me that there are balconies facing north toward the Hillcrest area, facing east toward downtown, and facing West.
The UAMS Garden, also called the Chancellor’s Garden on Campus Drive outside the Chancellor’s suite and accessible from the sidewalk on Campus Drive.
There are shaded tables and chairs outside the cafeteria which is located on the ground floor of the Central Building. There are often several people in this area, eating and visiting so it may not be as conducive to study and quiet.
The Healing Garden outside the Gathering Place café on the first floor of the Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
Off the first floor lobby of the hospital toward parking one and looking toward the VA center there are some outdoor benches.
Outside of the Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI) there is a small green garden space with bench seating.

The weather appears to be moving slowly toward cooler Autumn. It’s a good time to be outside.

Hot Summer Days

There are many summer activities to enjoy on the beautiful rivers, lakes, trails, and mountains here in Arkansas. However, with temperatures climbing up to triple digits, it’s wise to be sun-safe, and take a few precautions.

Heat-related illnesses can affect anyone, so it’s best to follow these tips to avoid dehydration, heat-stroke, and other heat-related illnesses.

Drink plenty of water or other non-alcoholic beverages. You want to try to get more fluid in than you are losing.
Wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing that is light in color;
Reduce strenuous activities or do them during the cooler parts of the day, like before 10:00 am or after 4:00 pm.

Being sun-safe also means avoiding sunburn and limiting your exposure and protecting your skin. The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays can cause damage to the skin, eyes and immune system, and can also cause cancer.

Stay in the shade, especially during midday hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), when UV rays are strongest and do the most damage.
Cover up with clothing to protect exposed skin. Wear a hat with a wide brim to shade the face, head, ears, and neck.
Wear sunglasses that provide UV protection.
Use sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher, and reapply it every two hours after being in the water or exercising and sweating.

UAMS has resources to help you beat the heat as you enjoy summer fun. Learn more about staying safe in the sun in Don’t Sizzle this Summer from Living Healthy. You will find more information about heat related illnesses from Here’s to Your Health. Stay sun-safe and enjoy yourself this summer.

Embrace Nerding Out

Nerding Out

When you know a lot of information about something unusual, usually nerdy, and express it with great enthusiasm. Urban Dictionary

I have a life-long habit of nerding out. Over the years the subjects have ranged from the films of Clark Gable, to the Plantagenet kings and queens of England, to women’s clothing in the 19th Century. I would become fascinated by these topics, reading everything I could get my hands on, and then I’d see the films, visit the castles, or recreate the clothing. I would talk about these subjects in mind-numbing detail, driving my friends and family crazy.

In the last six months, I have been nerding out over the Hamilton soundtrack (Lin-Manuel Miranda is brilliant!) and the Star Wars novels. I have lots of company in my obsession with Hamilton. It’s THE hot musical right now, and people are really into it. Since it is so popular, it doesn’t really fit the definition of nerding out.

It’s a bit more embarrassing to admit nerding out over the Star Wars novels, because it really is nerding out. The only people I can discuss the details with are my sons. Nobody I know is that interested, and while the new movies are very popular, nobody in my acquaintance is terribly interested in the minute details that fascinate me. I sometimes say that I’m reading them to keep up with my son when we talk about Star Wars, but really, it’s because I love them. By the way, I’m also up to date on both Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Rebels animated series. Just in case you were wondering.

Being a Nerd Rebel

I think nerding out is my little rebellion against adulting. Being an adult can be tiresome. You have to be responsible all the time, and take care of your business first. I get tired of that. So, I nerd out about a couple of specific things because it’s an acceptable way to be a rebel.

As you progress through your academic career, I encourage you to embrace your inner nerd. Give yourself permission to indulge in a little nerding out. So often we are pushed to like something according to what others have decided is attractive, worthy, or cool. Be a rebel. Like what you want to like, even if it’s unique or a little weird. Just make sure it’s you, and it enriches your life in some small way. Even if it’s just the pleasure of a small rebellion.

Relax, Rest, and Enjoy Winter Break

With finals over,students are ready to rest. It’s important to take time to have fun and relax so you can begin strong when the new semester starts, so here are four ways you should take care of yourself over the winter break.

Take Care of Your Physical Self

Take Care of Your Brain

Take Care of Your Spirit

Take Care of Your Emotional Self

You will find that the best self-care comes through finding the balance in each of these four areas. So enjoy your Winter Break, relax, and we will see you when you return in January.

Notes on Thanksgiving and Gratitude

It’s that time again. Lest we forget the holidays, TV reminds us. Already round-the-clock Christmas movies are broadcast. So it was that I recently honored Halloween by seeing “Addams Family Values.” There is a delightful send up of all the awful, unhistorical, overly sentimental, school productions of “the first thanksgiving.” Never mind that it wasn’t nearly the first thanksgiving day by European settlers on this continent. Never mind that our current celebration has wandered away from what was originally a harvest festival with gratitude to God because it looked like enough food was stored in for the winter. Many years in agrarian societies that is not a given.

The Official Thanksgiving Holiday

When President Abraham Lincoln, in the middle of the Civil War, proclaimed November 26, 1863 a federal holiday and unified the date of the celebration, he did so largely because of Sarah Josepha Hale who argued for a unified date during a period of military and political disunity. In our day the holiday has become an occasion for food, family, and football. Recently, we’ve added an economic aspect with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. For college students and faculty it has become the last short breather before finals.

Your Thanksgiving

May your Thanksgiving honor one or more of these important themes. The rancorous presidential election will be behind us. It might be good to re-unify, even with that annoying, politically wrong, uncle. Connect with your human family be it blood relatives, extended kin and in-laws, or other families of friends and associates. Think and speak gratitude to those who have enriched you. Indulge some delicious pleasure. It’s healthful to splurge once in awhile. Enjoy shopping amid the roiling crowd or at home in some cyber-boutique. Breathe, rest, and ready yourself for the sprint to the finish of finals week. Have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Relax and Restore after Finals

With finals over, everyone is ready to take some time off and relax. In your academic pursuit you are the most important asset you have, but you can’t continue to perform at your best unless you take care of yourself. So here are three ways you can keep your brain and body healthy.

Get Outside and Exercise

While it is tempting to lay around watching movie marathons on Netflix, exercising consistently for thirty minutes three to six times a week will increase your ability to be proactive when you return to campus instead of reacting to all the outside forces around you. And spending some time outside is a good antidote to all the time you’ve been spending inside classrooms and labs.

Get Creative

Let’s face it; almost all your finals required you to use the left side of your brain. You had to practice logical thinking, accuracy, and analysis, and all that brain work has left you exhausted. So, do something creative to relax and refresh your brain. Write in your journal, or blog. Paint something, take some pictures, build in Minecraft, sing and dance, or play some video games. Cook something delicious. Be intuitive, subjective, random, and creative.

Refill your Emotions Tank

Spend time with people you enjoy: with family and friends who make you feel loved and secure. Perform at least one act of service, especially an act of anonymous service, where you will gain nothing more than the satisfaction of helping others. Make a difference to someone else on a small way.

You will find that the best self-care comes through finding the balance in each of these three areas. So give yourself a break and take good care of yourself.