Mindset and Mental Health

By Ashelyn Clark

April 7, 2026

“Brush your hair, read your textbook, get eight hours of sleep, eat three nutritional meals a day.”

I’m sure these are all things you’ve heard, right? It feels easy enough to think about these things but putting them into action is a lot more difficult. Imagine this, you wake up at nine in the morning and get a fresh shower, you dry your hair, pick out a cute outfit. Then you go to make breakfast and what do you know your fruit has gone moldy, well now your day isn’t off to such a great start.

What do you do next?

You decide to get breakfast on campus, but the line is out the door, so now you’re late to class and your breakfast is lukewarm. It may feel like the cards are stacked against you, but they’re not. One of the most important lessons you can learn is that it’s okay to have a bad day and it’s okay to not be happy.

Instead of focusing on all the things about your life that you can’t change or have no control over, choose to focus on what you can do.

Don’t beat yourself up because you didn’t get the grade you wanted on the exam. It’s okay to stop, take some time to breathe and decompress. What matters most ultimately is what you choose to do now. So, instead of focusing on all the negatives of the day, put your best foot forward and create the day you want.