CARE PRACTICES CREATED AND SHARED BY STUDENTS DURING THE STRIKES
^ Open call infographic put out on to student forums ^
Inspiration Source One: 'Recipes for you' book by Holly White
Routines of Care and Compassion: The Journey
Entry by Zoe Elston,
Website Editor and Student of BA Anthropology and Visual Practice, Goldsmiths University
Routines of compassion grew out of a need, during the University strikes, to feel cared for and connected to other students. In this period I had been struggling with my mental health and talking to my peers I realised a lot of others had too. I wanted to find a way that we may begin to share and help one another, drawing connections and building a community in the University network without a focus being on the University institution or studying.
This lead me to put out an open call on various student forums and Whatsapp groups asking students if they would like to share any practices of compassion or acts of self care that they personally partake in.
One of the responses I received to this plea lead to a lunch with two other goldsmiths students. Over food we talked about how a big impact of the university strikes had been losing a sense of structure. Care was important but there was also something nice about having care rituals in the week that centred us again and made us aware of time passing, allowing us to reflect on how we were feeling.
Inspiration Source Two: 'Recipes for Life' a book lent to me by another student when the call was put out. 'This is a collaborative book made by a group of friends to help with the different situations in life we may find ourselves in:
This is where the idea for 'Routines of Care' was born. We imagined a student timetable like the ones we receive at university only this would be a care timetable in which you may place care activities and acts of compassion for yourself.
We thought that even if you didn't follow it strictly (it becoming a pressure was exactly what we didn't want to happen) the act of creating a timetable it is a good reminder that the week is not just made for productive tasks and studying but that there should be time for care, compassion and relaxation.
Feeling a lack of community and disconnection is an inevitable symptom for those experiencing the strikes. This feeling of being alone is accompanied by the constant background stress that you should be doing something but you are not quite sure what that it. These factors make it even harder to take time off and be kind to yourself because you are unsure about when you should or shouldn't be relaxing. You also lack the validation for such relaxation from other students and lecturers.
Our idea was to create a forum where we could share our personal care timetables with one another not only to feel more connected but also to validate our rest. We hope that knowing that someone else is also taking time to take care of themselves makes it easier for you to feel like you can without any guilt or anxiety.
The initial lunch with two other goldsmiths students where routines of care was born:
Traditional Goldsmiths student timetable:
This Website was made in collaboration with four other Goldsmiths University students who share their own personal recipes of care and compassion. This may give you some inspiration for care rituals that you too could find solace in or at the least remind you that everyone needs to take care of themselves and that this is a perfectly okay and enjoyable thing to do. The idea is that once looking at these examples, you too may go and create a timetable of care and post it into our sharing space.
The page is also open to submissions which we would love to receive in order to grow this website and online community and provide even more inspiration to others.
We hope you find this resource useful and take enjoyment in browsing through its content x