During my time here at Georgetown, I have been fortunate enough to attend the Yale Black Solidarity Conference each of my four years. As myself and the other seniors, who made up our largest cohort ever, prepare to embark on our post grad journeys I find myself highly appreciative of my final experience at YBSC as it related to trauma and mental health. Some of us are preparing to reach new heights in academia while others will be moving to new cities to start our careers and this conference gave us some much needed guidance about things we can do to consciously take care of ourselves.
One of the quotes that stuck out to me during the Coping Mechanisms in the Digital Age panel was, “what someone else thinks is coping or is wellness might not match someone else’s definition of that, do what you need to do.” I loved this quote. As us seniors begin to develop brand new relationships and friendships during the next chapter in our lives it is important that we do not change ourselves or our “practices” simply to appease people and make others like us. We should always prioritize ourselves and our feelings so that we can be the best versions of ourselves. Another quote that stuck out to me was, “be honest with how addicting social media is. It is a coping mechanism itself. If you’re doubting yourself about that, it means your default is to not be with yourself.” Social media has the ability to be a very positive space and platform for self-expression and finding community, however, it can also be very damaging and as we may use it to portray false narratives about ourselves and wrongfully compare ourselves to others.
Moving forward, I am very excited to apply the tips and tricks that I learned from my final experience at YBSC to shape the person that I am becoming and the person that I will be once my story is complete.
