I Meditated for 30 days Straight, and You Should Too

By: Juan Miguel Bugayong ‘25

I want to start this off by saying that my pieces of writing will take on some heavy topics, topics that are not always easy to understand and talk about, but I hope to be a guide and offer some vulnerability.

Alright, are you guys ready? Here’s my pitch:

Self care and sustainability for self care comes in many different forms, one of which is meditation. It can be difficult to navigate, but meditation is calming  and leads towards benefits for your emotional well being.  It does take time to adjust to, learn, and find ways that it can help you. Meditation has given me the time, space, and ability to find myself when I’m in stressful situations and stay grounded regardless of the process or outcome. 

Meditation is a bodily process that can produce a deep state of relaxation through focusing one’s attention to eliminate all outside streams of consciousness. While focusing on your breath and being, you can develop a more tranquil state of mind. 

WHY START? 

Coming off of a year that was super stressful in more ways than one, I was told by many people in my life to start meditating. And, obviously ,I had my doubts.Why sit wasting my time when I could be doing something productive? Isn’t it silly to breathe slowly and close your eyes? And, of course, the most common response to suggestions to meditate, I’m probably just going to fall asleep anyways. I started looking up certain definitions such as Mayo Clinic's Definition and Introduction, or even an article convincing people on Why Meditate? 

Despite these hesitations, I decided to give it a try.

THE BEGINNING 

I started my meditation journey by turning to YouTube as college students do for most things. I looked up guided meditations for short increments of 5 or 10 minutes, such as the links here, Calm Meditation, Daily Mediation Guide, Goodful Mediation. Like most self care strategies, mediation takes time. We want instant results and instant gratification, but self care is the practice of consistent care and effort towards yourself. We need to reteach ourselves that one can only build up one’s self worth through time and patience. We can’t expect ourselves to instantly find peace in sitting for 5 or 10 minutes, but to find peace through a buildup of growth and love. 

AFTER 2 WEEKS 

Slowly, I started to gain more appreciation and gratitude for the practice.. I started to fall in love with it, and meditation became a part of my daily wake-up routine. I started the day reflecting on what I wanted to do within the day and what I wanted to achieve. The practice started to break down all these big daunting tasks of “MIDTERMS, TESTS, ANXIETIES,” to slow progressions towards accomplishing them. I began to gain more self worth and knowledge as to what my capabilities were and had more patience when I didn’t meet those expectations. 

AFTER A MONTH

And so I breathe in slowly, close my eyes, let the air fill my lungs, diaphragm, and I let all my stress out through one slow breath out. Each breath marked the formation of my inner peace, working towards focusing on not what I needed to do, or what I have done, but what I have in the present moment. If anything, meditation has taught me how to be more present in the day, and with anxiety running through my mind almost 24/7, it gave me room to actually slow down and breathe. There are many, many things to think about when it comes to life, and it can be pretty daunting, but meditation allows me to slow down and understand that everything will work out the way it should. I'll continue to take this practice with me throughout my life, and I hope that you guys can start as well :)

Reality check. 

While I am advocating for these things, I’m not saying that I am perfect in any way possible when it comes to meditation or practicing self love. 

Self love is HARD. 

But that is all the more reason as to why we should practice and cultivate it, for it should serve as a reminder as to why you should be treasured and loved in the first place. 

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