This week was another clean sweep of job rejections for me, but such is life. I am extremely lucky to have this role so I have a stable income, whilst I know others are not in such a privileged position. I honestly love this role, I love representing students and trying to make change. It is very difficult to balance work, the soul destroying process of job applications and wellbeing.

However, the worst thing for me and you is if we were to experience “Burn out” – yes that is in quote marks on purpose as I think it manifests in very different ways so it is important to keep that into consideration. Therefore, this week’s issue will be on a few things KCL is offering on how to look after your wellbeing:

Make Do Play is an annual programme which encourages staff and students to take part in creative activities for their wellbeing. For autumn/winter2020, the activity will be entirely virtual: Creative prompts, workshops and Create & Chill drop-in coffee mornings provide opportunities and inspiration for taking a creative break.

At Home in Cultural London transforms London into an immersive, creative classroom. This online extracurricular experience is designed to connect students to London, and King’s, through arts and culture. The programme includes bespoke video content from King’s academics and London’s artists and cultural organisations, live creative workshops and small group discussions to enable students to connect with each other.  (Season 2 starting in February 2021)

Inside Art and Science is a four-part introductory micro-course that explores what happens when the worlds of art and science collide. Available exclusively to students at King’s College London, this new extracurricular programme introduces key 21st-century employability skills of creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.  

The utilization of a creative outlet, as shown above, is more important than I realized for wellbeing. I took up embroidery this week (thank you middle isle of Aldi) and that has done wonders for my wellbeing. I am someone who is constantly ruminating, whether on work or job applications, so I found it was exercise into mindfulness as it makes you stop thinking for a moment. If you follow @KCLSUofficers on Instagram, you will have the opportunity to see what we are up to but more importantly an update on what my embroidery is looking like – spoiler alert it looks terrible but that’s only because I am a beginner.