Trip report: Self-care, the art of self-love.

The presenter of the meeting was Carlos M. Marin Garcia, responsible for the
management and direction, as well for the interactive activities carried out. Attendance at the
meeting was very varied because it was not only offered for students; there were also teaching
staff members from all the campuses of the University of Puerto Rico educational system. The
presenter was part of an association called “Intercambios de Puerto Rico”, a non-profit,
community-based organization dedicated to promoting the social integration of marginalized
groups, such as users of controlled substances, homeless people, among others. The
organization's vision is: "to visualize a Puerto Rico where marginalized populations have access
to all opportunities for individual and collective development that make it possible for them to
have a dignified life and contribute to society." The conference was held through the Microsoft
Teams platform, on October 5, 2022. The title and main theme presented was self-care, a
conscious act that a person performs to promote their own physical, mental, and emotional
health. This topic is one of great importance, since having healthy self-care helps us reduce
anxiety, depression, increases energy and therefore, we have stronger interpersonal relationships.
Within self-care, concepts such as self-esteem, self-love, validation, and self-concept were
discussed, important to have a clear image of ourselves. The first interactive exercise carried out
by the presenter was: “What % do I give myself as a grade for what I do daily from 20% to
100%?” where those present were evaluated according to the personal activities of each one.
Tools to control emotions were also presented, comparing each step with a traffic light of three
colors: red to stop, yellow to think and green to act. The second interactive activity carried out
was called "mindfulness", and consisted of selecting some activity of daily life, and enjoying it
step by step to reach a state of relaxation. Mindfulness is a very useful tool that can be used
daily, and that can help us with numerous problems. The third activity that we were invited to do
in our free time was to write a list of our strengths and weaknesses, and what we could do to
improve them. The conference is one that has a great positive impact on both our work and
personal lives. It is possible that in our work we can experience work stress when the demands of
the environment are greater than the capacities of the workers to be able to respond and comply
efficiently. This can have a negative effect on our self-care, causing depression, among other
things. Exercises such as mindfulness can combat this type of scenario, giving us a tool that does
not incur any cost, and that can be done at any time of daily life. Attending this conference
helped me a lot in my personal field, being a person who suffers many anxiety attacks and with a
low self-esteem. Among the problems that arise at home, visualizing the traffic light with colors
helps me not to carry out actions without thinking; it is better to visualize a solution and with the
green color, put it into practice. On the other hand, putting mindfulness into practice has helped
me with both work and academic stress and, as the conference suggests, I have been making a
self-care plan to deal with the problems that come my way every day.

Enclosure: certificate of attendance to the conference: Self-care, the art of self-love.