At this point in time, the academic semester is gaining traction and, in turn, taking a toll on our mental health. It’s easy to get caught up in the storm of assignments, moving from one deadline to the next—all Case Western Reserve University students have been through it at one point or another. But now, academics are not the only thing we are focused on. There is also the political state of the world to contend with.

Following a week full of hate-filled discourse between the left and right political spheres, it’s understandable if you feel helpless. Sometimes it seems as if there will never be any sort of meaningful social progress in our society. But drowning yourself in your social media feed and schoolwork simply aren’t practical ways to preserve your mental health—and neither is the negative rhetoric you may find yourself returning to with each “breaking news” headline that flashes across your phone screen.

As the summer heat begins to fade and we start to experience our last few weeks of warmth before entering a semester-long Ice Age, this is a sure sign that you need to spend some time outside. The winter season does more than freeze the sidewalks we take to our classes. We tend to become vitamin D deficient, which causes us to feel symptoms of fatigue, muscle weakness and mood changes, depending on its severity, which is why it is vital for us to get outside and enjoy ourselves during breaks in our schedule while we still can.

Go on a walk around Wade Lagoon or plan something fun to do with your friends over the weekend. Dedicate time to be off of your devices and away from your schoolwork to prioritize your health. Explore Little Italy, Coventry or Downtown and focus on the beauty of living in a city. For many of us, we won’t be in Cleveland or college forever, so appreciating what we do have access to is vital at times like these.

Oftentimes, it is easy to see the negatives. They stick with us like gum on the bottom of our shoes, reminding us that they are there with a squeak at each step. And because we are so chronically online today, it is easy to convince ourselves that these negative online opinions are shared with the people you encounter in everyday life—that you’ll step outside and hear something awful. Yet, time and time again, it has been proven that stepping away from your phone and engaging with people in real life will (usually) only dissolve these harmful thoughts that you have. Oftentimes, people are much more nuanced than we give them credit for, and if it takes talking about your concerns with people outside of social media to ease your anxiety, then by all means do it.

Sometimes, though, it seems we have the opposite problem and choose apathy rather than concern when it comes to controversial and differing political opinions. We feel like speaking up about certain things will only create division rather than productive discussions. We worry about losing the people close to us or boring them enough to lose their interest. Or, the topics simply do not feel close enough to home to warrant a discussion in the first place. Yet, if we are not open about our feelings on hard topics or pretend we don’t see them then we may internalize their effects and feel even worse than we would have by opening up.

This comes with an important caveat, though. While we should speak up about injustices, it is not our full-time job. It is incredibly easy to get burnt out by consuming too much news—the 24/7 access to news is a fairly new phenomenon that humans do not seem built to handle. Being more intentional about when and what we are consuming can help to keep us from being sucked into a scroll of doom whenever breaking news hits.

So take this article as a sign to slow down and disconnect. Whether that means putting your phone on “do not disturb” or leaving your computer at home when going out with friends, we all deserve to give ourselves grace at this time.