To me intellectual wellness is being able to identify and find things that you enjoy. We all have our day-to-day work and hopefully you love that, but most people have interests that go above and beyond their immediate tasks or responsibilities. Whether that's reading a book, watching movies that interest you, or talking to different people, it’s doing something that's stimulating your intellect outside of your paid work or schoolwork. I think it's really important to have a balance in your life and to have multiple interests.
 
There’re all kinds of ways that you can do that. If you're so tired at the end of the day that you want to watch Netflix, there's a documentary. I seek out podcasts in Spanish so I'm practicing my Spanish but they're also just interesting stories. There's a podcast I listened to that's like a Latin American version of “This American Life”. It’s just sharing people's stories and experiences from the Latin American region. I don't have to do it but it kind of hits a few different interests in my life. And I'll do that while I'm going out for a walk or exercising or cooking. Don't try to force yourself to do something that you're not into.

Even if you just need a timeout, then that is exactly what you need in that moment. I think that people need to take the time to slow down. I think there's a lot that you can appreciate in the little details that we all kind of blow past. On our walks or just in our daily routines, if it's just noticing how beautiful a day it is or a plant that you've never seen before or an animal like a cool lizard that just ran across the sidewalk on campus, maybe that sparks your curiosity, and you want to know more about it. You don't need to prove your intellectual worth to anybody by these activities that should be for you.