It's Just Life

While scrolling through Facebook one day, I came across an article that is scarily relevant to my life right now. The title of the article is "19 Things Every 19-Year-Old Girl Needs to Hear Right Now." I realized that I exaggerate everything bad that happens to me, but I fail to see the good, productive things. Although the article is targeted toward 19 year old girls, the true audience should be everyone. The messages shared are important for everyone to hear, regardless of age and gender.

I highly recommend reading the linked article, but here are the main themes the author discusses: you are human, you do not need to force improvement, improvement will come naturally, the sophomore slump is not real, let go of your emotions, relationships take two people, not everything needs to be extravagant, you can only control your feelings and others will feel whatever they want, disappointment is ok, you have the power to be everything you want to be and you are already everything you need to be. I am definitely guilty of breaking these 'rules,' but I am still alive and I am still paving the way for my own success. Before coming to ONU, I spent 18 years building up my life, my credentials, my experiences and my GPA, but now I'm in college and everything is different and that is perfectly ok.

I'd like to add a couple of ideas to this article. First, quality is more important than quantity (in most cases). Classes, friends and extracurricular activities are often reasons for stress to all college students. I might not be able to say I have 20 friends, but I have about six of the most wonderful friends I could ever ask for. I could be involved in 10 organizations on campus, but it's more meaningful for me to participate and gain valuable experience from a few.

Second, laugh at yourself. I find that too many people in this society take their mistakes and faults too seriously. If you make a mistake, you should be able to laugh at that mistake. The laughing does not need to occur immediately following, sometimes you need time to find humor in your mistakes, but it should come eventually. Laughter is the best medicine.

Finally, admit when you are wrong. It takes a lot for a person to admit their own fault. If you know you have hurt someone or done a bad thing, take the blame and let it go.

Sometimes we all need to step back and reevaluate the situation at hand. Everything will be ok, even if it takes a year or two. All you can do is keep living your life to the fullest and make every second count. Do the things that make you happy because no one else is living your life.