Being Happy

Picture this: you're lying in bed trying to sleep, but you're too stressed about all of your responsibilities to even begin to relax. Your mind starts to wander and you think about your life as it is right now. You ask yourself if you're doing well, if you're on a path to success, if you're really happy. Most of us have experienced this moment (or ones similar to it), but have any of us figured out the answer to those questions? No. But that's totally okay! We're not supposed to have our lives figured out yet. We're not supposed to be living perfect lives. Our only duty at this age is to be true to ourselves and do what makes us happy.

Often times, we're told by generations before us that these are the best years of our lives and we should enjoy them while we can. While some of that may be true to a degree, I don't think these are the best years of our lives. I can't help but hope that the best years of our lives are when we're coming home from a job we love every day to a comfortably-sized home to our husband/wife and we get to eat dinner with our little family and watch Christmas movies with our kids and pets and then go to bed knowing we get to make more memories the next day. That sounds like the best years of my life, at least. Of course I am loving (almost) every moment at college. Yes, sometimes it seems like it is too much for me to handle, but in those moments I think about how fast these past 19 years have flown by and how fast the next 19 will go and I am thankful for the moment I am in right now. I try to enjoy myself every day and not stress out too much about things I can not control. However, I am a college student; therefore I will never stop stressing. But I think it is possible to be stressed out and still experience happiness. Don't let your classes drown you from what you deserve.

As a sophomore in college, my life gets pretty tough sometimes and it can be hard to handle, but when I have those bad days-I look at myself in the mirror and I try to list five things I like about myself. That's easier said than done sometimes, but it usually does help lift my spirits. I transferred schools this year, which made it difficult to socialize. On my second day of classes at UNC, my grandfather passed away. I found myself spending most of my days in bed, missing classes, not eating well, and blowing off potential friends. I experienced the closest thing to depression I could feel. It took me more than half of the semester to even start to feel like myself again—and even then, it was still really difficult to feel happy. I've learned that it is perfectly okay to feel this way. Just because you are a bubbly person, that does not mean that you are not allowed to experience sadness and pain. You are allowed to be sad. You are allowed to not feel happy. You are allowed to feel however you feel. Don't ever let a person diminish your feelings or make you feel like they are invalid because they are not. When you have those bad days—look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you are beautiful and you are strong enough to get through this because guess what? You are.