College is rough sometimes.
Homework piles higher and higher no matter how many hours you devote to studying. The tension between "I want to be with my friends," "I have twenty-seven meetings on Wednesday alone" and "I just need to sit by myself in a room and cry" pulls you apart.
You're triggered by simple words like "application" and "resume." The future screams for your attention while the present is slipping straight through your fingers, and all you really want is to lay down and have everything be okay when you get back up. Responsibilities multiply. You feel worn thin. Sleep evades you whether you like it or not. Finances regularly run short.
The roughness found in college invades every other part of life as well. No matter what its stage: life is often simply rough.
If that list of life's daily horrors made your chest tight and your breathing heavy, then you're just like me. And since you're just like me, allow me to share with you the top ten videos I like to watch to cheer me up from that roughness of life:
1. This cockatoo playing peekaboo.
There were at least six separate occasions last semester when all of my roommates gathered together on the couch to watch this video. Its innocence manages to de-stress us enough to be able to carry on with our lives.
2. Dee, the world's most passionate and inspirational rainbow sponge artist.
If I could have half the passion for anything in life that this woman has for rainbow sponges, I think I'd be set. She's got to be someone's crazy aunt in real life, and I am jealous of that person. She's excited, she's quotable and she's "breathin' heavy."
3. This man falling on ice for nine entire seconds.
In general, I laugh a lot, but I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did when I first saw this video. It's only nine seconds long, so watch it once with no expectations. Replay it and keep your eye only the shovel. Then watch it again, intentionally listening to the audio. Then play it however many more times you need to get all the giggles out. You're welcome.
4. This guy who reads Yahoo Answers exactly as they are written.
Watch this to find out whether or not you are pregananant. (Or just to laugh at the hilarity of Yahoo Answers' astounding misspellings.)
5. This is just a small dog whispering "arf."
I don't really have any justification for why this one is funny. It just cracks me up.
6. The greatest voice crack in history.
Voice cracks are already funny, but they've never been this funny.
7. Classic Nelly. So calm.
If you're feeling particularly stressed, watch this one. You'll probably never identify with an owl more in your life.
8. This rich, beautiful cover of the 20th Century Fox theme song on flute.
This is honey to your ears. An absolutely beautiful piece.
9. This strange, non-political, hilarious impression of Hillary Clinton.
In this video (created before the 2016 election), JennaMarbles pokes fun at Clinton, parodying what it looks like when a 70-something year old woman attempts to relate to the 18-25 demographic.
10. The ultimate de-stresser in two words: Kitten. Train.
No internet-video compilation is complete without at least one cat video. And this is the one cat video that always helps me forget the stress of the world. It's hard to be hopeless when something called a "kitten train" exists. This video is so pure, and it goes on for such a delightfully lengthy amount of time. I hope it (and the rest of the random videos on this list) help you forget some of the roughness of life.
