It is 8:55 a.m. Wednesday morning, you are feverishly fast-walking to your first class of the day. All is going well until one thing leads to another, and the next thing you know is you’re wearing your cup of lukewarm Cafe coffee all over the front of your leggings. After you’ve finished cursing the despicable fact that we pay outrageous amounts for tuition, but are not offered lids for our coffee cups, you clean yourself up and go to class. The combined effect of spilling coffee on yourself, being 15 minutes late, and receiving the stare of death from your professor and 12 other half-asleep fellow students is enough to put a damper on anyone’s day, which it did. Like most highly irritated people, I left class with a storm cloud above my head and a frown, purely convinced that the world was out to get me. I remained that way through my next lecture, until I picked up a book that had fallen out of a girl’s backpack on the walk back from Hamlin Quad. I ran to catch up to her, waving the book in the air, and finally returning it to its rightful, startled, and equally grateful owner.

After that, my day changed in an instant. Everything around me started to become more animated; the sky seemed to turn a deeper blue, the grass a warmer green, and the sun’s rays cut through the clouds and warmed my skin. Even the people around me seemed livelier while carrying on flippant conversations and walking to their next classes with a bounce in their step. To my shock, I found that the world in fact did not revolve around me, and that not everyone was miserable on that day. So I thought, as I was walking amidst the throngs of students herding themselves into the Cafe, what is it that makes all these people happy? This question racked my tired brain until about halfway through a bowl of Lucky Charms, I came across a thought that was, as you might say, “magically delicious.” Even though it seems like it would be common sense, I discovered that everyone seemed happy, not because their lives were perfect, but because their lives weren’t perfect. Strange, right? You might think, “Well, my life isn’t perfect, but I am still down in the dumps.” To that I say, “Forget it.” Forget the concept of perfect, because perfect is only a man’s manifestation of divine power, which, to some peoples’ surprise, does not apply to any human. Instead of seeking this idea of “perfection,” maybe we should strive for something else, something more tangible, and more real. That something should be personal excellence.

This personal excellence is completely dependent on you as a person, and only you can determine what you consider to be personal excellence. Not only that, but it is completely different for each and every day. One day you might be able to write those several essays you’ve been putting off, while another day getting out of bed in the morning is excellence in its own right. Only you know what you are capable of.

Now, you’re probably wondering how I would justify my coffee fiasco as me striving for excellence, and honestly, in your position I would be too. Though, the way I look at it is this: we are presented with challenges daily, which come in various forms and can range all of the way from a simple paper cut to being fired from your job. It doesn’t matter what the challenge is, as much as it depends on how you pick yourself up and shake the debris out of your still-wet-and-tangled hair. Like I’ve said, some days you might be able to tackle Mt. Everest, and others maybe only a small hill, but it is all about carrying on through the mess in however way you see fit (reciting inspirational quotes, taking a nap, listening to music, or watching funny cat videos on YouTube).

Perhaps spilling the coffee was a metaphor for life; that when things are messy, maybe you don’t have to clean them up to enjoy life. Sometimes you have to keep trekking on down the path even though it is rough and dangerous, but you realize that the view at the end was worth it. I’ve found that life is a jumbled mess, but whatever you encounter, the good and the bad, the candid and the ambiguous, I can guarantee that you should try and love every second of it.

Or maybe you’re the type of person to take the event at face value, and spilling coffee on yourself is just that, spilling coffee on yourself, which is cool too. In that case, just remember, that with every spilled cup of coffee, there is a chance to get super philosophical.