You hear all of these sayings your whole life like “its ok to not be ok”. We hear this and we know it, but we typically do not tend to believe it. The last two weeks or so I have been in a “funk”. I have not really wanted to do anything and I want someone to be with me, but I do not really want to socialize. It has been a hard balance. I know I need fresh air and I want to get out my dorm, but as soon as I do, all I want to do is lay down and rest. There have been a lot of tears, but I am slowly coming out of it.

I say all of that to tell you what I think about being in a funk. These periods of depression and anxiety happen sometimes. Every college student has experienced it even though sometimes it may not even have to do with school. Mine did not. It was a combination of many things at once that caused me get down and depressed. But, as I am coming out of it now, I can look back and I can tell myself that it is ok to not be ok. It was ok for me to feel the way that I felt. It is ok to not always have a reason why you get so upset and down.

I carry my emotions on my face and most people can read that like a book. So, I had many questions, especially from my close friends, about “what was wrong”. I had no answer. Some people asked how I could not know what wrong with me. But sometimes that is the way it happens. Life is hard and college is hard. Sometimes it can get you down but when you get out of it, you can take a step back and look at how you felt and maybe help someone else, or you can know yourself how strong you are. It takes a lot of energy to get out of bed, it takes energy to go to class all day, it takes a lot out of a person who may be feeling down and so to those people, I congratulate you. You continue to live your life despite feeling like you don’t have one small victories are so important and you deserve the biggest award because you are going on with life even though it was all you could do to get out of bed. You may not be ok now, but you know that it will not last forever. You may not be ok, but you keep going because you know life is better than this. And for those of you who do not now that, I promise it will not last forever. Being in a “funk” may last a day or a year, but it will not last forever. You can be happy again, you can continue to do life, and I hope you have great people in your just life I do to help you the best they can, even if it’s just to be in the room with you without talking. Human presence is important to us and I hope you always have that. It is OK to not be ok.