We girls carry all of our stress, worries and emotions like a champ. We deal with them accordingly and make pro/con lists in order to make decisions and make to-do lists to accomplish tasks. Like Kelsea Ballerini says, "We wear our hearts like stilettos, as bad as it may hurt. no one will ever know."
OK let's be real, that is not how it always plays out. Now if that is how you and your emotions work, please teach me. Because all too often emotions and whatnot get bottled up and pushed down inside while we try to deal with all the things we are trying to balance on our plates.
But often we break and it all spills out, making a giant mess. Leaving my life to resemble something of a toddler’s playroom after a play date. We eat. We cry. We shop. We eat some more. We procrastinate. We talk - a lot - sometimes very fast and not very understandable.
Whether it is homework, projects, exams, family, relationships, drama or all of the above, we all stress. Before you know it, you have two projects due by the end of the week, a paper due by midnight, your sister’s soccer game to go to and your mom is mad at you. Then you finish the last of your chocolate. This is panic time, the floodgates are open and you can’t read your textbook because tears are rolling down your face. Are you crying about the chocolate that you no longer have, or about how much weight you have put on this year, or maybe about how much sleep you are not going to get tonight. But you have to pull yourself together because this assignment will make or break your grade.
That lasts another 24 hours, maybe. Then someone asks, “How are you?” and you respond with “Fine!” when you are so not fine. This makes you think about how not fine you are and it comes out like word vomit. You can’t control it and it is coming out faster than you can control. Before too long you have unloaded all of your issues onto someone you had no intention of sharing them with.
I want you to know that you are not alone; I feel this way all the time. Mainly because my middle name is procrastination, but also because I do not handle stress well and my tear ducts work way harder than they are supposed to. Find someone you can confide in -- a friend, family member, therapist -- it takes a load off. Just telling someone that you have problems helps. Maybe they will help you make a to-do list in the order it needs to get done. Maybe they will cry and eat with you and you will have someone to make you feel a little less alone in this college girl struggle. Find a small group to be a part of where everyone can admit to their problems without feeling the need to put on the “my life is perfect” mask. Knowing that you are not alone is essential. But my best recommendation is to talk to the man who knows all your struggles before you say a single word.
