I'm writing this article on an Amtrak, on my way back home for a much, much needed Winter Break. This semester has been a lot on me, academically, socially, mentally. Becoming involved in so much as a sophomore and learning to balance that with my classes and relationships proved hard to handle at times, but I made it!

If you're reading this, you did too, so regardless of how things went, congratulations on successfully completing another semester.

As I look back on the past semester, I can point to two significant habits I formed that really shaped my ability to live each day with more life, energy, and grace, meditating and going to the gym.

I have been exposed to meditation since I was little, my mom always offering guided meditation tracks to my brothers and I. I had never thought myself to be "good" at meditation until late in high school, however, when my family was trained in Transcendental Meditation (TM). This meditation technique is one where each person is assigned a unique mantra to repeat as they meditate. The thing I love about TM is that the teachers stress that it is okay for thoughts to come in as you meditate, the important thing is to become aware of these thoughts and then return to the mantra.

As someone who gets sidetracked easily, it is nice to have the reminder that thoughts are okay, as long as I am able to recenter and shift my focus back when I recognize that I have become distracted.

Every morning I meditate, and I can honestly say it has made such a difference on my days. I think people have some idea of meditation making people "zen" or all calm and grounded all the time. While yes, this can be said to be one of the overall goals of meditation, what meditation has offered to me is simply a grounded start to my day. I'm not going to say that I don't sometimes mindlessly scroll in the morning.

However, giving myself the time to start the day in relationship to myself is important.

After meditating, I feel ready to take on the day, feel more equipped to handle whatever comes into my life path with grace and ease. Does everything always go as planned? Of course not.

But meditating is an action I do so that when things do come up, I have laid the foundation for being in a more centered place to overcome obstacles.

It's also nice knowing that even when my alarm goes off, I still have time to fully wake up and prepare for the day. It has gotten to the point where I feel off on the days I do not meditate. I am not preaching that I can't feel grounded without meditating in the morning, simply that I have noticed it keeping me in a safer space more easily.

The second habit I mentioned earlier was going to the gym. I must admit, I've become a bit of a gym freak this semester. I can probably name you by date the days I didn't go to the gym all semester since there were so few. People always say that at school, they don't have time to go to the gym and I get that. The thing is, for me, I don't have time NOT to go to the gym. I remember having a conversation early in the semester where I expressed how going to the gym was one of the things I could so clearly control in my life, it was time I specifically set aside for myself.

I walk into the gym, and nothing else matters: not that homework assignment or test or stressful performance coming up or friend situation.

When I'm at the gym, it's me and whatever machine I'm on, me and whatever exercise I'm doing, some good tunes, vs. the world. And honestly? When I give my body the space to move, I feel powerful, I feel strong, I feel most myself.

I value the time I have spent running, crunching, striding this semester, because it has put me in touch with my body, has filled me with a physical strength I didn't know I had.

I don't write this article to try to convince you all to meditate or to start going to the gym.

I write this article because I think it's important that we all recognize things that help shape our days, that help make us more full of life and energy, and continue to do them.

Like I said before, this semester was hard (not that it wasn't great either). But having specific actions steps I carried out on the daily kept me in a place of strength and grace.

So, readers, whatever it may be, keep doing those things that fill your heart with joy or make you feel strong. I promise you, it helps.

It helps when life is going well, it helps when there are bumps in the road. Having those constant habits to fall back on make all the difference.

Talk soon,

Sam