I know how you feel.

I know that you're feeling guilty because you're "missing out" on clubs and organizations on your campus due to your overly-involved friends on Instagram (even though you're trying your best to maintain your grades and sleep schedule).

I know that you're feeling guilty about your burn-out because it's just September.

I know that you're wanting to make new friends with similar interests and COVID is making that extremely difficult.

I know that emailing your professors and advisors on something "dumb" (I promise that it is not dumb) is incredibly daunting.

I know how you feel.

This academic year is extraordinarily exhausting. The combination of Zoom fatigue and what seems like a packed workload is starting to strongly impact my well-being as a student. Not to mention that this is the year I'm supposed to be figuring everything out. Now I know this is untrue because college is in no way linear, but I may have convinced myself over the isolation period that I need to seek out every opportunity, club, job, and internship possible. Now, this IS a good thing, but with that comes feelings of not being good enough after multiple rejections, unanswered emails, or just complete radio silence.

Let's just be real--it sucks. A lot.

That isn't the point of this article, though. I want it to be known that while this year is quite literally a dumpster fire, you aren't the only one who feels alone or defeated. I know that the lows are starting to feel inescapable and the highs are few and far between, but I also know that it is comforting to share these feelings with someone else. Everyone is just as scared, confused, annoyed, frustrated, like you (if not more). You should still seize every opportunity even though rejections suck. You should ask that dumb question because someone else is surely wondering the same thing. You should join that class GroupMe and talk with other students about how great (or horrible) the class is. While I know it's incredibly difficult, fighting the temporary burn-out you feel now will give you the future you're wanting to see for yourself. Even though it may seem like the world doesn't want you to succeed, there is at least one person who does.

It is completely okay if that just so happens to be yourself.