If you’re on the quarter system in college, you know that I’m not exaggerating when I say that week 10, aka dead week, is without a doubt the worst week of the quarter. For this entire week, I’ve been running around campus like a zombie, half asleep and barely functioning. Between group projects, tests, essays, presentations, my on-campus job, and finishing up applying for new and exciting things for next year, I haven’t really had a moment to relax and be still this week.
So this post, this is my moment to breathe.
I’m a high-strung person that easily gets all wound up in my own world while trying to balance multiple commitments, and usually only half succeeding. Before finals week begins and chaos and stress really set in, I want to take the chance to list a few things that have made dead week not so dead and kept me moving and motivated when I really just wanted to cuddle up under my covers and sleep for eternity.
1. I’m thankful for passionate people
I am so fortunate to be able to go to a school filled with people who are extremely passionate about what they do. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again because I really and truly mean it when I say that my professors and my classmates are incredible. They’re fiercely intelligent about their discipline, but also well rounded and approachable. The thing I love most about passionate people is how they light up when they talk about their passion. And I don’t care whether they are passionate about chemical engineering or dance or art history or economics, or if it is what I’m passionate about or something every different. It doesn’t matter. When people talk about their passion, their eyes light up and they talk fast as if their mind is running faster than they can get the words out of their mouths. I’m thankful for those people, because they remind me that college is so much more than test scores and essays. College is about preparing us to chase our passions, and to use our passions to make a tangible difference in a world that desperately needs to make a change.
2. I’m thankful for new opportunities
This Christmas break (and yes, at a Catholic school, it is called Christmas break), I’m going to Puebla, Mexico, with a group of other students from SCU to learn about social inequalities and injustices in Latin America and work at an elementary after-school program. I’m very thankful to have met people from all across campus that I wouldn’t necessarily have met if it weren’t from this program. A lot of us come from very different backgrounds and have different perspectives, so I’m extremely lucky to learn from their experiences and how their experiences have shaped the people they have become. Plus, they’re a fun, lively, and caring group of people that I’m really proud to be able to consider myself part of.
3. I’m thankful to have a support system back home and across the country
Going into this week, I knew it was going to be chaotic. I texted my mom not to freak out if she didn’t hear from me until the end of the week and that I wasn’t buried in a ditch somewhere. I’m really thankful that my parents understand what is best for me, how I operate and are able to give me the space to do so. I’m thankful that my parents push me to be my best, but also let me take the lead when it comes to my academics and what I want to pursue in the future. Similarly, I’m thankful for friends spread out from the west coast (best coast) to the east coast. I’m thankful for friends that will listen to me vent about all the work I have to do and tell me to calm down and stop freaking the hell out -- but in the most supportive and caring way.
I'm admittedly awful at showing emotions, so although I don't always show it, especially in weeks like these, I am so grateful for the life I am able to live and the people who make it amazing. And I’m really trying not to take these people or opportunities for granted.
So freaking #blessed.
