Just when it looked like spring was about to grace my college campus and me with its much-awaited presence, snowflakes began to fall and the temperature dropped to a chilly (to say the least) 37 degrees. Winter was lovely, cheerful, and brisk for a couple of months, but now that the one big snow that exempted me from class for two days has turned to ice and melted, and the holiday season is long-gone, I can’t help but feel a little bit blue, a little too uninspired to get out and make the most of these wintry days, and greatly stressed by the mounds of work that are piling up around me like the snow from last month.
Days of hard, mentally-taxing classes followed by long nights of homework, studying, and reading are draining—physically and spiritually—and the melancholy that seems to inevitably accompany this lull between winter and spring makes things worse. Spring is coming (I promise), and these days of work will soon lead into sunny days of play. In the meantime, surround yourself with friends who are undoubtedly in the same boat as you. Take a break, listen to music, watch “The Bachelor.” Make a to-do list, take a hot shower, blast the Dixie Chicks as loud as your housemates will let you. And read these quotations that have comforted me when I desperately needed it and continue to guide me to a happier, lighter, more serene place when I’m just a ball of stress.
1. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.” – Nahum 1:7
If you feel like the academic expectations of you are more than you can bear, or if you can’t seem to say anything right during the few hours you’ve allotted to hang out with your friends, this quote is for you. Relying upon the Lord, upon your best friend, upon your mother or father, upon someone you trust during what seems like your worst day will bring you comfort and a strength that you may have forgotten that you had. Turn over your worries and your fears and think about how much good there is in your life.
2. “The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.” – Ernest Hemingway
You are the best kind of person. You are unique, kind, compassionate and complex, but your amazing light is always in jeopardy of being concealed. The pains of college life (be they few or many for you) add up, especially during midterm week (ew!), and to know that Ernest Hemingway identified the troubling times that beautiful, fabulous people like you often face may bring you comfort. Embrace your uniqueness and use your wounds to learn and grow. Talk it out, cry it out, let it out, and don’t let anything destroy your brightness.
3. “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn't understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” – Cynthia Occelli
Who doesn’t love a good metaphor that puts your struggles into a more comprehensible perspective? I certainly do. The stresses of class, between friends, with boys are all part of life, of growing up and figuring out what it is that you’re meant to do and to accomplish in school and in life. Reframe your thinking about the pains you are enduring: you aren’t floundering and your self is not in jeopardy. You and those people around you are living a life filled with obstacles (a C minus on a test, a bad breakup, a gruesome $150 charge at your late-night fried food spot) that you will overcome, with the help of friends, family, a mentor, or an academic advisor. When you started college, you were one person. Now, you’re the same at your core, but you’ve learned and you’ve transformed. This is all part of the process of becoming the person you are meant to be.
4. “I figure life’s a gift and I don't intend on wasting it. You don’t know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you… to make each day count.” – Jack Dawson, “Titanic”
Of course, I had to throw a “Titanic” quotation into the mix (giggling encouraged!). Teenage heartthrob Jack Dawson was right on target when he declared this. Don’t spend all of your time trying to solve that integral in advanced calculus. Don’t worry about your research paper for longer than necessary. Don’t shut yourself in the dark recesses of the library all day and night. Your life is a gift. Your friends want to see you and talk about something other than what major you have to declare tomorrow. Make your time at college count. While there have been and will be trying times, get outside, go to that party, take that road trip. You won’t regret the smiles you’ll grin, the funny photos you’ll have on your phone’s camera roll, or the movie you cried to with your friends doing the same beside you. College has the potential to be full of mistakes (big and small), but also, to be filled to the brim with vibrant memories and happy times that you’ll hold dear forever.
5. “Courage, dear heart.” – C.S. Lewis, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”
Succinct and perfect. That’s this three-word quote in a nutshell. Courage, my friend. Courage. Face each day committed to overcoming obstacles, to facing your intimidating professor in office hours, to speaking up at your sorority chapter or club meeting. It takes courage to live at college for four years. It took courage to come to a whole new place, and it takes courage to stay.
6. “Sometimes you just have to put on lip gloss and pretend to be psyched.” – Mindy Kaling, “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?”
To conclude this little article, I leave you with this funny, too-real quotation from the hilarious, insightful and inspirational Mindy Kaling. If all else fails and that stress seems permanently rooted within you, at least for the foreseeable future, you’ve just got to smile and wave for a little while. Reach out to someone you trust for help, and don’t be afraid to address what’s bothering you. But, from my experience, putting on a cute outfit you love, fixing your hair so it lays the way you like it, and smiling big all day has helped me and may help you believe that everything is going to be OK.
