As a college student, one of the many struggles of life is staying on track with things. For instance, today my game plan was to go to my first class, leave, eat a bagel while prepping for my second class, go to my second class, then go home and promptly pass out before waking up to a laptop full of notifications. Sure, I didn’t write that down or anything, but it was there on my mental to-do list.

However, my day was thrown off track as far as it possibly could after my friend and fellow classmate suddenly had a dizzy spell after class. The cause is still hazy, but the point is: I ended up missing my bagel and prep time, and my second class, and so on the way back home I was in the utmost state of confusion. Nothing was going according to plan, and although I would not have changed helping my friend out for the world (friends come first, people come first really), it did throw a monkey wrench into my plans.

So, I thought, “Alright Ketaki, maybe the rest of your day will go according to plan,” and without getting my hopes too high I proceeded to pass out for a good hour or so then wake up bleary-eyed and dehydrated as ever.

Looking outside though I noticed that it was down pouring and it struck me that it was Halloween. “How would the kids go trick-or-treating?” was on my mind as I gathered my stuff to go slave away in front of my laptop at the Starbucks by my house, but I couldn’t dwell on that too long because I still had (have) a good list of assignments all due at the end of the week.

So, with a mind of determination, I set forth and opened up my laptop to find that it would not connect to the Wifi.

It was at that moment that I transformed into Ketaki: tragic hero of her own unfortunate tale. I sat and pressed buttons, turned off my laptop, turned it back on, prayed to every God I know of, pressed more buttons, promised to give up a kidney, then gave up.

Nothing would work, and my life relied on being connected to the network so I turned to a professional who gave me an appointment at a Best Buy about 40 minutes away.

Tragic hero arrives at the store in the middle of the rain and walks in with tears in her eyes, and as her valiant savior ––Jacob the Geek Squad guy–– opens up her laptop it connects to the Wifi. What are the odds?

It was as if life was playing a cruel, sick, joke on her today. Needless to say, I was extremely thankful that although it took a 40 minute drive, a couple of tears, and some awkward small talk about Jacob’s concussion my laptop was in fact working.

The reason I felt it was necessary to tell my tale is because sometimes, especially as a student, we operate on a plan and as life will have it, it is in the most crucial moments that everything comes crashing down.

As an optimist though, I like to think that things happen for a reason, and that life is full of adventures, so sure my laptop might fail me again, and I might have to miss another class, but it is okay to find new solutions. To find new plans and roads that you might not think of taking, and I know that is easier said than done, but trust me, if I could get through this day and sit here with my head intact so can so many other people.

It just takes a bit of recalibration and finding the silly, dumb moments in your hysteria to do so, and as a concluding note, I know this does not apply to everyone for so many reasons, but for those who need an account of just about everything failing when you need it the most, here it is. It gets better.