For anyone that watches "Parks and Recreation," I'm sure that you remember the episode in which Donna and Tom introduce Ben to "Treat Yo' Self" day. If you haven't watched it, it's episode four of season four, and I highly recommend that you do. The whole message behind the episode is one that I truly appreciate; while the show drastically up-plays the ideal, and exaggerates parts of it, I think it is still one that we need to pay attention to, if not incorporate into our own lives.

Now, obviously, when I think of going out to treat myself, I don't think of fancy spa massages and expensive clothes or accessories. After all, I am a broke college student, like millions of other people my age, and with gigantic student loans hanging over my head, my bank account can't exactly stretch that far. However, I think that being able to shake the mindset of keeping our heads down and getting as much work as we can done to make money without spending a penny of it, is the exact opposite of unhealthy. To be able to shake a penny-pincher mind frame for just long enough to splurge on milk tea, or a large cup of coffee, or a new shirt, or whatever other small pleasures you find in life is one of the healthiest things I can think for a person our age to do. It is so easy to get caught up in the anxiety-crazed world that surrounds college students in this time, worrying about studying enough, eating enough, sleeping enough, working enough and finding even the smallest sliver of times for personal pleasures like work outs or video games, or any other slew of things.

I myself fell into a deep, dark place during my first year of college; I wasn't eating a full three meals a day, I was staying up late and waking up early, and all I was worrying about was getting good grades, going to the gym enough and getting more hours of work at my part-time job within my university. I didn’t have a good support system at school yet because it takes me a long time to make good friends, and I hadn't found any just yet. The week before finals came around and I got back a midterm in a class that I was struggling in. Long story short, I did not do as well as I had hoped, and I learned this at the end of a very crappy week. The second that I got back to my room I put away my class materials, grabbed my wallet and headed out to the nearest grocery store. I bought a pint of ice cream, two bars of chocolate and two boxes of my other favorite candies, as well as a couple of other snack foods that I never allow myself to have due to their sugar content. I sat in my room, played video games for hours on end and ate an entire pint of ice cream in one sitting, by myself. At the end of the night, for the first time in a very long time, I finally felt content and at peace with myself. I slept in longer than usual the next morning and woke up with the realization that it is more than fine to occasionally indulge in some small pleasures of life, regardless of cost or calories.

I'm sure many of you who are still in the process of growing up, just like me, have learned and are on the path of learning many important life lessons that no one taught us in high school or at home. For me, one of the biggest ones is to learn how to not take all of the little moments and things for granted. Spending even the littlest bits of time with people you love, be that friends, family, or significant others, can be the greatest of blessings. Sometimes we take them for granted because we assume that we'll always have them in our lives, and we can't foresee a future in which they aren't there. As an extremely blessed individual who is lucky to be surrounded by many amazing friends and a wonderful family, I have been able to revel in this little life lesson more than most, and for that I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Playing cards on a train-ride home, having girl talk while my friend takes the time to braid my hair, or even just getting a text from a close buddy telling me thanks for just having him over and spending time together. Those are the moments that have made me happy and content with life.

So what exactly is my advice? Well, the specifics depend on you, as an individual, but it basically boils down to this: Do you really love coffee? Go treat yo' self! What about going to see that new movie that just came out? Treat yo' self! Do you want to stop studying and go outside? Treat yo' self! How about buying that pint of ice cream? Please, TREAT YO' SELF.