My motto: Keep calm and call the homie.

I’m not really feeling the whole college thing at the moment…

Junior year is rough. Rough as in I either drink too little coffee and fall asleep in class or drink too much coffee and then can’t concentrate in class. See what I’m getting at? There seems to be no happy medium! Well, except maybe locking the door and curling up under my sheets in fetal position. Joking…

I repeat my motto during these moments, when I feel as if the weight of the world has combined with the book bag, stuffed with Shakespeare readings and notebooks, resting on my shoulders. Yeah, I may mumble it under my breath as I sprint frantically around campus. Yeah, I am most likely wearing that outfit that all college students have when life seems unbearable. But I still repeat my motto, and for some reason it works.

“Keep calm and call the homie”.

The homie is my brother. He’s without a doubt my best friend. If I call in the morning he is most likely making an unusually large batch of pancakes for himself to eat. If it’s the afternoon he is running around New York City between classes at Parsons New School of Design and his job. If it’s the night he is laying on the couch watching television, passed out. Regardless, he almost always answers the phone.

Here’s how it goes. He makes a joke, most likely at my expense, and I shake my head. He makes another joke, exploding into laughter, and I can’t help but smile. He asks about my day and we trade stories. He listens to my stress and then unloads a series of punch lines that make me laugh uncontrollably. I bring up my stress again because it seems like he hasn’t quite responded and I want him to, and he is vaguely motivational by telling me I can do it. Then, feeling a little better, I say something that I think is funny to continue the conversation, but the punch line doesn’t make sense and he calls my strange. We argue about whether or not I am strange.

I hope that everyone has that one person that can cheer him or her up when it feels like life is unbearable.

When you can’t take it anymore, here’s my word of advice. Take a deep breath, then keep calm and call the homie.