I will admit, I am writing this article as a method of procrastinating studying for my Physics final. But in my defense, it's my last final and then finally it's spring break-- hallelujah. It has been a long quarter, with a lot of ups and downs, sometimes more downs than ups. But (after 2:00 today) I will have made it through. So in trying to decide what to write this week, my thoughts turned to exactly a year ago.

Last year, freshman year, just about to go home for spring break, I was a bit of a mess. I had more personal issues I had to sort out then I realized, and when I finally got a chance to just be calm and not worry about my classes, those stresses overwhelmed me. I was having trouble sleeping because I always felt anxious, and I couldn't figure out why or make myself calm down, even when I knew there was nothing to feel anxious about. I didn't understand why I felt so out of it all the time, or how I would get myself back to feeling pretty happy and content in my day to day life. Spring break was more of a chance to realize how much I didn't have figured out about my life and myself, and was a big wake up call that spring quarter had to be drastically different than winter quarter.

This year, spring break is just about to start. I'm about to go on a trip to the East Coast with I Cantori, a singing group at my university, I feel satisfied and accomplished about my classes, and simply excited to have such a great chance to share the gift of music with others and travel with some great friends. As I thought about it, it hit me how much of a stark contrast this is to last year-- I think sometimes I don't realize just how much has changed over the course of a year, and completely for the better. I have a much better grasp on who I am as a person and what I value in my relationships with people, am much better at standing up for myself and treating myself with respect, and not letting stress completely take over my life (although I admit there are still days where all of this kind of goes out the window, but those days are much less frequent). And I'm proud of this. This winter quarter has been no walk in the park either, and sometimes it can be easy to feel as though I'm right back to where I started, like I didn't really grow or change at all over the last year.

But looking back and remembering honestly what things were like in my life exactly a year ago, I think it is worth crediting to myself what I've been able to accomplish and learn about myself, even if it's far from where I want to be or feel that I should be at this point. Things aren't perfect, but I've been doing my best, and it is worth remembering that that does make a difference, and be proud of what has been accomplished.

It's far too easy to remember all of our failures, and then forget about all of our accomplishments. Take the time to think of all you have accomplished in the past year- all the difficulties you have overcome, all the difficulties that overcame you and how you learned from them, all the new relationships you've made, and ultimately how you've grown. Because you have, even if it wasn't consciously, and that it something that is worth acknowledging and congratulating yourself on.