It’s the middle of the night. You’ve just been broken up with, or the other way around. What do you do? Maybe you cry a lot. Maybe you go out and party. Maybe you do both. Either way, it’s likely to end with you tucked in bed binge-watching Netflix. While this type of night or day is a norm for college students, and can be useful for getting your feelings out, it’s good to remember that there are alternatives. More likely than not, this suggestion is going to make me sound like some sort of hippie grandmother, but I’m serious, try reading or writing poetry.

One of the most efficient ways to make yourself feel better is to have your emotions validated by someone other than yourself, or to know that someone else has felt the exact same way. Poetry can be a huge aid for this. When you get wrapped up in what is going on around you, it’s easy to forget that your uniqueness isn’t mutually exclusive with finding hope in shared struggles of the people around you. That is, you can know that you are special and know that you are understood by others at the same time. So whether you need to absorb the strength of Paulo Coelho’s "Life" or to relate to Rupi Kaur’s trials and tribulations as a young woman, poetry is there for you, existing in order to reach out, to comfort and to connect.

Sometimes, especially during the social mosh pit that is college, communication gets messy, and sometimes you don’t even want to talk to the person involved in the problem. Sometimes you just want to talk. If that’s you, then maybe you should consider writing poetry. A lot of people assume that it has to rhyme, or that it has to be pretty and musical, but none of those things are necessarily true. Poetry is, simply put, the less-structured arrangement of your thoughts on a page in an attempt to better understand the situation or yourself.

Even if it doesn’t help you understand, the feeling of seeing those inner thoughts thrown onto paper is freeing. I know that when I write poetry, I’m splattering my deepest feelings across the page in hopes that I, or any reader, will feel understood. I feel confident that others have been in love or felt this sort of angst or felt heartbroken at 3 a.m. I feel even more confident that even if they haven’t, there is no shame in being the first. My feelings are real, and they are valid. I have come to accept this infinitely more through poetry.

As any college student will tell you, college in particular, is a trying time on a deeper level. I’ve come to know more about myself and my personality this past year, as a college freshman, than I probably have in my entire life. Between exploring a wider range of people and finally looking to the metaphorical glaring sun that is your future, college is likely to be an experience unlike one you’ve ever had. The separation from your home friends and family, or just from your high school life in general, can make this new dawn even more difficult. It makes you begin to rely on yourself in ways you never have.

You’re growing up, and that is OK -- in fact, it’s awesome. Sure, you will still have support from friends and family, new and old, but it’s common to feel that you’re floating through a brand-new type of independence. That’s why I use words the best I can to express myself through poetry, whether or not anyone else will ever see it. If I can’t find the words, then I read the wide assortment of poems that have been created by others instead. Between class and eight hours of "Grey’s Anatomy" after a rough night (I totally understand), I recommend that you try it, too. Common ground with the rest of humanity or with your inner self can give you all the hope in the world.