Sometimes it Feels Like the World is Imploding

We are facing an enormous public health crisis, the election is splitting everyone up, and our professors are trying to cram everything into the last two weeks. We have had no breaks and for extra bonus points, we are supposed to be confident in our choices of classes, majors, and career aspirations when the job market is low.

As students, I think we are racing toward the finish line of the semester yet, we run in slow motion and only see everything spinning around us.

As a community, we find ourselves in the middle of a battleground state during an election that will make history, only in the midst of finding our footing.

As a generation, we are fighting for what we believe in but are told we are not doing it the right way. A pat on the back and “keep up the good work” can only get us so far.

We hear the desperate cries for change but face the reality of how change cannot happen overnight. This election will prove no different. We have to focus on the big picture items that are on the ticket however, we also cannot ignore the details that make up what is supposed to be the best years of our lives. Take a study break, go on that run, write a letter to your best friend, watch an SNL skit, go grab Cookout, listen to that song on repeat, have a picnic on Mountain. We cannot continue to sacrifice our small acts of self-care at times when we need them the most. Now is one of those times. We try to convince ourselves that we can give up these things because they are luxuries that should come behind extra study time or our work schedule. It is actually the opposite. It does not have to come down to skipping class or calling out of work but I implore you to not throw out the little things you do for yourself.

It can be hard to find the middle ground of laying on the floor all day bingeing the Kardashians, and staying up late to write a paper and skipping dinner. But the small acts will allow you to find your center.

As college students, we are in the weird spot of having to make important life decisions, but a lot of people saying we are not adults, but that we are just in college. Then when we suddenly graduate, we automatically get to become adults with a piece of paper and no more guaranteed housing. We are supposed to be making life long memories, but also keeping our GPA’s up and learning about the real world. Sometimes, I think, I learn more about the real world outside of class than in. It is then the synthesis of the information and life skills that make us “marketable” people for our society.

A lot of things have gone down in 2020 to lead us up to this day and whether you are relieved or frustrated or ecstatic or celebrating or angry, as a nation, as a campus community but more importantly as individuals we have choices to make. With our actions, with our words, and with our habits. No one can dictate your guttural emotional reactions of today, or this season or this year but moving forward it is up to you to decide how you respond.

I suggest that we all take a step back and reflect on how we are live daily, and if we are feeling whole. If not, then we have work to do.

Written by Katie Bevers