The meaning of the holiday season seems to be a little cloudy these days. As the semester comes to a close and finals creep around the corner, we tend to lose sight of what really matters. Stress trips us up and keeps us from seeing the bigger pictures. It tricks us into thinking the worst things are the most important. It’s time to take a breath, look around us and find what truly makes us happy.
1. Health: Not your weight. Not your pant size. Not how often you go to the gym. Your actual health. The ability to get up and walk to class in the morning, to be able to see the world around you and take in what’s going on, to be able to stop and feel the sun on your skin. Health also includes your mental health, to be able meditate on the small moments in life that teach your to appreciate who you are as a person. It takes looking inside yourself to recognize what makes you strong as a person. And that’s more than how far you run or how much you lift, but the things that make you unique. You can be healthy in your thoughts and how you go about your life by taking each moment for what it is and never taking it for granted.
2. Education: Yeah, right, thankful for tests and stress and crazy suitmates? So, maybe those aren’t the best aspects of college. But isn’t school where you also have the most memorable (or not so memorable) nights of your life? Where you find your bridesmaids? Where you are able to make mistakes and pick yourself back up to try again? School teaches us a lot more than what the over-priced textbooks have to offer. It’s where we learn that sometimes you’ll be up until 3 a.m. writing a paper the night before it is due, and some nights it’ll be 3 a.m. and you’re splitting a pizza with your best friends. In the end, it all comes together. We have to be thankful for the papers and the professors and seven-page papers, so we can also appreciate the moments that make college the best days of our lives.
3. Parents: They call you at the most inconvenient times and they tell you that by not giving you money you are “building character.” You think you’re all grown up on your own and you really don’t need their advice. You insist to them that – of course – you’re going to put off your homework to go out and still have time to do it in the morning. And they know you don’t have the time and you should stay in and work, but they let you make your mistakes. And they’re there the next day when you’re panicking because you did not, in fact, have enough time to do everything. Now, more than ever, are the moments where our parents might just know exactly what to say if we just listen. Sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate who is really supporting us when life catches up with us.
4. Friends: This might be one of the more obvious ones, but it’s also easy to take friends for granted. Think about the people who drop everything when you need a laugh or a shoulder to cry on. Who is there when you’re feeling down, who stays in to watch a movie with you? Those are the real friends who we should appreciate and look to them for support. You can post pictures on Instagram with the people you have crazy nights with, but who are they? The real friends are the people we should cherish. Don’t count the likes on your picture or how many people know your name when you’re out, but who calls no matter what’s going on. It’s more than being able to have a good time. Look around and see who sticks around for your bad days.
5. Faith: Some people are religious and others are not, but I believe almost everyone has faith in something. Maybe it’s God or maybe another power, but having faith in yourself is so important. Trust yourself and most importantly, love yourself. Be thankful for the life you get the chance to experience. Look for moments where you are truly happy and full of life. Seek out what makes you complete and cherish yourself before anything else.