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CU Boulder | Life > Experiences

The Human Condition

Rodayna Eissa Student Contributor, University of Colorado - Boulder
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CU Boulder chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

To love is to be human. It feels like such a big word. Scary to say and, if we’re being honest, maybe even more terrifying to feel. Love can feel like curling on the couch with a warm blanket and a cup of your favorite drink. Love can feel like standing on a tightrope over a yawning chasm with no clear end in sight. In all its forms, love is essential to human life.You love your family, your friends, your partner, your pet. You love your favorite song, your favorite show, your favorite movie. Humans thrive on connection and what connection is stronger than love? 

But love has a counterpart, as most things do. 

Grief. 

Such a heavy emotion, striking at the most inopportune moments and sinking in bone-deep. It lingers, integrating itself into your everyday life, a small itch that sits in the back of your mind, occasionally flaring to remind you that it exists. It’s a feeling that can be so overwhelming it’s as though you’re drowning. Maybe you feel it when you reach the end of your favorite show or a really good book, when you move out of your parents’ house or when someone you love passes away. 

I’ve found myself struggling with the two emotions often as of late. As I grapple with the effects of a multitude of substantial changes in my life that I never quite expected to have the strength to deal with, the hardest thing to come to terms with has been learning to accept the feelings that come with it. There are moments that pass where I’m inexplicably overwhelmed by grief over memories being lost and changes occurring. There are also moments where all of the love and joy that come from the people and memories I hold feel like the most perfectly timed hug, the kind that squeezes the air out of you just a little bit and makes you feel all warm inside. 

I keep asking myself: How do you come to terms with the fact that the same situation can ping pong you across the emotional spectrum? The highs and lows ebbing and flowing can truly make a person feel like they’re going crazy. It seems nonsensical to feel such polarizing emotions simultaneously, but I’ve come to realize something as I attempt to work through the noise. Emotions are nonsensical. There’s no rhyme or reason as to why we feel the way that we do, and trying to assign logic to emotion can drive you mad. Experiencing emotion is what makes us human, and the realization that none of us are above that can be so humbling. 

I wish I could say that these realizations were a magical cure that taught me the secret to accepting the things I’m feeling, but of course, that’s not the case. There’s something to be said about the power of emotions as poignant as love and grief that feel so all encompassing and the ability they have to destroy any form of logical thinking. In the moments where it becomes too overwhelming to sit with, it can be hard to remember that it’s normal to feel these things and it’s okay for it not to make sense. Sometimes things just suck. 

Remind yourself that your feelings are valid, no matter how crazy they seem. Allow yourself the space to feel the things you do. Buy a little pick-me-up chocolate, cry, vent, take a drive into the mountains to just yell your frustrations out into the open air. Give yourself a little grace, and keep in mind that you’re only human, and to be human is to love and to love is to grieve. Because, after all, what is grief if not love persevering?

holding hands at sunset
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Rodayna Eissa

CU Boulder '26

Rodayna Eissa joined the Her Campus CU Boulder chapter as a contributing writer in the Fall of 2024. Her areas of interest as a writer include entertainment and media–particularly in regards to the movie industry–mental health, creative writing, and politics. As a reader and writer, she is a staunch defender of the oxford comma. She has worked as a bookseller and barista for over three years now. Rodayna is in her final year at the university where she is pursuing a pre-law degree in International Relations with a focus on the region of the Middle East and Africa.

When she’s not writing, Rodayna can usually be found indulging in one too many cups of coffee while hiding with a book, building legos, spending time with her family and friends, or rewatching Star Wars for the millionth time.