Drexel Student, Paris Gramann has found a way to follow her passion, while being a busy and stressed out college student. It doesn’t come with too much ease though. Her passion is mental health and empowering others to find power in themselves. She’s even creating a whole book series and product line about Mental Health for children (justbebooks.com). The business she is creating lets her practice for what she is learning as a Drexel student and as a young person going through therapy from college resources. She is of the belief that many of our human issues start with mental health difficulties.
She finds that for herself, she can’t function well if she feels confused about something. (Paris has shared that she deals with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.) Often times she gets lost with big questions of purpose, the meaning of life, and … which task to prioritize first on her HUGE, self-made to do list.
To get centered in her confusion though, she often goes back to prioritizing school. Paris knows that her main role in her current life is to be a student, often reminding herself that many of her present opportunities would not be available to her without Drexel University.
Within prioritizing school, Paris is able to merge some of her passions into her classwork. Many of Paris’s classes revolve around her other passions of startup businesses and solution-finding in regards to societal issues (one of them being mental health).
An important note is Paris’s unique program at Drexel: the Custom-Designed Program. By being a part of this major, Paris is able to pick and choose classes from all across the university, regardless of which academic college they fall under. That means Paris can take a Neuropsychology class, a Drawing class, a Project Management class, a Startup class, AND a Sociology of the Family class — all at the same time. Because of this unique major offered at Drexel University, Paris is allowed and encouraged to continually be introspective about her goal with education.
Regardless of which major you are in though, it is always encouraged for students to make their education their own. Paris shares some tips about passion finding and about creating a startup while in school.
- Take time to be introspective. An exercise that Paris does for herself and for a lot of friends is what she calls a “brain dump”. Paris tells us some of her process of helping a friend with this exercise. She writes the calendar date at the top of a big whiteboard with the name of the person at the top. The goal is to get everything on the person’s mind up on the whiteboard. There are two versions she does. (One is an overall goal and personal life capture and the other is a current goal capture.) She reminds the person she is helping that all on the board will be just a quick snapshot of TODAY. That is why the date is on the board. Then Paris walks the friend through questions in order to guide them into putting all that is on their mind on the whiteboard. Paris then walks the friend through organizing and synthesizing all the information presented. “It always feels really good to see the person walk away feeling like they have clarity in their mind. It is so rewarding and it can be done in about an hour,” Paris says. (NOTED: Paris said she might write more on how to do this for yourself in one of her later articles on Her Campus. See her other articles here.)
- Be a novice. Paris is a HUGE advocate of being a life long learner. One of her personal values is “learning”, so it makes sense. She encourages anyone who is looking to find their passion (and/or trying to start something) to ask as many questions as they can… to ANYONE who might know the answer. Paris says, “You’d be surprised at who might know who and what kinds of cool experiences you’ll get to know about because you were open to life!” She also brings home the point of people wanting to help other people, “If people know what you need and you are kind and open about it, most everyone is so happy to help. Most humans like helping other humans.” With this, Paris emphasizes the importance of seeing value in other people, “Everyone knows more than you about something you don’t know. Everyone can teach you something. Be open and be kind.”
- “Try on” the perspective of “Life is a journey and it’s about the process.” Too often, we are geared toward focusing heavily on the goal or outcome of our actions. This could be: become a doctor, get a house, graduate with straight A’s. BUT if we translate these goals into journey and perspective, we get something a bit different: feel fulfilled in daily life by helping others with the resources I have access to, find stability and security in myself and finances, continuously ask yourself “How does this class match my values and passion?” or “If it doesn’t directly align, why is it going to help me with my bigger feeling fulfillment?”. “These thoughts are admittedly tough at times to practice”, Paris says, but she thinks they are worth trying often. Paris notes that the continuous attempt is enough to honor your values and means that you are still being introspective and kind to yourself.
In short, our team at Her Campus is excited for the different developments of all of our writers. We can’t wait to see where Paris’s business takes her. To read more about her business, visit her website: justbebooks.com or follow her where she posts all her updates: Instagram and Facebook.