It’s hard to always stay positive at university, especially with the depression that comes alongside the awkward transitional period between winter and summer, the exponential approach of exams, and of course the erratic nature of strikes. These issues barely scratch the surface of prevailing student worries which usually come in the shape of finance, housing, transport, social, and so many more. University can be extremely lonely and destabilising and it’s easy to let the happy façade slip sometimes. As rewarding and character-shaping as it is, it’s also accountable for the moments of demoralisation and feelings of uncertainty.
In light of this, I’ve been rather in my feels and naturally, lines of comparison have been drawn from life before the struggles of adulthood and responsibilities. On a side note, it’s absolutely normal and okay to feel like things are too much. They are not moments of weakness, and you will overcome them.
Below are some stark nostalgic contrasts between our perception of things as children and now:
- When the only makeup we wore was face paint to turn us into butterflies or tigers, not to hide our insecurities.
- When £5 could buy us a gigantic bag of pick ‘n mix, not a shot of alcohol.
- When a late night was the excitement of staying up till 12am on New Year’s Eve, not until the early hours of the morning trying to cram an essay.
- When long journeys took us to new and exhilarating places, not a visit home.
- When electronics were used for games, not for endlessly comparing yourselves to others on social media.
- When sleepovers were for your best friends, not for strangers at nightclubs.
- When counting was for numbers, not for calories.
- When the beach was for building sandcastles, not for tanning.
- When games were for playing in the playground, not with people’s heads.
- When songs were for singing to, not crying to.
- When being sent to your room was a punishment, not a hiding place.
- When snow was for building snowmen, not for blocking your car.
- When clothes were worn for fancy dress, not to judge someone’s wealth.
- When rain was for splashing in puddles, not for staying inside.
- When supermarkets were for browsing the toy aisle, not for our weekly shop.
- When watching TV was for fun, not for procrastination.
- When parties were for bouncy castles and ice cream, not for drugs and alcohol.
Of course these are all subjective and predominately based on my personal experiences and they’re not designed to be depressing or bleak. There is light at the end of the tunnel as we get so much out of life through maturity and knowledge and our transitions from one age to the next. However, when you compare our perceptions of commodities and circumstances from when we were children and now, we can appreciate and put an interesting spin on the innocence of youth and the realism we face today.
Anyway, to reiterate; everybody has feelings of sadness sometimes and it’s healthy to let them out. And to end with a quote from the wise Socrates, ‘What a strange thing that which men call pleasure seems to be, and how astonishing the relation it has with what is thought to be its opposite, namely pain.’