The last couple of weeks for me have been extremely rough. Five papers due, exams to take, drama within my friend groups, and setting my hair on fire via my hair straightener. Okay, well maybe not the last one, but the bottom line is, I have been extraordinarily stressed. My stress has the tendency to making me feel very dark and gloomy; I don’t respond well to others, including my family and my friends. I guess you could say that my stress deeply affects my emotions. However, it wasn’t until I re-watched New Girl on Netflix that I found solace and peace; an escape from my stress.I was first introduced to New Girl by one of my best friends back home. On a lazy, warm, summer day, as I was sipping my sweet iced tea, I decided to watch New Girl. Little did I know how addicting watching four people living in an apartment would be. Soon, I realized a significant increase in my mood whenever I watched that show; so, during my academic “hell week,” as us college kids like to call it, I decided to take a thirty minute break and watch some of my favorite New Girl episodes.
One of the many reasons I love New Girl is the fact that is is so #relatable. All of the characters are challenged by life’s problems, whether it’s Jess, the main character, getting dumped by another man, or Schmidt continuously pursuing Jess’s model best friend, Cece. Regardless of any situation, the multitude of jokes, pop culture references, and the personalities of the characters are able to take my mind off of my stressful day and significantly improve my mood. Here are some of my favorites quotes from New Girl:
Season 1, Episode 14
Schmidt: “I’m like a sexual snowflake. Each night with me is a unique experience.”
Schmidt, the womanizer of the group, is known for his tacky pick-up lines and high maintenance character. Despite the fact that he is not the ideal role model, I find him to be hilarious. His jokes and actions make me laugh, and the thought of a man likening himself to a “sexual snowflake” is highly amusing. Schmidt finds light in any situation thus making him my favorite male character in the series.
Season 5, Episode 7
Nick: “Yeah, I’d trust Beyoncé with my life.”
I mean, who wouldn’t trust Beyoncé with their life? New Girl is extremely relatable, in my case. All of my friends know that I reference pop culture and memes in almost every sentence I say. So, when I heard this Beyoncé reference, I was gasping for air as I laughed. Nick is known for being extremely sarcastic and easy-going, just like myself.
Season 2, Episode 3
Schmidt: “Befriending Kanye is the most efficient way for me to jump social strata. Now all I have to do is meet him, and then dazzle him to the point that we’re each other’s last call before bed.”
I think we can all agree that Kanye references are the best. So as I watched an episode in season two, I heard Schmidt reference Kanye, and I guess you could say I lost it during study hall Sunday.
Additionally, my favorite female character, Cece, reminds me of myself. As an Indian living in America, I understand all of her cultural references, especially the stereotype of the strict Indian mom (love you momma). She is a sassy, sarcastic, independent woman similar to myself at times. The characters in New Girl all remind me of little parts of myself. From Jess’s personal songs to Winston’s wacky obsession with gossiping, I find myself relating to these characters, and by doing so, I realized that life will challenge me every day. However, if I continue to focus on my friends, family, and the laughter shared between us, then everything will be okay. The show’s jokes are able to take my stress-filled mind to one that is bright and filled with laughter.
As I powered through my hectic week, I committed to watching at least one episode of New Girl at night to help take my mind off of writing a paper about Karl Marx’s theory of communism. I am happy to say that in doing so, I went to bed in an extremely good mood instead of being anxious about my work. I use New Girl as a reminder that no matter how tough life gets, whether it’s drama within your friend group or copious essays to write with tight deadlines, that you will be able to survive. I have learned over the past few weeks that self-care is essential for your well-being and mental state. Despite having what seems like fifty million things to do in a week, take the time to re-energize yourself. For me, too much work leads to me over-working myself and not sleeping. Unfortunately, lack of sleep results in extreme moodiness. I use New Girl as an escape from reality. The show’s jokes and characters never fail to impress me in fact, there are times when I laugh so hard that tears are cascading down my face. Moreover, New Girl has taught me to cherish the little things in life; rather than being worked up about a job or your workload, spend your time reminiscing happy memories with friends and loved ones. Like the characters in New Girl, while I may be far away from my family, I do have a great group of friends to always pull me out of a funk whenever I need them to. New Girl is my perfect stress reliever and I highly recommend watching it whether you want to de-stress or be a lazy couch potato who watches Netflix and eats nachos all day. Overall, I am very proud to say that my self-care treatment of watching New Girl as I snuggled up in my fluffy white blanket with a hot tea was very successful. Not only did I learn how to de-stress from my hell week, but I also realized the importance of having friends to help pick me up and piece my mental-state back together.