This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at NCSU chapter.
As life becomes more real and scary over time, I’ve found myself thinking that everything is actually… just fine. I often feel like the little dog smiling in a burning house, or the eye of a hurricane. So, here are five sayings I’ve been trying to live by this year to make life more manageable and uncomplicated.
- It’s not that serious
- Listen, life isn’t that serious. It’s so easy to lose yourself when pretending to have everything together, rushing to meet deadlines, or reliving past memories that you forget to live life. There are so many days that the minute I’m awake to the minute I lay back down to sleep is a mental marathon. Life isn’t that serious though. I’m allowed to breathe, look at the trees, smell the flowers, and buy your roommate some peach rings. Life isn’t a business meeting with your boss; I can laugh, make mistakes, or say a crude joke.
- I’m just being silly
- Oh, how I love saying I’m being silly. Have a manic episode? Silly. Take a chance and eat the possibly raw chicken in the dining hall? Silly. Spend too much money on a coffee? Silly. Eat too many BBQ chips? Silly. Dye my hair? Silly.
- Being silly justifies everything and makes life appear so much simpler. Saying “I’m just being silly”, lets me not overthink every action I make and just exist in the moment.
- This is a freshman mistake I need to make.
- I am a firm believer that some mistakes need to be learned firsthand. How will you know the Berry White Mocha coffee taste nasty until you try it? How will you know not to sleep with people in your dorm building till you do it? How will you know what to look for in someone until you see what you want with the wrong person? Life is a constant lesson as much as I hate it to be, but I also recognize that I need to make horrifying, disgusting, embarrassing, and most importantly naive mistakes to learn. What better time to learn than freshman year? God forbid I find out someone my character-building lessons at 27 years old.
- Treat yourself like someone you love
- I have an incredibly hard time being kind to myself however, I’ve realized I always find it in me to pour my love and energy into others. I continue to give those that I love everything I have yet I never seem to be as gentle and caring with myself. In 2023, I want to live by treating myself how I would someone I love. If I would tell my best friend to take it easy for the day, I will take it easy for the day. If I would prioritize making sure my roommate ate, I will make sure I eat. Learning to love yourself isn’t easy but maybe the first step is to treat yourself like someone you love.
- You gain nothing from this
- The more I think about this saying, the more I love it. It’s so effortless to think of the most atrocious thoughts and act on them. However, the saying “hurt people hurt people” is incredibly true and when you ask yourself ‘What do I gain from doing this?”, you realize all you’ll feel is emptiness as you do something petty for revenge. Hurting people does absolutely nothing and it’s so exhausting to exert energy on people who don’t deserve it.