The world we live in today can sometimes feel like this insanely fast roller coaster that is sometimes fun, and sometimes you just really want to get the hell off. I think that can be true of life for anyone in any situation, despite whatever problems you may or may not have and however severe you may think they are. We, myself included, can be so judgmental towards other people’s problems to the point where it almost becomes a competition of who is doing worse. In reality, everyone is valid in what they are feeling, and it is really no one else’s job or business to comment on how severe or minor something may be.
So many times, we wait so long to check in on people just to see how they are doing and how they are feeling. It takes maybe thirty seconds, unless your a really fast typer, to check in on your best friend, your mom, siblings or literally anyone you think might be struggling. Throughout my time in high school, there were multiple deaths of students that affected my friends and me very deeply. The times when we were so sad and heartbroken were the times that we used to check in on each other and ask about the problems we knew each of our friends was facing. It shouldn’t take a tragic event like the loss of a young life to let the people you love know you love them. It is often the people you think are the strongest, the ones that laugh the most and offer to do the most for other people, that are hurting the most.
We are taught to shy away from the the deep, dark parts of emotion. As long as your Instagram feed reflects perfected poses paired with flattering filters, then all is right in the world. You might be struggling, but it is probably just a bad day and you should still smile in all your Snapchats and carry on as you normally would right? No, that is all wrong. Having gone through my fair share of complications throughout my life, I thought that if I wasn’t depressed through any of that there was no way it was going to hit me in college. Well, I was wrong again. My world turned upside down and soon the emotions I used to control so well went completely rogue. One minute I’d be eating dinner with my roommate, and the next minute I’d feel an avalanche of tears that could only be held back by staring up at the ceiling. This was also a time in my life where two of my best friends were checking up on me constantly. Each day, we would text or FaceTime and even if it was just for a couple of minutes, they were reaching out to me when they knew I wasn’t in a good place.
You are not the overbearing friend if you text people to just ask how they are doing. You are a caring friend that is taking time to check in on the people you love in the crazy, numb, world we live in today. It is okay to go dark and it is okay to tell people that you are going to need a little help being brought back into the light. This doesn’t make anyone less of a person or less independent or together. Check on your strong friends. Check on your quiet friends. Check on your happy friends. Check in on one another.