Recently I had a bad day. A string of bad days actually. So bad that I literally Googled “quotes for when you’re having a bad day”. Yes, that bad. And as you can tell from the title, I found one that I thought was very fitting.
When you’re having a bad day, anything and everything will set you off. Dropping your warm cookie in the dining hall is the icing on the cake for the worst day ever and solidifies your belief that the world is in fact out to get you. Bad days suck, no doubt about it. But when you’re venting about how awful everything is, keep in mind that you’re not the only person in the world having a hard time and everyone around you has stuff going on too.
It can be easy to feel like you’re completely isolated when something goes wrong, and wonder ‘why me?’ And while you definitely deserve some time to sulk and cry it out, just remember that even though it can sometimes seem like nobody else ever has stuff go wrong, you have no idea what people are dealing with. For just a few seconds, whatever goes wrong really does feel like the end of the world. But after that, you’ll realize that there are thousands of worse things happening not only around the world but to friends right next to you.
When I’m stressed or angry about life, it is easy to think about how much my life sucks or why is this happening and why is everyone else’s life so simple? But everybody has their stuff, and it can be hard to remember that.
When you’re venting to friends about however heavy your workload may be, don’t forget to ask them about their life, because they go to school too. You’re not the only one with too many tests this week. Or when you’re crying to your mom about how absolutely everything seems to be going wrong right now, take a deep breath and ask her how her day is. Even when all you can think about is you, try and pay attention to everyone else.
This is college. Everyone is stressed. If you’re not, you’re doing something wrong. Everybody around you has tests and midterms and papers due and 87 thousand other things that they really didn’t want to have to deal with this semester. Some maybe more than others, but just remember that everyone is struggling together, so keep that in mind when you’re pulling an all-nighter in the library for the third day in a row.
And when you’re thinking about how hard college is, take a moment to appreciate the fact that you even have the opportunity to attend college. Furthering our education is a privilege denied to so many, and I feel that a lot of college students take that for granted.
I had a bad day. And I cried, and I sulked and I lied in bed for a very long time. Like a really long time. I vented to my friends and I called my mom and I cried some more. But then I realized that you know what, everybody has some kind of issue going on and quite frankly mine is not the worst problem in the world. Things will pass, and life is hard, but it doesn’t suck. I had a bad day, but I don’t have a bad life.