This year has been a challenging year for everyone. Everyone has had different problems to deal with and it’s been a learning curve for all of us. When the year kicked off and we all started to quickly realize it wasn’t going to be the best year of our lives, I for one had already given up on trying. I had given up on New Year’s Resolutions before they even started, I gave up on trying to go out and do things (when it was safe, of course) and I gave up on trying to make myself a better person. Not that I’m terrible or anything but we all have pros and cons and things to work on to make us the best versions of ourselves. I kind of threw in the towel and called it a day. Once we hit March and the world went into lockdown mode, I stopped trying. I just hung inside, watched a lot of tv and just didn’t feel good about myself. There was no part of me that thought I was going to be able to turn it all around. Now I’m not saying that as soon as the fall semester started up, my life was instantly perfect. It was definitely the opposite of that. But even thought I felt like I couldn’t make things better, I started discovering things I loved again. Whether that was working on a big painting, rediscovering my love for digital art or even a newer passion in film creation, I found little things to remind me that I’m on a great path. I randomly got inspired for my career and felt excited and passionate for my future for once. Declaring a major also turned stuff around. Finally, “fitting in” to a major and just being able to be a member of a group for once made all the difference to me. I forgot how much I hated the feeling of being lost or confused with where my life was going to lead me. It all started to feel so good. I’ve been so passionate about eventually getting an internship or traveling or one day knowing that if I work hard enough, I’ll be working on set for a major studio. All those things are keeping me going and reminding me that there is so much for me to look forward to. I’m starting to feel comfortable in my own skin and learning to accept what I love and what I love to do. All in all, as the year is starting to come to a close and we’re reflecting on what has been honestly a nightmare, I never thought I’d say it, but I feel comfortable with who I’m becoming, who I’ll be and who I am. The path to self-love and self-acceptance is a hard one, but it’s the best feeling in the world when you make some positive progress. Needless to say, I am not thankful for 2020 but actually thankful for the time it gave me to start loving myself.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Scranton chapter.