Between one major paper being due last week, another one due yesterday, and having one due tomorrow, now is the least ideal to stop everything I’m doing to think, but I think sometimes these weeks of absolute mayhem are the times when it is vital that we do take the time to just think once in awhile.
At the beginning of the year, I started making a list in the notes on my phone. It was right after one of my friends had been led on by this guy who came off sweet and friendly, and interesting, checking off all the basic boxes. And so, first on my list of things I had learned freshman year is “just because someone wears Patagonia doesn’t make them cool.” Looking back, it seems a little silly, but in Vermont it actually is valid piece advice. People are not always who they come off as, making a good first impression is often just another acquired skill.
First impressions leads us to point number two on my list: “people aren’t what you expect, but also sometimes exactly what you expect.” Let others show you who they are. Not making impressions based on stories you here and others peoples opinions is going to save you a lot of time, and allow you to let in a lot more amazing people.
This next one is one of my very favorites: “make the move.” Wherever you are in life, you will never be again. Regardless of whether you will physically go back to your same job tomorrow, same school, hang out with the same people, every time you repeat an action, it’s different. Because you’re different. In tenth grade I was forced to read Catcher in the Rye and hated the main character, Holden, until about halfway into the book. By the end, Holden talks about this concept when he returns to an art museum months later. The art is still the same, and it’s still him viewing it, but he has changed, his world has changed, therefore, the experience is different. Because of that, there is no time better than right now. No time will ever be more ideal than right now to make your move, no matter what that move is.
On a bit of a different note, the next one I have written is “more people do coke than you think.” Be aware of who you are surrounding yourself with. But also do not shut people out because of their flaws. Everybody has their own, and their own vices as well; just because someone’s’ are different from yours, does not make them better than you. Though someone doing coke would be a bit of a drawback for me, realize what your ‘coke’ is. You have some weird, quirky, or terrible habits as well, I promise.
This last reminder is stolen from Abby Wambach, two- time Olympic gold medalist, and six- time US Soccer Athlete of the Year. “You were never Little Red Riding Hood, you were always the wolf.” She said this when she delivered an incredible speech at Barnard University in 2018 that every one, specifically, every woman should take the time to listen to. This quote is posted on a sticky note above my desk as a daily reminder that people will try to tell you what you should be doing, they will try to tell you if you do not do things a certain way that, like Little Red Riding Hood going off the path, bad things will happen. Here’s your reminder that they won’t. Question the world around you, do things the way you want to and how you see fit. Wambach connected this to wolves being reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. At the time, deer had overtaken the park, eating away at vegetation, leaving little environment for animals like birds and others at the bottom of the food chain. When wolves were reintroduced, “trees quintupled in just six years. Birds and beavers started moving in. The river dams the beavers built provided habitats for otters and ducks and fish. The animal ecosystem regenerated. But that wasn’t all. The rivers actually changed as well. The plant regeneration stabilized the river banks so they stopped collapsing. The rivers steadied—all because of the wolves’ presence… The wolves, who were feared as a threat to the system, turned out to be its salvation.” Be a wolf.