I am full of angst and winded as I muster up the last bit of energy I have from finals to drive back home for the holidays. My mood is lightened as I pull into my home, draped in lights all around, and I get pounded by my dogs as I enter the front door. I throw my bags on the floor and catch up with my family. Yeah, it’s the holidays, but it’s the end of the year again, the time to ponder about what you have done for the year and what you expect to do the next year. Therefore, it’s not just Christmas. It’s time for existential dread. And I feel like this existential dread especially sucks in college.
Did I get the grades I should have? Did I do the right extracurriculars? Is my resumé going to be sufficient for the job I’m working towards? And am I going to do things I have anticipated since childhood, such as travel the world? I ponder so much around this time of the year. But then, I watch the Christmas classic ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ to ring in the Christmas spirit.
There are many Christmas movies that I can’t go without watching each year, but the most captivating of them all is its ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ If you haven’t watched it and you are in your late teens or early twenties, you have probably seen many TV shows parody the story.
It’s a story for anyone who finds themselves floundering around in life. The story centers around George Bailey. I don’t want to spoil the story here, but George Bailey is a man who had many ambitions for his life as an adult that he skipped out on to help those he loved. It wears on him until an angel comes to remind him that he served a great purpose in others’ lives. The angel gives him a letter that reads, “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”
It’s the perfect Christmas movie to remember you are whole as you are. The most important thing to confide in this time of year is your friends and family and the little things that make you happy. This is especially important as a college student who is absolutely angsty about the future. No matter where you end up in the future or what you did in the past, your life is worthwhile no matter what!