All too often I get caught up in the hustle and bustle of my everyday life. Between working, classes, homework, and preparing for graduate school, I feel like I am going a million miles an hour all day every day. Lately I have been trying to slow down and enjoy the little things. When we are so busy it feels like it is so easy to get annoyed when something goes wrong, or when you forget to do something important, or you run out of time to get something finished; it doesn’t have to be like that if we slow down and appreciate whatever happens. I no longer want to be that student that pulls all-nighters and lets herself get stressed out on every little detail. Stress can cause premature aging on the face, and nobody wants wrinkles at 22 years old!
A few weeks ago, my friend had her 21st birthday. She had to work the next day so we had plans to go to brunch with her parents at noon. I had been looking forward to it for several weeks and I wanted to get a good night’s sleep because I figured it would be a long day. Sunday morning rolled around and I woke up at 7:00am. I was furious; I had been up most of the night tossing and turning and was looking forward to sleeping in (I didn’t have to be ready until 11:30am). In my anger, I huffed and puffed in my bed and silently fumed about all the sleep I would be losing. I forced myself out of bed, made a cup of coffee, and crawled back up to my room to lie down again. I grabbed my iPhone and opened up my Kindle application and decided to read for a bit, thinking it might help put me back to sleep. Instead, I became enthralled in my book; I lit a few candles, propped myself up, sipped my coffee and read in the dark for over two hours. I finally put my phone down and looked at the clock and saw it was already after 9:00am!
This may seem like a silly and irrelevant story, but it made me realize, especially now that the spring semester has kicked into full gear, how wonderful that fortuitous moment really was. Instead of sleeping in and being rushed for time, I relaxed and just enjoyed my morning. As college students, we need to sit back every once in awhile and just breathe; it’s so important to learn early how to balance school, homework, and work with a little fun and leisure time with our friends. Enjoy those little moments that might seem inconvenient; odds are, they will bring you peace and a sense of calm in the stressful world we live in.
Photo Credit:
http://www.familyanatomy.com/2009/05/22/college-students-report-stress-and-depression/