“Being happy” isn’t a permanent place. When people are asked the question: “Where do you want to be when you are older?” or “What do you wish for in the future?” Most people respond with, “I just want to be happy and healthy.” This isn’t an incorrect or bad answer, but it creates the illusion that happiness is a “place” one can get to if they follow a certain path in life. Now, that is just wrong. Being happy can last one minute, three hours, a couple of days, etc. Happiness can come in all forms. Throughout my day I can have multiple moments when I am happy and moments when I am not. College is filled with ups and downs and it is only natural that one goes through multiple feelings in one day or a span of a couple of weeks.
Personally, I have gone through a whirlwind of a semester and it has not been easy. I have felt defeated, alone, and simply exhausted. I thought that I was the only one until I realized that I don’t have to let all these things bother me and control my mental state. I don’t have to have a “bad semester” if I don’t want to. I started to actively think about what makes me happy and did them all throughout my day. For me, it was reading my book for an hour in between my classes, going to the gym, eating my favorite meal, calling my friend to ask how her day went, and watching a movie with my roommate. When doing these little things every day, I actively thought about how happy they made me and remembered that feeling for when times were tough. I remembered that if something bad happens, I always had those things to make me feel better.
College is a huge transitional period of time in most people’s lives, and most of the time it is harder than it is easier. The world won’t end because you got a bad grade or something happened between you and a friend. College is a seriously weird place if you think about it, and why not just focus on the things that give you joy? “Being happy” can simply be having a good lunch and enjoying it, reading a book that makes you smile, or talking to a friend for 30 minutes. Don’t let “being happy” overwhelm you. Do the things that make you the happiest and it will naturally lead to being happy. Don’t worry about landing in some future state of “permanent happiness” because trust me, you will be waiting for a while.
These four years of your life will be filled with ups and downs. One’s biggest fault is to think that this process won’t make you a better person. Going through hard times and good times will make you into the best version of yourself. The amount of knowledge and personal growth that will take place will be immeasurable and if you actively think about what makes you happy and do it, then these four or more years will have more “ups” than “downs”.