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Washington | Life > Experiences

When Will Your Life Begin?

Dany Villarreal Martinez Student Contributor, University of Washington - Seattle
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Washington chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Note: This type of raw writing scares me sometimes and is only found in my personal journal. But, it is the time of year where things are going to change— whether we are ready for it or not. I hope you can resonate with this article and that it gives you that push you need. 

I recently went through a real period of daily doom scrolling. Perhaps for the entire first half of this spring quarter, I felt like I had lost myself to bottomless reels and TikTok. I felt like I was watching everyone live their life— afraid to live my own. I think this is something a lot of us can relate to.  

For me, maybe it’s the impending graduation at the end of this quarter. Maybe it’s everyone around me getting jobs and internships while I’m still not even entirely sure what I want my next step to be. 

I’m 21 years old, and I’m graduating. While there is nothing I can do to really predict what the rest of my life holds for me, I began to wonder— how do I want to live my life right now? 

Do I really want to let my life pass by while I’m on my phone watching others live theirs? 

That question has awoken something in me— as I hope it does to you as well. I won’t lie, I still have episodes where scrolling is much easier than facing how lost I feel, so I allow myself those couple of hours to get lost in my phone. As long as it isn’t like before, where I couldn’t do anything for myself without reaching for my phone every couple minutes. 

I know I like to read, so I started reading again. At first, it wasn’t for enjoyment. I was forcing myself to read like I force myself to do my homework or go to bed early. Eventually, I couldn’t put the book down. I found a tiny part of myself floating in the mist and I put it back together. 

I also picked up my camera again. Again, I’m not perfect. I would leave home without it when I had intended to capture that day, maybe because I was too concerned about having my phone on me. So I started setting my camera next to my bag the night before. I started making sure it was fully charged and the SD card was in place. It is now a bit more natural for me to take out my camera and start filming something, or take a photo on my phone. 

Right now, I’m also trying to romanticize things a bit more. 

I watch movies through my projector with my fairy lights on, instead of sitting at my desk while trying to do homework. I’m choosing to study at cafes or my favorite library spots rather than, again, sit in solitude at my desk. 

I’m making my meals at home more often again, and finding joy in the process. I have an intricate routine set in place before going to the gym, so I can hype myself up for it and feel confident and proud of what my body can do. I walk everywhere I can and soak up the beauty of the nature around me. 

I’ve made it a goal to do something new every weekend this quarter, and so far, I’ve been pretty successful. Even if the new thing is alone or as boring as doing my LSJ homework in a different cafe. 

Now, what would you say are the things that make you who you are? 

I have no perfect guide. No ten step solution to putting the phone down. No guarantee that in the next month or even next week I won’t revert back and forget my hobbies, my passions, my favorite things. Some days, I wake up and get up without touching my phone for hours. Other days, I’m scrolling while brushing my teeth. 

So no, the process isn’t perfect, and you shouldn’t feel like a failure because you didn’t achieve your goals the first time. As long as you can say you haven’t given up and you’re trying your best, then you never really failed. 

Dany Villarreal Martinez

Washington '25

Dany Villarreal is a Contributing Writer for Her Campus Washington. She is a senior at the University of Washington studying Journalism and Public Interest Communication with a minor in Law, Societies and Justice. Her dream job is to work as an international reporter covering diplomatic events and international relations. As a Mexican immigrant, her life goal is to give back to the immigrant community by providing truthful and accessible communication. After graduation, she is hoping to write community journalism and gain experience in investigations.


At Her Campus, Dany writes about personal experiences, mental health advice, life and wellness, immigrant/first generation experiences, and more. Dany's work has also been published on various publications, such as the International Examiner, WA Latino News, and Cascade PBS. Fun Fact: her first piece of published media was at the Daily UW, a review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever!

Dany was born and raised in Mexico but lives in Arizona. She has two dogs and a turtle waiting back at home, and many plant babies. She loves autumn, reading, writing, being outside, movies, game nights, live music, and travelling, photography, sports, and more.