To love yourself is the most beautiful, rewarding gift that you can get. It leaves you radiant and glowing, and seems to make the sun shine a little brighter on the days that it seems dim. Unfortunately, it also can feel like the most difficult thing in the world to achieve sometimes.
College is hard. You know it, I know it, but it feels like 90% of the time you’re the only one struggling; that everyone else has their lives together and is on the path to success, and you're the only one left behind.
News flash: you’re not.
This time in your life is one of the scariest, most difficult that you will go through. You are growing into the woman that you will spend the rest of your life with, and that is something to be proud of. Nonetheless, there are some things that you, and I, all women of this community need to remind ourselves of sometimes.
1. Your success does not look like anyone else’s.
It is extremely easy to compare yourself to others, to question why someone else is so put together and you are not, or why things come easier to others than they do to you. You absolutely have to remind yourself that you are on your own path to success. This life is yours, and you are your own main character. It does not matter if you are pursuing the same career as someone else and they are going in an entirely different direction: you both got to this point on your own, in completely different ways, and both of your futures will shine brightly.
2. Take the time off. Seriously.
You are a beautiful woman in her youth, and you have the rest of your life to work. Take.the. Time. off. Put your notes down, go outside and sit in the sun, and breathe. You do not have to earn rewards, or a break from your studies. You owe that to yourself just as much as you have to work hard. There is no life without fun, and whatever that means to you, separate time to just enjoy yourself, whether it be exercising, binge-watching tv on the couch, or simply being around others. That is just as important for your future as your academics.
Put the same amount of work you give academics into yourself.
3. Slow down and enjoy the now.
It seems sometimes that we are all in a rush. A rush for the weekend to come, a rush for the holidays. a rush for the semester to be over, a rush to graduate. A rush to get a job, a rush to settle down. A rush to grow up.
The woman that you are now has so much to offer. She is full of the innocence of youth, and the wisdom of experience, full of naivety and courage. She is filled with love and excitement for the future, and she is the only you that you will get like this. As time passes, you will change. So slow down and enjoy the woman of the present; there is always so much to learn when you take some time to relax.
You have so much potential; allow yourself to grow and flourish into the woman you are capable of becoming. Cut yourself some slack, and you will rise to the occasion every time.
With Love,
Isabella Gray (MC ‘21)