Avoiding the Chicken

Let me begin by saying I think the movies and popular culture have college wrong. In the movies, the college student is incredibly cultured, intellectual, and somehow manages to balance their classes, a job, their student orgs, a social life without getting fat off of booze, and pursuing the future career of their dreams. I’m calling bull shit. Forget being mad at the media for creating unattainable body ideals for men and women, I am more upset at the creation of unattainable goals for college students. It is incredibly difficult to stay on top of all these things, not to mention keeping your sanity in the process. Even now as I write this, I am avoiding doing something that most certainly should be taking priority. But as always, I digress. Writing is an incredibly comfortable and familiar feeling and when someone is stressed, we always turn to what is comfortable and familiar. And so here I am yet again, putting thoughts onto paper in what is an attempt at an organized manner. I hope that for any of you reading this who are in college and are currently having one of those stressed out moments I like to affectionately refer to as running around like a chicken with its head cut off, know that you are not alone. I too have these ridiculous moments whether they last for a day or for a week. Take a deep breath, you can get through it. Now tell me that I can as well, dear reader, because it seems as though I am the chicken right now.

Now that we have acknowledged that I do not have it together as it may appear from the outside, let’s continue on. Usually I spend a fair bit of time mulling over my thoughts before I put fingers to keyboard from my posts. I like to organize my ideas to fit into a certain theme which I focus my writing on. This time however, I am hiding in the back of my history class, looking very studious typing away on this post and in fact not taking notes on the Islamic Empire. But honestly, can one man really manage to go on as many tangents as my professor does? It must be wearing off on me however, because I too am off on a tangent. My apologizes dear reader.

Life for me has had some changes since I last posted. I have been so busy I have lost sight of some of my priorities. One that I find to be particularly high in my regard is always finding time for yourself and remembering to have fun. I believe these two things are vastly important in both avoiding becoming “the chicken” as well as the mentality of not letting life pass you by. So often we look forward to the next thing: graduating school, finding a job, starting a family. Not to dismiss the excitement that comes along with those things, but we often imagine our lives within the mentality of the “someday,” well that someday is today and your life is happening right now. My life is happening right now. And so this post serves to remind myself, and you too dear reader if you need reminding, enjoy your life right now. Spend an hour and do something because you enjoy it, not because it is a requirement. Don’t be the chicken. You do not want to look back on your life once you have reached that someday with regrets that you can no longer change.

-T