Every so often, there will come a day where I am just a human storm. Everything makes me sad, frustrated, or perturbed. Honestly, I still don’t know how to cope with these days, but I have learned from them, and I figured I would share those lessons here.
- You can’t constantly compare yourself to others.
I know this may seem obvious, but I cannot tell you how many times I’ve stared up at the ceiling and compared myself to everyone under the sun. I had to learn to tell myself when enough was enough, which is something I still struggle with. That’s part of why I’m glad my school doesn’t do rankings, because why foster competition when you can encourage camaraderie?
- Life isn’t a race to the finish
Sometimes, everyone seems to be moving way faster than me. It’s hard not to feel behind or less than in those moments, but I just end up reminding myself that the point of life isn’t to check things off a list. I’m not gonna remember my high school resume when I’m fifty, but I’ll remember the journey I took and how I grew as a person throughout those four years. I’ll remember the person I became and the friends I made along the way, and that development isn’t a race.
- You can’t always be happy.
I don’t know why I get so shocked every time I get upset; it’s completely normal to feel upset, angry, anxious, or any other slew of emotions. Sometimes, you just have to accept that you need to feel negative feelings. I like to try and figure out what my brain is trying to tell me by making me feel a certain way, like, is my anxiety trying to warn me of something or is it misplaced? For example, when I was really anxious last night over silly and random things, I wish I had reminded myself that I didn’t need that anxiety.
- No one sees you the way you do.
Everyone else has a different perspective of you, and everyone’s perspective is different, but I guarantee none of them are as critical of you as you are. No one scrutinizes everything you do the way you do. Knowing this has allowed me to be a lot calmer when I interact with people because it makes me believe that people don’t see me the way I see myself.
I try to remind myself of these things when I start to feel myself spiraling. But, sometimes they simply don’t work. Sometimes my thoughts spiral anyway and at that point, I just have to try and ground myself in something physical to remind myself that there’s a world outside of my head.
Until next time,
Ella Greene
