As I sit here at this coffee shop. I reflected back on this year and the craziness it started off with. In January I was working at a mental health hospital. Walking around, checking on patients and making sure that they were doing alright. So many stories come from just that experience alone. Then, It was March/April. I quit that stupid job because I was killing myself. Plus, it got to a point where my grades were just terrible. Dragging my feet every Thursday through Saturday from 2:00pm - 12:00am, just to go back on Sunday at 6:00am in the morning and staying until 2:00pm. Not including the 45 miniature drive it took to get there and back. However, I learned a very valuable lesson, if I didn’t had time for myself, how can I have time for others? It was something alright. But who knows, maybe I touched a few lives in the months I was there. Anyways…
The month of May was just around. I was really excited to see my friends who are about to graduate. It was a feeling I was so ready for. Just to be on that stage, hold the folder my degree would be in, and finally enter the “real world.” Yet, the more I think about it, the more disappointing it will get. I realize how much pressure it really is to walk out with no “true” life experience, and figuring things out on my own. Like how to pay my water bill or something stupid like that.
June and July hit and I found myself back in Italy. It was a great moment to witness, I was so excited just to eat the pizza again, hanging with old friends, try that gelato I’ve been craving since the last summer I was there. Then when I got there, I forgot the dorm didn’t have A/C. It was one of the hottest summers Italy has ever received. At some point it got to (105F/40C). We found ourselves being indoors more often than outside. However, we still travel, go to museum, see the Vatican, go to the beach, and just being in a place where you are free to live your life. At least that’s how I see it. I wouldn’t have changed it for nothing! Well, maybe the AC part…
August through November was just regular school life. We went to class, saw old friends, did our late night fast food runs, and studied as much as we could. The only difference it was for me between the “typical” fall semester. I applied to Graduate School, and it’s been a few anxious weeks just to hear back to see if I would get accepted or not. Still haven’t received an answer. I’ll give it another week to see what happens (be on the look out for a instagram post).
December, here we are. The year is coming to an end. Even though I should be studying for a final I have tomorrow. I sit here, writing, thinking back. How much we have grown. How many times life tried to punch us. Even though we got hit a few times, we are still standing. Now… if you made it this far, I wanna give you something, just for listening (or I guess reading) what I had to say. “Be the best you, that you can be.” Sometimes I think we are too hard on ourselves. We forget that we are human, with that comes flaws, mistkaes and insecurities. However, that doesn’t mean you need to change. Now, if it’s like something you want to get over or accomplish like “I wanna be healthier this next year.” Or, “I wanna save money for that new car I wanna buy.” Then ok, change a few things. But change because it’s going to help you grow! Not because some “idiot” told you that it’s weird to be yourself. You go be yourself! Be the best YOU that you can be. Because there is only ONE you. And you are the best you I know.
Go be great, and don’t let people stand in your way.
