College has been a rather difficult journey for me. I'm a senior Business-Marketing Major and I graduate in May of this year. More importantly, I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I'm sitting here on my friend's bed, typing away with some hope that what I write will change the world. I don't think that what I have to say will alter the world in any significant way, but I do know that I can give a few words of wisdom that might help all current and future college women. My topic of choice: happiness. College has this crazy way of taking your emotions, bundling them up, the tossing them into the deepest part of the ocean where you will then have to dive in head-first to collect them all. That isn't even the worst part. The worst part is that this will happen at least five times a week.
There were times when I found myself gasping for air and on the verge of a mental breakdown because I had lost my favorite emotion- Happiness. My smile had fallen to the bottom of the ocean and all I could grab hold of were fear, anger, and sadness. The stress of not knowing how to pay off my student loans upon graduation along dragged me deeper into these awful emotions. That stress didn't even include the utter fear I had of my car not starting in the morning or the nightmares that came with all of this.
The first day of my senior year of college felt a lot like one of those five days of mixed emotions. I had lost my happiness and I needed to get it back, so I developed a simple five-step guide to doing this.
Step One: Wake up in the morning, go look in the mirror, and smile. Smile and say to yourself, "Hey there. What's cookin' good lookin?" Or, you know, something else along those lines. The most important thing you should take out of this is that your smile will define the rest of your day. Without that ear to ear grin, all you have is bad breath from just waking up.
Step Two: After you brush your teeth, continue to stare into the mirror. Tell yourself that everything will be ok. Remind yourself that you serve a purpose. The first few times I did this, I cried. I felt like I was lying to myself and that I couldn't be trusted. After the first week, it got a little easier to recite these words of wisdom, and eventually I felt like Honest Abe.
Step Three: Be beautiful. Wear whatever the hell you feel like wearing. Slap on some lipstick and mascara or ditch makeup all together. Most importantly, do whatever you feel like doing. Your comfort is key to your happiness.
Step Four: Own your walk. No matter how you are feeling at that exact moment you walk into a room, walk as if you are on clouds. Hold your head high and tell yourself that you are the HBIC. Go find a seat in that classroom and drink some water with your pinky out. You show everyone that whatever path you are on is the right path for you.
Step Five: At the end of the day, walk back to that mirror and tell yourself that you did everything in your power to be happy.
T hese five steps may seem difficult at first. It may seem like you will never find your smile, but believe me when I say that you will find it. I'm still sitting here, typing away, and hoping that one day I will change the world. The difference between today's writing and my writing from the beginning of the year is that now I can do it with a smile. I dove to the bottom of the ocean and I grabbed my happiness. I left behind my fear, anger, and sadness and I hardly ever look back. Why? Because I'm happy.
