Answering questions about life in post grad
In quarantine, we have an opportunity to live differently than before. We have the option to do less or to live at a less hurried pace. Even for those with children and work right now, every day doesn’t have to be a sprint. We can choose the pace at which we live in order to add more peace into our lives.
One moment I woke up to use the bathroom at 5 in the morning. The next moment I stood horrified at the figure before me - my cousin had arrived home from her night shift at work. For me, this is the thing. For you, it may be the way your smile doesn’t quite reach your face after a long vacation with family. Or it’s all the picture-perfect photos on your wall. When your room has been messy for a month. It’s going on a walk and finding out that you have dog poop on your shoe as you enter the house.
In my Media Studies class, we studied the eras of media and how that has shaped the society we’re in. In the past, we had an oral culture move to print to radio and now to electronic. Now more than ever, we are a visual society.
This is one of the many ways in culture, it seems we are all seeking happy. As millennials, we are job hopping at high rates. Hookup culture is rampant because we can’t commit to the person that isn’t 100% perfect. We look to our culture of consumerism and ambition to find where our happiness lies. We accumulate and we expect that when our salary rises that our happiness will rise.
There are days when you’re happy and full of light - days full of laughter, of peace, the once in awhile stress free moments living life full of love. And there are other days where everything feels like it’s going wrong and you feel drained even though you weren’t really productive at all. One version of you is happy and one of you isn’t. Let’s figure out why.
In the age of technology, we know the celebrities in a way we didn’t before. We can now see Kylie Jenner on her luxury vacation via her Snapchat or hear the political views of Trump via Twitter. No longer do we need the paparazzi to tell us what our favorite celebrities are doing. On Youtube, we can easily watch videos of what people living extraordinary lives look like, We see the boat trips and the Gucci bags and the trips from LA to Greece.
We like to believe all of our dreams are really best for us, but honestly, the expectations we put on ourselves can be harmful. I thought coming into college I’d still be an amazing A student. That dream was just not for me.