Hi guys,
I know I haven't done a post in a while, but at this point in my life I feel like I'm still in the process of being taught a lot of things which I am not fully educated to speak about yet. So I do not have the authority to speak about a number of things! But I do feel I can share my thoughts on this...
It seems like the consensus of feeling from people surrounding me at the moment is gloominess, depression and stress. Possibly because most of us are third year students which, on an individual can be quite scary feeling an creates a sudden need for introspection. You may start to question a lot of aspects of your life as a reaction from the overwhelming feeling that you're GETTING OLD.
You may start looking as aspects such as:
.The quality of your friendships and relationships with people
.Your career prospects
.Your long-term relationship prospects
.Who you are really are as a person
.And which direction you should take your life in upon graduating?
If you struggle to find an answer to these questions, we often stay in a state of limbo where we are just confused about what exactly we are doing in life? It becomes quite tedious just focusing on one thing such as your degree or even work and that can increase the pressure to dis-cipher these aspects, on top of the pressure of your work or degree it can really lower you spirits and create what my house mate termed as a 'constant black cloud over your head' - you feel down and have zero motivation.
Where's Kelly when you need some motivation?
One thing that concerns me especially is that although we are under pressure, life will inevitably be full of pressure, so rather than moping we should in fact try to find our own coping mechanisms. Because although we cannot change a number of external factors, could we, (upon introspection), discover what makes us truly happy?
If we look at the two types of coping mechanisms, there are ones that provide long-term relief and those that provide short-term relief. Exploring the affect of these could be our first starting point.
Short term coping mechanisms can be things such as:
.Sexual comfort
.Drinking with the aim to get drunk
.Excessive partying
.Watching TV
.Retail therapy
.Takeways
Long term coping mechanisms can be things such as:
.Going to the gym
.Cooking healthy food
.Visiting a careers advisor
.ticking off things from your to do list
.making sure your home is clean and in order
.completing pieces of work
.trying the best way you know how, to fully understand yourself as an individual
.Praying, improving your relationship with God
Now Although the latter may seem less fun, (and agreed only my perspective -everyone's coping mechanisms will be personal) the difference is that these are things that will give you a longer sense of happiness as they give you a lasting sense of achievement. If you don't really know where to start, it might be useful to look at people you really admire and their qualities, and then think to yourself 'do I wish to have that quality?' If so, that should automatically lift your spirits as you then have a goal to work towards. and once you start to adopt these qualities you will automatically feel more contented as you can look at yourself and feel proud and inexcusable of the person you are.
There are many things in this world that we cannot master, but ourselves is something we all have the ability to, so why not embrace it? Plus there is nothing more attractive than a person who truly knows themselves.
I feel like Gavin DeGraw's - 'I don't wanna be' suits the mood of this entry and also a very feel good song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gFCW3PHBws
