Two decades, two years

As I began to reflect back on what the past twenty-two years of my life brought, I started to think about what life is to me.
Life is hard, we all know that, but it’s the way in which we choose to tackle this challenge that determines whether life is unbearable or manageable. You can either let life pass you by or take full advantage of the opportunities presented to you, and that is a struggle I have lived with all my life.
There are days that I don’t feel like getting out of bed because I feel the world is against me and I have no friends to count on. There are days when all I want to do is get in my car and drive somewhere that simply is not where I currently am placed. Some days a simple hug is all I need to feel happy and some days it’s the harshness of solitude that satisfies my happiness. What I’m trying to say hear, is that life teaches us how to go about finding our happiness and in what forms it works most effectively for us.
This is what I’ve come to learn over the years. Happiness for me is open windows and morning sunlight. It’s driving with the wind flowing through my hair and the stereo blasting at full capacity as I have good company in the passenger side. Happiness is warm clothes and aesthetic pictures; the beach and hiking trails; friends and laughter in the middle of a crowded Chick-fil-A at 9’o’clock at night. Happiness is writing down whatever it is I experience in the form of pain, sadness, depression anxiety, love and loss in a frequency of words that come together in beautiful harmony. Happiness is serving others, either through small acts of kindness like throwing away their trash or staying up all night talking about and ex-boyfriend whom did them wrong.
Happiness, and life, is what you make of it, and that’s what the past twenty-two years have taught me. Now I want to leave you all with this piece of advice that hopefully helps you find your happiness and understand what life gives you.
Stop and take time to look and appreciate your surroundings. Whether it is your side of the room, window in the car, classroom, park, mall or anywhere you find yourself spending time, look around. I usually catch myself being in a state of total daze and concentration when I sit outside and take in my surroundings; and it makes me realize all of the things that make me, me – along with priorities, deadlines and accomplishments I set up for myself as well as what I expect for others.
Then, I go from there, and seek out ways to satisfy those goals; and it comes in that variety of ways I stated earlier.
So slow down, or stop, and look. You never know what you may discover.

Featured Quote: “I hate small talk. I want to talk about atoms, death, aliens, sex, magic, intellect, the meaning of life, faraway galaxies, music that makes you feel different, memories, the lies you’ve told, your flaws, your favorite scents, your childhood, what keeps you up at night, your insecurities and fears. I like people with depth, who speak with emotion from a twisted mind.” – Breagha Young

Featured Song: “Trip” by Ella Mai

David Cifarelli, a senior, studies English and Italian. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Le Provocateur.