“Breathe. Live. Love. Repeat.”

This is my co-columnist, Que Newbill’s motto for life, and I think it is especially relevant in these weeks when everything seems to explode. And by explosion, I mean the multitude of changes that always happens at the end of the academic year. It is like the entire universe decided to take everything ever that can happen, both good and bad, as long as they are emotionally overwhelming, and make them happen in the last couple of weeks.

Seniors are graduating (I can only imagine how stressful that can be), people are going abroad, this is the time to decide on those summer plans, the last chance to improve those final grades, relationships are forming and ending, and besides, we are all closing down an entire year of our life. This time of the year is also the time for all the dramas to happen. At once. You don’t even know where your head is when things explode like this, and it is so easy to forget that you are still alive.
The pieces of advice that concern hell week and final’s week are all about the academic stress you encounter. But they tend to overlook the maybe even bigger problem of overall stress that comes from the fact that everything is happening right now. So when you feel like you are losing grip on everything, please take a moment, and do the following:
Breathe. Live. Love. Repeat.

Breathe. Slowly, and enjoy the way air is drawn into your lungs, and enjoy that you are capable of breathing. You are alive. It is all going to be okay. Even if you feel like there is no ground left for you to stand on anymore, and you are getting dizzy for the quickly changing scenery of events around you, just remember that you still can breathe. Sarah Kay said it in her poem B: “But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like that taste of air.” So take deep breaths, and let out all those frustrations and overspills of emotions.

Live. Later in your life you will be remembering this time of your life with nostalgia. You will be remembering all the craziness you did and all the all-nighters you pulled. They usually say that on their dying bed, people do not wish that they worked more, but that they spent more time with family and friends. There is also a quote by Lucille Ball saying that “I would rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I have not”. So go ahead. Spend time with the people you will never see again, enjoy the last minute conversations, enjoy that you are living right now in the present too, and not only for the future. Read a poem, watch a good movie, bake a cake. Whatever works. Ask yourself the question: “are my friends worth the all-nighters”? If your answer is yes, you know what to do.

Love. Maybe this is the most important of all. Please remember that you are loved. That there is someone out there, your parents, your friends, your professors, who love you for who you are. Even if things get out of hand, remember that there will be always be someone loving you and caring about you. And you too will always have someone to love. This is simply the way it works. In case you are thinking of unrequited feelings now, consider the following Gabriel Garcia Marquez quotation: “Just because someone doesn’t love you as you wish, it doesn’t mean you’re not loved with all his/her being”.

Repeat.

-Que’Nique Newbill ’11 & Mai Ha Vu ’13