By Ellen O’Donoghue
Ah, here we are again, back in lockdown. Love that for us. It is like a never ending cycle, isn’t it? Hopefully, just hopefully, this will be the last time, and we will get a pint, or even just a trip to Penneys, soon.
I hope that everybody had a nice and safe Christmas. I, for one, went a bit mad a few of the nights (following guidelines of course – I’m allowed to drink rosé in the sitting room. I hope), and had a fairly sore head for most of the festivities. It was great craic to be fair.
As we go into a new semester, semester number two of this ‘short term’ new normal that seems to be lasting forever, I’m actually about to start my last ever semester in my undergrad course. It’s crazy to think about. I’m only 21 years old and here I am about to be shoved into the big bad world? It’s a no from me. It’s scary, this whole life is scary; between the pandemic, university, finishing university, friends, family, and life.
To be honest, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed, and I’ve felt it too.
I find saying three simple words to myself every so often helps with the overwhelming feelings. Just three words, that can alternate from time to time, depending on how you’re feeling and what you need to hear.
My favourites are:
‘You got this.’
‘It gets better.’
‘This will end.’
‘Nobody is perfect.’
‘Happiness is hope.’
‘It’s nearly over.’
‘It’s worth it.’
It’s so cringe to read, and I know that, but I also find myself looking at the stack of 30-odd novels I’m expected to read for my English modules this semester and subconsciously repeating, ‘you got this, you got this, you got this, you got this’ to myself (even though I definitely don’t “got this”). And do you know what? It works. Sometimes you have to squash the inner saboteur. Train your subconscious to say these little positive affirmations to yourself instead of the more negative phrases you may find yourself being told by your brain.
Really and truly I’m not actually sure if any of that makes sense, but as the wise tarot readers of TikTok say, take what resonates and leave the rest (and please don’t judge me if it doesnt make sense).
Life is hard for everyone right now, and sometimes that is not what you want to hear, but we are all in the same sinking boat. However, just because there’s a hole in the boat that is causing it to sink, does not mean that it will. The hole could be patched up before you know it and hopefully then, we’ll all go back to plain sailing.
I’m done with this semester and it hasn’t even started yet, but as a friend pointed out to me earlier today, as bad as things are right now, we are going into semester 8 of 8, when we genuinely did not expect to finish our degree at any point up until now. We are doing it and we have made it, and we will do it because we got this and we are class and so are you. Even if you get bad results from time to time because you are stressed over life at home, or do not have adequate study space at home, or because of the pandemic, or because you are sad, or even just because you are struggling ‘just because’.
And that is okay.
Because you got this.
And I got this.
And we got this.
Happy semester two everybody; I hope it goes okay. And if it is not going okay, then there are places and people who want to help.
As always, if you want to chat or have any ideas for this column, DM me on twitter @ellenodee123.
And thanks for reading today’s existential crisis that I like to mask as a column.
Your resident mess.