Kim Quindlen

Pay attention to the little things your body is able to do that you always take for granted – walking, stretching, hearing, seeing, being able to feed yourself. The more you pay attention, the more you’ll realize these are not little things at all.

There’s something about lying under the covers at night. And staring up at the ceiling. And being totally alone with your thoughts – even if there’s someone sleeping right beside you. There’s something about this moment that allows the ugly part of your brain to take over for an instant, or a while. Because this ugly part knows that it’s too late for anyone to intercede.

Good night.
Take a second.
You have a day’s worth of new stuff in your brain.
File away what you need, empty trash files.
Get comfy. Sleep.

–Lin-Manuel Miranda

This is what throws me. The idea that there’s only one person in the entire world you could make a beautiful life with. And that if you don’t find them, or you think you already did and it didn’t work out, that you’re screwed.

What I will remember as I leave this place is that it will hurt because of you. It will hurt because you brought me such joy, such laughter, and such pure happiness. You taught me things you don’t even know that you taught me. You are part of the reason that I am a different person today than I was four years ago when I arrived here, petrified and exhilarated.

Your PDA is relatively nonexistent. At this point you have so more fun with smirks across the table while sharing an inside joke, private smiles or goofy faces when you make eye contact across the room at a party, and any other communication you have in public that is shared only between the two of you.

So, you’re tired. Directionless. Frustrated. Maybe a little disheartened. Trying so hard to live your life in your own way, but still frequently weighed down by unavoidably comparing yourself to others. Wanting to not care what people think, and sometimes being successful and other times caring so hard.

You feel afraid more often than you feel comfortable.

She can be flexible with plans, with mood swings, with bad news, with whatever comes your way. She’s used to constantly adapting and readapting to whatever is thrown at her, so when you’re in a stressful situation, she’s an ideal partner to have standing by your side.

You lose sleep. You lose weight. Or gain it. You develop circles under your eyes. You lack a desire to do anything. All the energy left within you is being spent on adjusting to this new reality, to the person you are without them. You feel like a stranger in your own body and your own life, because you became so accustomed to the way they seemed to effortlessly weave themselves into your existence.

We want love to be fast, instant, and available, so that we don’t even have time to think. We want love to be a commodity, because that’s what makes the most sense to us, because that’s how everything in our world works. We see something, we’re told we’re supposed to want it, and then we focus all our attention on attaining it. Love is best understood by us when it is something to ‘get.’

“Him and his brother went to every single Harry Potter movie midnight premiere together, like every single one. Even if they were living in different cities during the release date, one of them would travel to the other one so they could see it together. It was one of the strangest, sweetest things I’ve ever seen.”

Still being able to use Wikipedia in your research papers, because teachers had not yet realized that it was not a credible source.

Remember that in a year from now, the small thing that is causing you so much worry and angst today will barely register as a blip in your thoughts down the line.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of monotony in our day-to-day existence. Try adding a little more lightness into your day through some very simple actions.

You’re supposed to be feeling conflicting emotions right now. That’s normal. Excited and terrified. Confident and completely lost. At peace with the end of your college career and totally heartbroken at the same time.

There is a difference between fighting for something that you know is too good to let go of, and clinging on to something that has already died.

You’re always really proud of yourself when you put a bowl or plate in the dishwasher immediately after you used it.