On the first day of fifth grade, I knew absolutely no one in my class. While waiting for the bus at the bus-stop, I started talking to the girl in front of me.
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By: Noelani Conahan
I can’t tell you how many times my brother or dad have mourned my future savings - savings that will never be, because I’m buying a coffee or a snack instead. My brother will plug the amount I’ve just spent (usually around $5 or $6) into some website and tell me how if I’d put it into the right retirement account I’d have around $200 by my mid 60s.
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By: Paige Wilson
During my senior year of high school, while my classmates were blowing off steam in Cabo, I was freezing my ass off on the East coast, warming up to the idea that my parents weren’t superheroes
“I feel like you don’t even like me,” my dad lamented two years earlier, as I sat brooding on the couch. I didn’t even look up to give him an answer.
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I think a lot about the elderly couple who asked me to take a photo of them on their favorite bench. About the woman I shared glances with at a coffee shop where a few male customers were being particularly loud. I think about the baby that stared at me while I made funny faces while riding the ferry back from Mackinac Island. About the man who got out of his car to help me carry the groceries thatI dropped in the middle of the street. I've never seen these people more than once. Their lives and even their names are a mystery to me. I would not be able to pick them out while crossing the street, and yet the thought of them warms my heart anyway.
Now more than ever, the development and maintaining of routines can be a strange experience that heavily impacts our mindset. Mentality writers Victoria Helrigel, Alex Witkowska, Katie Good, and Noah Larson share some of their thoughts and experiences with routines.
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While serving in Northern Ireland during “The Troubles” in the 1980s, James and his family faced death threats. James himself faced two targeted attempts on his life. The horrors of living, first as a child and then into adulthood, with the war on his own doorstep, still haunt him in the form of Complex PTSD.
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This pandemic has left a lot in its wake: death and loss (of all kinds), of course, but also disappointment, sadness, anger, and, perhaps most of all, time. Having free time is a daunting feeling to many people - although most are unable to admit it. We tend to measure our worth in terms of productivity: how many items can we check off of our to-do list? Did I make the best use of the time that I had? Could I do more?
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I hereby write this piece for every person who has ever thought that they are undeserving of the love and support that surrounds them. For every person who has felt like they could potentially be a burden or not worth the effort/attention they really need.
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The fight to destigmatize mental health is a battle well fought; everywhere, you see buttons, t-shirts, and billboards advocating for mental health awareness and displaying available resources for those who are struggling. This is an incredible step in the right direction without a doubt. But a recent trend that I believe is vital to the mental health conversation is the movement towards ensuring mental health education in schools and communities.
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Asexuality, I find, is a difficult concept to explain fully, because it involves so much nuance in areas that I’m only just discovering. So buckle in for a bumpy ride and maybe a little TMI, and hopefully you’ll come out the other end a little more educated.
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My transition to college bore zero resemblance to any warnings I had received from others prior to move-in day. I prepared myself for an onslaught of unmanageable assignments, constant all-nighters, and the knowledge that I would be crying myself to sleep most nights over a paper or exam. And this is likely a very real experience for a lot of people, which is all the more reason why I was surprised to find my personal experience quite different.
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Walking into academic advising can feel like a battle. You have to defend every choice, opinion and goal you have. You are always told that advisors are there to help you, so you should utilize their help, but you have to find the right person.
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Is taking a break to call a loved one not productive? Is spending an hour of your day exercising/reading/journaling not a valuable use of your time? Who defines what is productive in your life?
If it’s not you, shouldn’t it be?
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Grades are just one confusing cog in the clanky, jumbled mess that is academia. They’re so ingrained in our daily lives that we never really stop to question, “What does that A in that class really mean to me?” After some thought, I’d say that it leads to a good GPA. A good GPA leads to a good grad school or med school or law school or job opportunities, and of course that then leads to a better future. So grades can’t be bad....right?
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My friends also know me as someone who always encourages people to get help when they need it. Yet, when I realized that I should start going to therapy again after a three-year hiatus, I felt embarrassed. I felt like I had already poured so much time and energy into getting better that I should be done with therapy. Now that I have been attending therapy for a few months now, I have compiled a list of three key reasons why we shouldn’t be afraid to return to therapy.
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“Do I deserve to be here?” is a phrase that runs through my mind a million times a semester. When I’m walking into a new class, an executive board meeting, or even my campus job. No matter where I am on campus, I know that what I am truly asking myself, or rather questioning my worth on, is if I deserve to be at the University of Michigan.
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Five of our staff members, each starting a different stage of their college career, share with us their perspectives on the start of the semester. These perspectives span from Freshman year to starting Graduate studies and highlight the highs and lows of each year at the University of Michigan.
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Trigger is a word that has been used as of late, either for fun or whenever people get angry. I personally don’t mind it, but I know how much it may harm others. Trigger, according to the urban dictionary, is a term used to describe sensations, images or experiences that trigger a traumatic memory. It is related to post traumatic stress disorder, but I often feel it with my generalized anxiety disorder.
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Love comes in different forms and neither it, nor Prince Charming, will be like anything you expected. He won’t sweep you away from all your problems and he will not show up in your backyard promising constant happiness and everything you heart desires. He will most likely not have a horse or a prestigious family lineage, and finding him will require heartbreaking trial and errors; but, he will love you endlessly.
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Though this may sound dismal, there’s so much more freedom to explore and experiment with what works once you’ve let go of sure-fire answers. On a personal level, what’s helped me most is completely immersing myself into a multitude of books and journaling about life from this newfound perspective; for my brother, it was dedicating himself to physical health and wellness.
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