An Open Letter to Whoever Needs It
By: Stefanie Baptista
Campus Life Editor
Dear Reader,
We’re living in kind of a funny time right now, wouldn’t you say? Things and places that we took for granted are no longer at our disposal. We’re being told that we can’t hug or kiss our loved ones because that requires being closer than six feet apart, and we cannot close that six foot gap. We are given a certain look if we aren’t wearing a hard to come by mask or rubber gloves when out in public. We’re stuck in our homes. We’re spending more time with ourselves than perhaps some of us ever have in our entire lives. My, what a scary thought that is.
What are you like when you’re alone with yourself? Are you proud of who you are? Do you like the soundtrack of your life? The stories you read? The way you speak to others? Do you like how you speak about yourself inside your own head? Are you happy with your reflection in the mirror? Do you appreciate every little curve? Do you find yourself missing someone? Do you wish you had said something to them? What’s stopping you from picking up the phone to call or send that text? Or are you afraid of all the self-reflection that is now being forced upon you? But is it really forced, though?
Have you started to notice the perfect harmony in which the birds chirp every morning? Have you seen the way the sunrise makes mornings look like something out of a storybook? Have you become aware of the fact that your life is your own fairytale, and you’re the one with the pen? Have you found yourself taking stock of who you are, the things you like, and the things you dislike? And if you haven’t, will you? If there was ever a time for the human race to really get to know themselves, now is that time.
It’s weird, all of these questions we are now asking ourselves. It’s weird to think that we were all so busy trying to be busy but now we’re anything but busy. And that overbearing feeling of guilt about lack of productivity during this unprecedented time? Screw that. It is not going to matter 5 years from now whether or not you properly allocated your precious time for that final project in that one class with the professor you do not like. It won’t even matter five months from now. And it never will.
So, instead of stressing, let’s try relaxing. Relaxing back into who we were before it all got fuzzy and complicated. Let’s do everything humans are meant to do; laugh, cry, eat, drink, love, and not stress about the things that we can’t control.
I hope you use this time to fall in love with yourself and the life you lead. With the people around you. And if you don’t love any of it, now’s the time to change it. Now’s the time to metamorphose into someone you’re proud of. To do everything you put on hold. There is nothing more important in this life than how you feel about yourself and how you feel about the environment that stretches out around you; not even school or work.
