September 2017

Summer Damra: Stop Imagining a Life Better than the Life You're Living

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“No such thing as the life better than yours (Love Yourz)

 No such thing as a life better than yours

 No such thing, no such thing”

I remember the first time I heard these lyrics. Although I was having a rough day, I could not help but crack a smile, agree, and say alhamdulillah (All praise be due to God).

Many of us don’t live by these lyrics, let alone appreciate the small things in our lives that push us to reach for the rays of the sun. As the fall begins, we will find ourselves immersed in an atmosphere of future-orientated perspectives. We all have different ways of handling this atmosphere; some may fall into a short or long state of anxiety, others will quickly plan, study, and work hard to appear like they have life wrapped around their finger. Regardless of how you react to this atmosphere, energy, vibe (or whatever you may call it), we can all agree that this very moment, like every other moment in our lives, is the nesting grounds for personal growth.

I want to clarify that many people think of College as either two things: a place where you can succeed (get A’s/B’s, find your career, hubby, and have your entire life figured out), or a place where you can fail (get C’s/D’s, not find your hubby, and to graduate without a plan). To subjugate yourself to a standard in life will leave you feeling worthless when fate decides that you must travel a different route. You might find yourself throughout the semester experiencing depression, life changing realizations, and perhaps many societal definitions of failures or successes. These experiences do not exclusively affect one group of people more than another, but rather they simply appear in our lives in small or grand ways.

No one, and I repeat, no one lives a life without his or her own set of divinely designed challenges. Whether you’re an incoming freshman or a returning undergraduate student, you must realize that a “good” year does not necessarily exist. What is “good” and what is “bad” depends on an individual’s mindset and their expectations of themselves and others. For instance, many people conflate a bad year with imperfect grades on a transcript and/or experiencing a falling out with your close friends or family members.