Editor’s Note: Megan Swift is Editor in Chief of The Daily Collegian. This is her story and does not represent the opinion of the university.
“Wow, I’m really going to do this.”
These were some of the words I whispered to myself in disbelief while driving home from The Daily Collegian’s office last April. So most people reading this recognize me.
I’ll save my full and funny story for the final senior column (wow), but I’ve always intended to create vulnerable dialogue while in this position. life update.
Obviously it didn’t go as planned. Many things in life are not (imagine).
It gives me great pleasure to represent the student-run newspaper of Pennsylvania State University, meet local State College community members, and get to know the university staff members. Dig much deeper than work-related topics and fun things to do.
I hate pretending, so to be honest, it always bothered me.
I hope that by sharing my personal story more openly over the next few months, I can inspire you to be more vulnerable and to smile when you’re going through a tough day. .
hard days.
we were all there. But I’m sure you’ll agree, hard days are easier to handle than others. A good friend may give you a hug, or a parent might send you a message of encouragement. It’s been a tough day, with the sun peeking through the clouds even though it was predicted to rain.
Happily, when I was only five years old, I landed my first dream role. Back then, I had ridiculously curly hair, and if you can believe it, it was even brighter and fiery auburn. She was selected to play the role of Annie in the musical “Annie”.
Playing the song “Tomorrow” on stage completely changed my life. From that moment on, not only did I decide to one day become a singer, but the words “Tomorrow the sun will come out” became my life motto to help me fight through all kinds of difficult days.
It fueled the fire that was my rosy optimism. Practice optimism.
Contrary to what I used to believe, your life doesn’t have to be perfect. Many times things went wrong. And we are allowed to ask for help, even if it is very scary. I have and it has helped me learn a lot about myself over the years.
Who knew that when it all seems impossible to deal with, taking care of yourself can be the best solution? opposed.
There are many topics I want to talk about, but they all contribute to women today. But I’ll save all that for a future tell-all memoir. (Check back in 21 years.)
But what I really want to discuss is living with chronically high expectations of the world, the people in my life, and myself.
As a college student who is already struggling to find his place in the world, it’s easy to fall into the thought, “My work will never be completed because the deadline is endless.” Enough” or “I’m not good enough”.
Constant anticipation can be overwhelming and even suffocating at times. And when you seem to take a small step, the world has already moved three and left you behind.
And the more you feel overworked, the more blurred the reason for the work. This pressure has made it difficult to find happiness and contentment this fall while playing different roles in different situations.
Worse is the direct by-product of these emotions: exhaustion and burnout. Someone recently told me that “fatigue shouldn’t be used as a measure of success,” and it really is.
After 12 to 15 hours of work, when I can hardly think, I know my adrenaline is in a rush. And I know it’s not just me — especially coming out of the coronavirus pandemic.
Editor’s Note: The only reason Meghan ultimately decided to write this column is because she recently tested positive for coronavirus for the second time, giving her time for introspective thinking. Because it was more than usual.
A few years ago, a series of events led me to buy rings on Amazon, but not just rings. It’s a silver one with the three words “I’m Enough” engraved on it.
I also bought a silver chain and put it through the ring and put it around my neck. See, I made a pact with myself: I didn’t take the ring off the chain and put it on my finger.
Simply put, I still wear this ring every day.
And so are you.
During my first year at Penn State, my group of friends had an ironic phrase.
It was this overarching catchphrase to say when something happened that got very outrageous and hilarious. I know that is no stranger to me. I think it’s healthy to do your best no matter how bad the situation is, and I definitely do.
But a disheartening series of unfortunate events make it hard to keep my head above the water (and I already know I hate swimming). There comes a time when you can’t find any aspect of a situation to laugh at.
Even with our best efforts, there is so much going on behind the scenes that no one but ourselves can know the full truth. It is very important to remember what we are going through that we do not, and probably never will.
As an avid reader, I tend to liken this fact to the phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
When I was a kid, when asked what I wanted to change in the world, my answer was always to make the world peaceful. Now that I am an adult, I would like to take a step forward.
I hope everyone can understand their life holistically without having to explain or justify it. too late.
It really breaks my heart that pushing yourself past your breaking point has become the norm of life for so many people, myself included.
That’s why I believe there comes a time in every woman’s life when she has to choose to take back ownership of her story.
Giving up control is nearly impossible, especially for those of us with high expectations.
But for me, the time is right now.
That’s right, I’ll bet your lowest amount that there will be sun tomorrow. Let’s all take a deep breath and appreciate the mystery of what it brings.
