Life is beautiful. It’s exciting and adventurous and fun and sometimes, it leaves you feeling all tingly inside like you just stepped off the best roller coaster you’ve ever been on. Sometimes it feels like the world is at your fingertips, and in theory, that should feel amazing, but in practice, it can sometimes feel the exact opposite. Life is beautiful, yes, but it’s also a little overwhelming at times.

If you’re like me, you’re still trying to find that understanding, trying to figure out what you’re majoring in, where you’re going to work after you graduate, how your presence is going to impact the world, or what is truly important in life. Or maybe you’re just trying to figure out why the cookies you bake never turn out right even though you followed the recipe perfectly, why you somehow always manage to smudge your nail no matter how long you sit patiently waiting for them to try, or why you just can’t seem to get an A on your chemistry exams no matter how hard you study.

In any case, you’re not alone in feeling like the world is working against you, but you have so many people in the same boat as you, so many people that know exactly what you’re going through and want to be there for you, to build you up and support you through this roller coaster that is life.

Sometimes you have to take a step back and appreciate those people, to lean on all the support they offer you because they want you to succeed, and they might even be just as confused as you are.

Call your mom. Talk through all your problems with her because she’s always the best listener and the best advice-giver if there ever was such a thing. Pick up your best friends and go to your favorite spot to talk and hang out (even if that means sitting at Sonic laughing and drinking milkshakes until the employees start turning off the lights and you absolutely have to leave). Take a spontaneous road trip with your friends and go wherever the wind takes you, just enjoy yourself every now and again, and I promise things will start to make more sense.

Or maybe this is something you need to figure out on your own, something that you really need to do for yourself.

Get out of the library because you’ve been there all day, and anything you haven’t made sense of by now probably isn’t going to make sense if you stay in there any longer. Take a walk and experience the beauty exemplified in nature, in every part of the world you live in. Grab a coffee, listen to some music, and people watch. Buy yourself that book that you’ve read so many good reviews on, but have somehow managed to convince yourself you’re too busy to read. Study some scripture instead of calculus for a change, spend some time praying, time with just you and God, and I promise things will clear up.

Life is a little overwhelming at times, but it’s also beautiful. I know things might not be crystal clear right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. You’re going to do wonderful things in this life, even if you feel like you don’t know have a clue what's you're doing right now. You’re growing every single day, getting wiser, stronger, and better as you go along. There's more to life than trying to understand what it's all about, there's fun to be had, memories to be made, happiness to be found in yourself and others.

Maybe you’ll never figure out this crazy thing called life, but maybe that’s OK.