This past semester, I took a class where the goal was to explore "great ideas" and schools of thinking that essentially answer the question "What is the meaning of life?" Clearly a very casual, light topic, right? No biggie. Not intimidating at all!

Spoiler alert, though you probably already figured this out on your own: it was a biggie.

While we spent every couple weeks digging into many different systems of belief, getting to know their ins and outs, it was not the comprehension part of the class that proved the most challenging. Our main project was to make a multi-faceted website that essentially embodied, as well as we could, our own meaning of life. We had different assignments to tackle and wield in ways that would represent the ways we find meaning in life and had to draw on the concepts we talked about in class to do so. Needless to say, it seemed daunting when I got the assignment and it wasn't any less so when I actually went to do it.

I won't lie, I pulled my usual procrastination routine and left many bits of my website at the last minute. It was overwhelming at times, gave me at least six stress pimples, and was generally a time-consuming and aggravating experience. That being said, making this website challenged me intellectually in so many ways. I had never been pushed to really think about who I truly am before — about what beliefs really make me, me. Doing this was scary, but it was also so unexpectedly rewarding.

Genuinely, this website has changed my life.

It has forced me to get to know myself better than I ever have and this has affected the choices I make. I want to live a life that's meaningful to me and finally understanding at least partially what that is has been eye-opening.

Today I'm going to share with the world my findings.

All I am sure of is that I am alive and have been given the opportunity to live. We are on this Earth, and as far as I know, we have to stay here. Hence why I named my website "We Stay Here," because that's all I undoubtedly believe in; it's the only thing I can physically see and confirm with my own mind. Nothing else, no deity or ideas, can be definitively proven. Even at the end of our lives, we are still here--we are put into the ground.

Believing in this allows me to appreciate as much as life as I possibly can. I am happy to be on this Earth, to be able to appreciate what I can while I can. I think life is even better when we can make other people's lives better. This is why I care about social issues and why I am a feminist; I want what's best for all because all humans deserve to appreciate the one life we know that we have.

While I am specifically interested in the wellbeing of other people and how fulfilling helping others can be, I think that life should be filled with fun, too. A life without appreciating the small things becomes too serious and less meaningful. I have a love of beauty and I deeply appreciate entertainment that celebrates the unique facets of human life. I am obsessed with things that interpret life in unique yet authentic ways, as I believe my hobbies, like books and anime, do. I also firmly believe in the importance of giving things and people a chance before making a judgment about them, especially since we live in a society that makes that an uneasy concept.

I enjoy activities, like makeup, that connect me purely to this world. Makeup takes me out of my thoughts, which are sometimes influenced by too many non-terrestrial things. I am happier when I take a break from philosophical and intellectual notions like saving the world every once in a while.

The quote in the header of my website is a line in Claude Mckay's poem "America": "I love this cultured hell that tests my youth." From the moment I read that line, I felt a connection to it. The society we live in at the moment is flawed in so many ways, yet I still love it. I want what's best for the world, so I don't mind the struggles that this "cultured hell" may put me through.

Ultimately, I love life. I love being in this world. I want the best for myself and I want the best for everyone else. I want to structure my life in a way that mirrors these ideas. That is what makes life meaningful for me.

At the end of the day, we stay here. I am content with knowing that.