Finding a little positivity every day can be tough, especially with the midterms that are going on and the projects that have been due for the past couple of weeks. Stress is one of the only emotions that it seems like I can feel. I have always been the person who overthinks and stresses myself to the breaking point. I often find myself asking, “Why do I even try? Nothing is ever going to go my way.” Obviously, a person can not survive in college like this forever. I have found that you have to learn how to come to terms with yourself and to figure out the boundaries of how far you can involve yourself.

Here are some tips on how I stay positive and feel happy just being me.

1. Look around and find something that makes you smile.

Go outside! There is so much opportunity for something good to happen to you if you’re not sitting inside by yourself. Maybe take your homework to the pool now that it’s starting to warm up again. If you need a computer for your work, try going to a new coffee shop! I recommend Curia On the Drag if you’re in Gainesville, it has beautiful outside seating and yummy iced coffee. I also like to go on drives to Paynes Prairie and just admire all of the nature around me. How can you be sad when you’re watching a sunset while surrounded by trees?

2. Instead of walking to class while miserable because you don’t want to go, enjoy the sun on your face and look forward to the fact that you could learn something really interesting today.

I try and find at least one cool thing in my lecture to tell my friends about every day. It honestly helps to motivate me to go to class and it makes me sound way smarter than I actually am! I have also found that I can have really good conversations. I love when you can have an intellectual conversation with someone and feel like you have learned something from that person when you’re finished talking.

3. Realize that we all have the same 24 hours.

I used to find myself sitting on Instagram for hours every day, looking at these girls who travel all of the time, dress so cute, and who always seem to be having the time of their lives. I would be so envious, wondering when I would ever be able to be that happy. Why can’t you be that happy? Nothing is preventing you from having an amazing life. We all have a million obstacles and day to day problems, but it is how we let them affect us that defines us. Just like that, I planned a trip to California with my old roommate and a trip to Peru with my two long-time best friends. I’m taking my life into my own hands and doing what I love: traveling! Seeing that everyone has the same amount of time in a day and that you could spend it by being the happiest you possible makes stressing out seem a little silly, right?

4. Lastly, I’ve been spending a little time every day to remind myself that where I’m at in my life right now is OK and I don’t need to be anything more.

This is probably the hardest thing for me because I have always wanted the satisfaction of knowing that I’m making my family proud or that people think that I’m successful in some way. I have always needed gratification from other people and I am just now realizing that I don’t need it. Everyone who is my age, or any age, should really try and break themselves from this bad habit. It is honestly so freeing. I am exactly where I need to be and I’m living for myself and nobody else. At the end of the day, you’re never going to leave your body or be someone else. So, you might as well love your decisions and not care about what others are thinking. If people really care enough to judge who you are, then they obviously aren’t content with something in their life.