My life can be divided into two distinct eras: my life before I listened to "Hamilton," and my life after I listened to "Hamilton."
If you somehow haven't heard of "Hamilton" yet or haven't gotten around to listening to it, take a break, look it up right now and come back and read this article in three hours. I'll wait.
If you have been hit by the revolutionary Broadway musical, then you know just how amazing and captivating it is -- so much so that it has begun to take over your entire life.
Signs that "Hamilton" has taken over your life:
1. You think entirely in Hamilton quotes. Just a word or two reminds you of a line in a song, which gets said song stuck in your head for hours. Furthermore, there is no more room in your brain for anything other than Hamilton quotes, so studying for any of your classes just isn't going to happen.
2. You start directing a significant portion of your budget to purchases related to Hamilton. Hamilton CD? Yup. Hamilton wall calendar? Yup? Tickets to see Hamilton? Ha! You wish...
3. You start to fall behind on popular music culture because you literally only listen to Hamilton.
"Have can we listen to-" No, but we can listen to "One Last Time" about twenty more times.
4. You start forgetting what the actual historical figures are. Last week I looked at a 10 dollar bill and did a double take because it wasn't Lin-Manuel Miranda staring back at me. Also along those lines, you start having inappropriate thoughts about our founding fathers.
Dang, Washington. What a stud.
5. You start falling in love with people who died 200 years ago. If Hercules Mulligan is 246 years old, then I am 246 years old.
6. Just humming the sad songs can give you emotional breakdowns wherever you are. Don't think about "It's Quiet Uptown" when you're trying to do anything important. Just don't.
7. You use the songs to get hype. I have a motivational playlist on Spotify that is 75% just Hamilton songs. It helps me prepare for my day.
8. Most of your social media feed revolves around Hamilton. Your following/followers ratio on Instagram is all screwed up because you follow so much of the cast and so many fan accounts.
You can try to say no to this addiction you have, but you just can't quit. If you try, you'll be back. Time will tell.