This is an inspirational piece of writing. I'll just make that clear to start with. I feel like right now, in the midst of all the crazy, we're all looking at this mountain of a semester we have to climb and it's overwhelming. I know I'm looking for the inspiration to start this climb, so here it is. Hopefully, it helps you too.
My best friend here on campus is a tough guy. She walks around, drops her voice super low, gets a twinkle in her eye and says through a grin that'll knock you off your feet, "I'm tough guyyy." (I admire her a lot, can you tell?) She's probably like 5'4 and smaller than a stick, but damn right, she's a tough guy.
She says, "You know, if someone tried to fight me, I'd fight them back." When she has to carry giant chalkboards across the Diag and we ask if she needs help, she says, "No, I'm tough guy." She's the essence of, "Yes, I can. Because I'm tough guy."
It started as a way to make fun of people who act "tough," who have no emotion or at least pretend like they don't, but it gradually turned into a term of endearment I'm quite fond of, because it makes me feel powerful. It's something I say when I need a pick-me-up, or when I need a boost of encouragement to handle the daunting tasks in front of me. It's something we say to hype each other up, and I believe in it wholeheartedly.
When I wake up in the morning, it's a slow start. Sleepy eyes squint open, consciousness floats back into my body as I regain my bearings into the real world from sleep world. I slap my alarm quiet as quickly as possible to not wake my roommate up. And then as I realize where I am, what time it is, a shock of anxiety jolts me awake. My heart starts beating rapidly and worry tickles the edges of my brain because now that I'm awake, I begin running through my massive to-do list for the day. I have to plan what I'll do and when, where, and how I'll do it. Because if I don't, I'll drown in my sea of tasks to complete. And then, I'll reach for my phone and see the unending list of notifications from emails to texts to Canvas messages from school.
At times, it's so overwhelming, I just want to go back to sleep. I just want to pull the covers over my head and hide in my bed all day. But there are no breaks for a busy college student; there's always something to do. So, I sit up in bed and I tell myself, "I'm tough guy." I can do it.
Deep breaths. I'm tough guy. I'm big and strong and I'm tough. I can do this.
It actually works. Maybe it's only due to some stupid shallow, psychological trick, where you have to prove your "toughness" to everyone, but I mean, it works, so why not? I'm tough guy. I'm big and strong. And doing this thing that scares me will prove to me that I'm tough guy.
Long story short, what I've realized thus far this semester is that overcoming the overwhelming is 10% about actual ability and effort and 90% about mindset. Tough guy is a mindset, entirely. It's all about believing that you're strong enough to handle everything. Yes, technically, it's speaking to this toxic masculinity concept of being so strong and tough that nothing gets to you, but it's not necessarily supporting that aspect of it. Rather, it's about reappropriating the mindset and reminding yourself that you can handle anything.
It's like in "3 Idiots," when they say "All is well, all is well." Saying that mantra doesn't solve all your problems automatically, but it gives you the courage to handle the problem. That's what tough guy is. It's our "all is well" mantra. It gives you the mindset to stop doubting yourself and get up and face the things that scare you or that overwhelm you.
Put yourself in the right mindset. Stop being afraid, and start saying yes I can. That's what we need this semester. The right mindset. You can do it because you're tough guy.
