I rolled out of bed this morning. Quietly, of course, as not to disturb the roomie. I stepped on something hard and cold and looked down. Great, I'm sure 150 pounds is just awesome for laptops. I took one more step, stubbed my toe on my desk and waited a few seconds in anticipation of the pain I knew was coming. Fuck me. I fumbled around for my glasses and knocked a book off my desk, which managed to fall both on my laptop I just stepped on and the tender little piggy I just stubbed. And to top it off, it woke the roommate up. Within merely one minute of being conscious I knew my day was going to be super fun.
It continued. I was running late, but had to wait five minutes for an open shower stall, which turned out to be cold as a mother. Then I got back to my room and put two different socks on, pants that were too big (turns out they were my roommate's) and a dirty shirt and hustled outside. The second I stepped out the door, I thought to myself, already angry, ""Are you fucking kidding me? I mean, I know Wisconsin is supposed to be cold, but seriously? Fuck you, God.""
I paused for a few seconds, debating whether to go back inside or go to a math discussion, which was sure to be off-the-heezy, but began to head toward beloved Van Vleck, walking extra fast to avoid the lightning bolt from the heavens that was sure to follow my disgraceful use of the Lord's name. I proceeded to take a math pop quiz over material I sloughed off, attend a power lecture given by a TA whose voice worked about 16 percent of the time and to top it all off, fail a chemistry midterm.
Every college kid has them. I call them can-I-please-just-die days, and I believe it's that one day out of the month where all your bad karma comes back to screw you the fuck over. (Because let's face it people, nobody's actually a good person.) They're horrible, and there's no way getting around that. But they can, in fact be made a little less wretched. What's that you say? Shots? Yeah, okay, that's an acceptable (and effective) solution, and one may rely heavily on, but it might be better to handle the situation with a little more control and a little less pain the next morning.
OK, so there's this movie. It's called ""American Beauty."" In this movie, there's a scene where the two teenagers sit in the somber darkness watching a home movie of a plastic bag being blown around in the wind for a few minutes. As the camera slowly zooms in to the screen, one of them gives a valuable insight.
(So you weren't expecting a life lesson reading this? I know, but hopefully since you're still reading, you care at least a little bit about some the advice I have to give.)
The guy says, long story short, that sometimes, there's so much beauty in the world, he can hardly take it. He feels like his heart is going to cave in. I think we can all learn a bit from him. Whenever you're having a shitty day where you want to just crawl in a hole and hibernate indefinitely, just pause. Sit still. Take a second to clear your mind. Then look around you. Notice everything, from the broadest observations to the tiniest details. I challenge you to not find one beautiful thing about where you are at that moment. A funny quote carved into a desk in a lecture hall. The way the clouds look. A person smiling after receiving a text from their significant other. Anything, really. Then, just focus on that one awesome thing. You'll feel better, if even for a minute. And if that doesn't work, then shots it is.
Having a shitty day and want more little pearls of wisdom from the ever optimistic Elliot? E-mail him at ejmorris2@wisc.edu.
