Cheery title eh? Scary thing is, it's not even click-bait.
In recent years, mental health awareness has started to grow and with it, the stigma surrounding poor mental health has started to slowly wash away. That's great and all, but when you are consumed by stress and depression, the world being "okay" with it doesn't really give you the warm fuzzy feeling that you are searching for. That's been me. As a college student, stress is often the name of the game. Toss in my anxiety disorder and a global pandemic that has been aces at making us all feel isolated, and all of a sudden, things can start to feel pretty dark.
I want to start by apologizing. For the last few months, I've been the guy who doesn't respond to text messages, comment when you post on my timeline or reach out to people with updates. So, if you are reading this and feel like I've been ghosting you, please know that I still care, I've just not been okay as of late. If you're reading this however and you're a college student as well or are finding yourself overwhelmed and in a similar spot, I hope that this little update will serve as something that you can relate to and find some direction in.
Let's take it back a bit here. I've been pretty vocal that for the last little while, I've been pretty much mentally done with my college program. This is a big player when it comes to my current state. At the best of times, College is a lot of work and sometimes not very much sleep. When you are chasing a dream, this is all a part of the experience, but when you're just trying to survive and get yourself to a point where you're okay, it can be fairly soul-sucking. I knew I needed to make some changes...
THE FARM
There are few places I love more than The Farm. It's a 150 (ish) year old property in my girlfriend's family with an abundance of property, no WIFI, and just the right atmosphere for unwinding. The property is treated sort of like a time-share and people just have to reserve it to use it. This time of year is especially cozy because you have to keep yourselves warm by the fire.
What do we do while we're there? Sometimes... a lot of nothing. That's what makes it so wonderful. Sure, we watch movies at night, play board games, scoot around on ATVs, and more, but there is literally no other time in my life where I slow down enough to do NOTHING. This makes it the ideal location to dive into a book - something I try to do every time we go. A week at the farm will cure just about any stress you have in your life, or at least make you forget about it long enough to enjoy yourself a little.
Even our cat, who unfortunately spends all of her time currently in our basement apartment devoid of windows, is much happier when we are there. The Farm has more windows than she has maybe ever seen in her entire life!! Life is just better when you are doing something you love in an environment that makes you happy.
THE BATMAN
The Farm (like all things) came to an end and I was forced to return to the real world and face the stresses that I'd left behind. Good things were still on the horizon though because as an aspiring film pundit and MAJOR Batman fan, I have been dying to see the new Matt Reeves film - The Batman. I don't spring for IMAX on every film, but you better bet your ass I did this time. The verdict? I loved it. It's hard to say for sure how much of that was it being an amazing film and how much of it was it being a needed distraction.
WHAT'S THE POINT?
Why should you care what movie I went to see this week or about some farm that you're not able to take advantage of yourself? The point is that no matter how much or little stress you feel, no matter where your mental health is at, it's never EVER too early or too late to start doing things that will help get you back on track.
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