With my life as a broke college student and unpaid intern, staying calm and stress-free never seemed realistic. The constant notions of relaxing and enjoying every moment didn’t fit into my packed schedule of meetings and classes. I became consumed by my work and my desperate desire to build an impressive resume. But even as I tried to ignore my daily unhappiness, I secretly knew I wasn’t the person I wanted to be. I wasn’t leading any sort of life that I had imagined or hoped for. Most of all, I knew that my schedule shouldn’t be running my life. I knew that I was the one who should be running my life instead.After one day of too much stress and too little sleep, I had a sort of “Eat, Pray, Love” moment and vowed to bring passion and value back into my life. So, I began to work towards change. I began striving towards inner peace. However, I didn’t attempt this task in some isolated ashram in India. I worked toward peace amidst a world of a daunting workload and endless commitments. It was nothing, if not a challenge.
For a year, I memorized books about Buddhism and inhaled all of the Dalai Lama’s greatest words of advice. I dipped my toes into the world of organic eating. I started practicing yoga and meditation. I filled my notebooks with inspirational quotes. I hung up images of Buddha and Hindu deities in my room. I consumed anything and everything that promised me inner peace, and I chased everything that sparked any sort of passion within me. Now, obviously, not all of these excessive measures worked. But through this experience, I adopted some realistic approaches that truly changed my life.
First, I learned how to listen. I started listening to my body when it was screaming for a break. I was listening to it at 3 am in the library when it was telling me sleep deprivation wasn’t worth these few extra hours of reading. And most of all, I was listening to it when it was begging me to say no to the next commitment that I was approached with.
Secondly, I fell in love with sunshine and wild air again. I opened my windows the second I woke up to fill my room with the day. I swallowed up all the fresh air I could. I started taking a longer route to class when the weather was perfect. Most of all, I embraced any opportunity to let the sunshine play on my skin. Lastly, I meditated every single day. I would sit in my room for ten minutes in complete silence. Those minutes were full of deep breaths and stress release, and the truth is, that yoga practice really saved me.
So if you ever find yourself in my shoes, stop and think. Is it really all worth it? And then I beg you to act. Make changes. Reignite that passion that’s been burned out and suppressed inside of you. Reinvent your life and yourself, and never look back.
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