This year was the very first time I have ever been genuinely excited to attend a school event. I have never been one to spend a long period of time getting pumped up for any type of social event.
It was just never my thing. I was always the person who would help all of her friends get ready and talk them through all of the awkward situations that may or may not happen with their date throughout the night.
I always avoided these kinds of things in high school. There’s really no reason for that. I just never understood why you would spend so much money to go to an event to see people that you saw every single day of your life anyway. I guess I never really understood the appeal of it all.
During my high school career, I only attended Homecoming twice. Both of those times ended up with me coming home in tears and feeling absolutely exhausted for days after the events.
Coming into Homecoming this year, I was nervous I would end up with the same outcome. Boy was I worried over nothing at all.
I got to spend the entire night with some of the people that I care about most. My boyfriend Josh traveled to campus just to come to Homecoming with me. It was the first time I had ever had a date accompany me to any type of event like this one.
Looking back on it, this may have been one of the main reasons going to Homecoming this year was so worth it compared to the past.
Although the actual event was not the biggest highlight of the night, I am really glad I went.
Getting to see friends and people that I do not usually have the time to talk to was something I really appreciated being able to do.
The fact that a group of people I care about were able to forget about their worries for a while and come to my apartment after Homecoming made me see that we’re all a little stressed out at the moment, but it’s all right because we still have little moments like that.
Every time I bring up being overwhelmed by school work, the advice I receive is to just take some time for myself. I need to take some time away from my work and focus on making myself happy.
I find this to sometimes be even more stressful than the actual work because if I’m unable to find that time for myself, I feel like I am doing something wrong.
I realized, though, that sometimes the stressful stuff just needs to wait a while. Even though that might mean staying up later to finish one of the six papers I have due before fall break.
It is really important to take care of yourself during these next few weeks and try not to stress too much about every assignment and grade.
You need to remember to take a second for yourself every once in a while. It can make a huge difference.
HARLEE BOEHM
